Jonah Goldberg looks at all those who are quick to blame the hurricane on global warming and George Bush. The average number of big hurricanes over the the past century and a half doesn't seem to back up the assertion.

On one level, I think all of this is partisan opportunism. Even a casual glimpse at the data provided by the National Weather Service shows that big hurricanes (categories 3, 4, and 5) haven't increased over the 20th century. But for years now, activists have exploited media coverage in order to make it seem like something scary is driving the rise in hurricanes. "Global warming = Worse hurricanes. George Bush just doesn't get it," blared a billboard in Florida during the run-up to the 2004 presidential election.

Remember that Clinton didn't even submit the Kyoto Treaty to the Senate. The Senate voted 95 to 0 that they wouldn't approve a treaty negotiated on the basis that it was negotiated on. So, it wouldn't even have gotten through the Constitutional requirements for ratification of a treaty. But, let's say Bush had submitted it on January 20, 2001. There is nothing that would have happened in the past four and a half years to decrease global warming that would have had any impact on this one hurricane.

As Goldberg notes, some people seem happy to believe that George W. Bush has the power to tame nature and just refused to do it. We've had natural disasters throughout all of human history, even before George Bush became president.