Chuck Todd: Mike Murphy, lots of free advice, we’ll see if Steve Schmidt and the boys were watching. We’ll find out on your blackberry. Tonight voters will get their chance to hear from Sarah Palin and she will get the chance to show voters she’s the right woman for the job Up next, one man who’s already convinced and he’ll us why Gov. Jon Huntsman.
(cut away)
Peggy Noonan: Yeah.
Mike Murphy: You know, because I come out of the blue swing state governor world: Engler, Whitman, Tommy Thompson, Mitt Romney, Jeb Bush. I mean, these guys — this is how you win a Texas race, just run it up. And it’s not gonna work. And —
PN: It’s over.
MM: Still McCain can give a version of the Lieberman speech to do himself some good.
CT: I also think the Palin pick is insulting to Kay Bailey Hutchinson, too.
PN: Saw Kay this morning.
CT: Yeah, she’s never looked comfortable about this —
MM: They’re all bummed out.
CT: Yeah, I mean is she really the most qualified woman they could have turned to?
PN: The most qualified? No! I think they went for this — excuse me– political bullshit about narratives —
CT: Yeah they went to a narrative.
MM: I totally agree.
PN: Every time the Republicans do that, because that’s not where they live and it’s not what they’re good at, they blow it.
MM: You know what’s really the worst thing about it? The greatness of McCain is no cynicism, and this is cynical.
CT: This is cynical, and as you called it, gimmicky.
MM: Yeah.
You good readers have to know that I have been reluctant to say much about this Sarah Palin mess. Needless to say, the selection by John McCain of this untested, unprepared governor is reckless, irresponsible and downright cynical.
At 72 years old, McCain is one of the oldest candidates to run for the presidency. Sen. McCain’s father died of a heart attack at 70 and his grandfather died of a heart attack at 60. McCain himself has survived four skin cancers (melanomas), including one in 2000 that was classified as Stage IIa.
As someone pointed out the other day, McCain has never had an Alzeheimer test, a grave oversight when you consider 13% of Americans over 65 have Alzheimer’s.
My point is this: Because of all these factors, McCain, who has been sloganeering that he is running for the presidency to put “country first,” owed the nation an unquestionably and superbly qualified vice presidential nominee.
Forget the scandals that have dogged Palin since she stepped into the arena. The fact is that she is a horrible choice because she is not qualified to be president of the United States. When we vote for McCain, because of his advanced age and health history, we’re also voting, this time more than at any time in the nation’s history, for his vice presidential pick as President of the United States.
Palin is so far out of the mainstream it does the term injustice to call her a conservative. She is a fringe right wing lunatic. Her postion on reproductive freedom is extreme, including cutting off funds to unwed teen mothers in her state. She says yes to creationism and denies global warming. She hounded out of a job a state police superintendent because he would not help her pursue a vendetta against an ex-brother-in-law by firing him.
I mean, Sarah Palin and her husband at one time or another belonged to a group that wanted Alaska to secede from the United States.
I am sorry to say this but, if the McCain-Palin ticket wins office, there’ll be no hope left for this country. No hope not because they won but that people voted for them.
By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Friday, January 4, 1991
The Record (New Jersey) | Four Star B | NEWS | Page B01
The Valley Hospital operating-room staff was reassigned and all non-emergency operations were suspended Thursday after six employees were treated for illness from an unknown odor, a hospital spokeswoman said. The employees, including nurses and technicians, smelled the odor while they were in a lounge for the operating-room staff, said Eileen Lumpkin, director of marketing and public relations for the Ridgewood hospital. Lumpkin declined to identify the employees who became ill, but said they suffered headaches, itchy eyes, and nausea. About 50 patients will be rescheduled because of the suspension of non-emergency operations, she said. The suspensions will remain in effect today to allow for analysis of the air in the area and inspection of the heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning system, Lumpkin said. Two of the hospital’s six operating rooms will continue to be used for emergency operations, she said. Lumpkin said workers in areas adjacent to the operating rooms, which are served by the same heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning system, were told of the problem, but no illness was reported in those areas. Some employees complained Wednesday about fumes in the lounge, but the smell became “dominant” Thursday, she said, adding that fumes were noticed in the past but they weren’t strong enough to cause sickness. Lumpkin said Michael W. Azzara, president of Valley Hospital, met with the hospital staff Thursday morning to assure them that the hospital is doing all it can to find the source of the fumes. Richard Van Hassle, hospital vice president, said: “We don’t know what it was, and that is what we are trying to find out. What we have done is called in this environmental company to test the air and a professional engineer to review the air-handling equipment to determine the cause of the problem. “ Atlantic Environmental Inc. of Dover and Chet Vogel, an engineer from New York City, were hired by the hospital to do the work, Lumpkin said. The hospital also is investigating whether the fumes came from trucks at a construction site near the operating rooms, she said. Lisa Levy, industrial-hygiene supervisor for the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration, said the agency was notified of the incident but did not investigate because the employees were treated and released.
Keywords: RIDGEWOOD; HOSPITAL; EMPLOYMENT; HEALTH; PROBE; AIR
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