Like a bunch of happy pigs rolling around in the mud, conservatives are really reveling in their anti-government fanaticism this week. After Marco Rubio (R-FL) explained how the Great Society and New Deal made the United States a nation of weaklings, Ron Paul (R-TX) declared that we don’t need FEMA and that things were like, way better in 1900.

(Editorial note: 1900 is the year up to 12,000 people died in the Galveston Hurricane. But at least they died free!)

Now, wingnut bloggers are scoffing at the idea that the chief executive of the federal government has any role to play in national disasters. It’s hard to tell if this is motivated by a) their anti-government hysteria; b) a Pavlovian response to anything the Kenyan Marxist Muslim does; c) an effort to rehabilitate George W. Bush’s spectacular Katrina fail; or d) all of the above.

But amidst all this crazy, one particularly wingnutty remark stands out.

Carpenter apparently doesn’t know that flash floods kill more people in the United States every year than terrorism. About half of them are vehicle related, i.e., people trying to drive through flooded areas.

In fact, just a couple weeks ago, four people were killed in Pittsburgh by a flash flood — including two children — and now the city is considering investing in a warning system to prevent future fatalities. To which Carpenter would no doubt reply, “Heh. Thanks Pittsburgh!”

Make no mistake — save Ron Paul — this isn’t the result of some genuine ideological opposition to government. These are the same dutiful authoritarians who took those ridiculous color-coded terrorism warnings from the Bush administration as gospel.

Would Carpenter be pointing and laughing at safety warnings if they were coming from President Perry? Would Powertools and Gateway Retard be attacking President Palin for being engaged as the largest city in the US is threatened by a major hurricane? Of course not.

These people really need help.