Toxic Gas At Romney Hotel
Being a watcher of not just politics but also the mainstream media which covers the subject (or at least attempts to), I am always a bit confused as to what merits the national media's attention. Why, for instance, is one horrific kidnapping or murder/suicide elevated to national obsession by the editors, when dozens of similar crimes go unreported? On a less dramatic level, why does one political soundbite or anecdote get covered by everyone in the punditary echo chamber, when others never even rate a mention?
Which is why I'm scratching my head today at the absence of headlines like the one at the top of this article in the national media. While the actual facts of the case are pretty mundane, the juxtaposition of a major presidential candidate would have allowed for even more sensationalistic headlines than mine (it's easy to come up with a "screaming banner" for the story, one would think).
The facts of the incident, as reported by a local television station:
Mitt Romney left a posh Monterey hotel just hours before it was evacuated Monday because a toxic gas flowed through the hotel's ventilation system and sickened 30.
Romney was an overnight guest at the Portola Plaza Hotel and Spa. But he left to catch a flight just before toxic chemicals were spilled in a laundry room and poisoned the air at 9:30 a.m., Romney's campaign staff told KSBW.
Thirty Portola Plaza Hotel and Spa employees were transported to local hospitals to be evaluated for possible pulmonary injuries. No one was seriously injured.
The health hazard was caused by housekeeping staff members who were mixing bleach with other chemicals in a laundry room, Monterey Fire Division Chief Paul Goodwin said.
A couple of things likely contributed to the national media not picking up the story. The first was that it wasn't immediately known, when the story broke, that Mitt Romney had been at the hotel. Apparently, he kind of sneaked in to Monterey, California, coincidentally when a pro/am tournament was being held at the nearby Pebble Beach golf club, most likely to raise some campaign cash from wealthy attendees (Tiger Woods played this year, so there were big crowds). In the two-week lull between primaries, many candidates are using the time wisely to raise a bunch of money for the next stretch, which includes Super Tuesday. And, one assumes (one has to assume, never having been invited oneself), that the planeload of reporters that follow Mitt Romney around these days was not invited to this particular event (fundraisers aren't always open to the public or the media).
The second reason the story likely didn't "have legs" is that it was pretty quickly confirmed that this was nothing more than an accident. Our mothers all (again, one assumes) warned us severely against EVER mixing bleach and ammonia, because it produces a cloud of chlorine gas -- which can kill you. This is apparently all that happened. The gas was sucked into the ventilating system, and some people got sick and went to the hospital, but nobody was seriously injured.
But still, even having said all of that, one might wonder why the story wasn't even mentioned by the national media. Granted, it happened far away from the East Coast, but so do many campaign stories. The actual details were known so quickly that the knee-jerk media response ("We cannot say at this point if this could have been a TERRORIST ATTACK or not...") didn't have a chance to get off the ground.
But these aspects haven't stopped other such "non-stories" from rising to national attention. With so much media focus on the Republican candidates right now, you'd think at least someone would have jumped on the story just for the humorous-headline aspect alone (again, it's pretty easy to come up with a knee-slapper of a headline -- especially since nobody was seriously injured in the incident).
With just about every aspect of every presidential candidate being microscopically scrutinized at the moment, and a media horde starving for new candidate stories, I still admit to being fascinated more by the stories the media chooses not to report than the stories that they do decide to obsess over.
-- Chris Weigant
Follow Chris on Twitter: @ChrisWeigant
OK, everyone --
Just answered everyone's comments from about the past week, except for the usual Friday free-for-all, which I skipped for now (and let me just say, Whitney Houston showed a WHOLE LOT of singers how to perform the National Anthem a few years back), so click back to see my comments. I apologize again for being remiss in this area, but the work on the book continues, and there are only so many hours in the day...
-CW
(and let me just say, Whitney Houston showed a WHOLE LOT of singers how to perform the National Anthem a few years back),
When yer right, yer right... I have been checking out a lot of her videos the last couple days. And her rendition of the Star Spangled Banner was flawless...
The wife and I even sat down the other night and watched THE BODYGUARD. Unlike many, I am quite the Costner fan as well. I even loved THE POSTMAN :D
Michale
Going off on a slight tangent..
I would like to nominate the Iranian agent in Thailand for the prestigious DARWIN AWARD.
