How’s This for a Wake-Up Call?

By now just about everyone has heard of the false alarm we had here. Just after eight o’clock yesterday morning, cel phones all over the state went off and this message appeared on all those little screens:
 

My wife’s phone and mine both went off at the same time. She was staring at her phone and muttering something about where we should go to find shelter. Then, speaking to no one in particular, she said “The garage! The dogs have to go in the garage!”
 
About 30 seconds later, my daughter—her house is on the same property—burst through the front door, demanding, “What are you and Mom doing to prepare?” Without waiting for an answer, she said, “We should fill up the bathtub with drinking water.” And she disappeared into the bathroom.
 
In the meantime, I had coffee going and was starting to fix my breakfast. There was nothing at all rational about that, though. I remember thinking, “This isn’t happening–it’s got to be a mistake.” And 38 very long minutes later, that was indeed the announcement.
 
About a half-hour after that, the head of the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency, Vern Miyagi, appeared before the media. He took the blame for the still-anonymous employee who actually pushed the wrong button and, as head of the department where the screw-up occurred, that was appropriate.
 
Hawaii’s governor, David Ige, was with him and spoke first. That, too, was entirely appropriate, but Ige is soft-spoken and not terribly articulate by nature. He is also up for re-election this Fall and as of 8:07 this morning, politically speaking, David Ige is a dead man walking.
 
Once again, fate has validated Loomis’ First Rule of Politics: “You never win or lose an election for the right reasons.“
 
You think not? Just ask Hillary.