As many of you know, the DARWIN is awarded to people who have done the world a great favor by taking themselves OUT of the gene pool...
What did the Iranian agent do to earn the nomination??
Seems after being spotting planting a bomb on an Israeli's diplomat's wife's vehicle (three possessives! A new record!! :D), the would-be bomber threw a grenade at approaching police...
The agent's aim was a tad off...
The grenade hit a tree, bounced BACK towards the agent and detonated, blowing off both his legs...
While this didn't kill the Iranian agent, we can safely assume that any ..er.. equipment necessary for reproduction was lost in the blast.
I can mentally picture the guy's expression when he saw that grenade flying BACK at him...
http://tundratabloids.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Shocked.bmp
:D
Back to our regularly scheduled political mayhem... :D
Michale
When yer right, yer right... I have been checking out a lot of her videos the last couple days. And her rendition of the Star Spangled Banner was flawless...
Don't take my word for it....
sjfm.us/temp/WhitneyStarSpangledBanner.avi
And then there is my favorite, my ABSOLUTE favorite Whitney music video
sjfm.us/temp/WannaDanceWithSomebody.avi
You'll have to cut and paste the italicized links...
Michale
If I might join Michale in going off on a slight tangent, it would appear that O's "mandate" is already halfway down the crapper before it's even hit the USSC: http://campaign2012.washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/omb-director-undercuts-legal-case-obamacare/376561
What the article neglects to mention is that if the failure to purchase a "mandated" policy doesn't constitute a tax, that makes it a punishment. And the administration purposely didn't want to position it as a punishment, for constitutional reasons, because that would only serve to weaken their case.
I never thought that CrapCare would pass Constitutional Muster....
I didn't expect, though, that the Obama Administration would join in sounding the death knell...
CW had it right a while back.. If Obama had dropped the mandate himself, he might not be looking at the impending huge black eye, courtesy of the SCOTUS....
Michale.....
Meanwhile, back on the campaign trail...
When a sportscaster says that the menu at a Golfer's picnic will be watermelon and fried chicken because of Tiger Woods, that's racist...
But when the Obama campaign manager says that all the GOP can offer Latino's is a "chimichanga", that is NOT racist...
Do I have my racist stereotypes correct???
Michale.....
Wait....
I think I can tie in a "chimichanga" with "toxic gas".....
Gimme a second...
:D
Michale.....
"Toxic gas" describes most of the words that come out of Mitt Romney's mouth.
"Toxic gas" describes most of the words that come out of Mitt Romney's mouth.
No, that's not it...
:D
Michale.....
Michale: CW had it right a while back.. If Obama had dropped the mandate himself, he might not be looking at the impending huge black eye, courtesy of the SCOTUS....
I can't even begin to tell you how many times I've raised that same point at the HuffPo. O has passed up so many golden opportunities to just kill that sucker and spare himself the humiliation of having his "constitutional law instructor" credentials rendered a running late-night TV joke. This is the man's "flagship legislation," mind you. How bad is THAT gonna look? Exactly how much fodder does he want to hand to the Right and their Super PACs? It's so easy to just come up with something -- anything -- to offer as reason to kill it. He can hold up the polls that show the majority of Americans who don't want the mandate, and generously decided to kill it and ask congress to construct a Plan-B.
O should pray that the Supremes end up handing something back to the lower court, for some reason or another, which will at least delay things until after the election. Because I sincerely don't see how this can possibly be ruled constitutional by the USSC. I just don't get whatever was in Pelosi/Reid/O's heads when they decided to actually go through with this "mandate."
Michale [7] -
He was actually quoting an article in the Washington Post who was paraphrasing something John McCain said...
And you guys seem to be counting chickens pre-hatch on the Supremes. You never know what that bunch will do, I hasten to remind you.
-CW
Chris:You never know what that bunch will do, I hasten to remind you.
You sure are right about that. I'm having a hard time imagining Kennedy swinging over in the direction of a King George-style "mandate," though. I don't think he wants to find himself wearing a mandatory hat someday because Czarina Sebilius has ordered him to. LOL. Sorry, but I'm not seeing it.
And you guys seem to be counting chickens pre-hatch on the Supremes. You never know what that bunch will do, I hasten to remind you.
Like you, I don't see how the SCOTUS can come to any other conclusion other than that the mandate is unconstitutional..
Really the ONLY question, the only drama, is going to be whether or not Obama loses or loses REALLY big..
Obama will lose if the mandate is ruled unconstitutional but the SCOTUS says that it can be separated from CrapCare...
Obama will lose REALLY big if the SCOTUS rules that the mandate is unconstitutional but cannot be separated from CrapCare, hence CrapCare must die..
What an election year present that will be for the GOP, eh??
Michale.....
He was actually quoting an article in the Washington Post who was paraphrasing something John McCain said...
Got a cite??
I would be very interested in the context, but it WAS said in a tweet by a twit :D so I don't know how Messina could have included the context...
Regardless, on the face of it, it looks pretty bad for Messina...
Michale.....
He was actually quoting an article in the Washington Post who was paraphrasing something John McCain said...
Never mind, found it..
It's a weak connection. McCain was talking about the chimichanga in relation to his home state of Arizona, not in relation to Hispanics...
No matter how you slice it, Messina's tweet was racist..
Imagine the outcry from the Left if Romney's campaign manager tweet'ed something along the lines of "Looks like the menu @ the White House is fried chicken and watermelon"
The Left would go absolutely bat-shit over that...
I'm just sayin'....
Michale.....
It's so easy to just come up with something -- anything -- to offer as reason to kill it. He can hold up the polls that show the majority of Americans who don't want the mandate, and generously decided to kill it and ask congress to construct a Plan-B
There is one reason why Obama can't do that.... And it's the same reason why I think Obama will lose BIG over at the SCOTUS..
It's because the mandate is inseparable from the legislation..
The entire backbone of the legislation relies on the mandate to function...
The mandate give the Insurance companies reason to cover pre-existing conditions and all the other '+'s that Obama touts about CrapCare..
W/o the mandate, Insurance Companies are basically going to say, "frak this" and not do diddly squat....
Without the mandate, you don't have the Insurance Companies on board..
Without the Insurance Companies on board, CrapCare becomes an albatross around the neck of this country's economy rather than the savior of it..
Obama can't drop the mandate without killing CrapCare...
The SCOTUS will do it for him...
Obama's Babylon 5 will become the useless hulk of the USS Constellation that was fed to the nuetronium carrot...
If ya'all don't recognize the references, ya'all have been out of your mother's basements too long.. :D
Michale
Michale [15] -
I'll dig it out if you want me to, but just look for the original text of the tweet -- it's right there, he says he's quoting the guy in the tweet itself.
[17] -
Funny, I don't remember Supreme Court Justice Michale being sworn in... just as a thought experiment, what would you say if SCOTUS rules the ACA fully constitutional? Bonus points if you can avoid using the phrase "activist judges". Heh.
And you're mixing metaphors, my pointy-eared friend. I don't recall the USS Constellation ever appearing in Babylon 5... unless that's where it went after being sucked in to the planet-killing cornucopia... heh.
-CW
Funny, I don't remember Supreme Court Justice Michale being sworn in... just as a thought experiment, what would you say if SCOTUS rules the ACA fully constitutional?
If that happens, I would have no choice but to acknowledge that I have been sucked into the Mirror Universe where it's always Opposite Day... :D
And you're mixing metaphors, my pointy-eared friend. I don't recall the USS Constellation ever appearing in Babylon 5... unless that's where it went after being sucked in to the planet-killing cornucopia... heh.
I am indeed...
I was referring to Obama's Babylon 5 as being "the last, best hope" for his presidency...
But, it will likely be as dead as the USS Constellation before it was sucked into the neutronium carrot... :D
Dare I say it?? CrapCare is a Dunsel..... :D It serves no useful purpose...
Michale.....
I'll dig it out if you want me to, but just look for the original text of the tweet -- it's right there, he says he's quoting the guy in the tweet itself.
I wouldn't think it would matter..
Any more than it would matter to the Left if Romney's Campaign Manager said he was just quoting some sportscaster on ESPN about the "watermelon and fried chicken" crack...
I mean, consider it:
"What was it that the ESPN Sportscaster said about Fried Chicken and Watermelon?? I guess that's the menu at the White House now."
-Romney Campaign Manager
Wouldn't the Left be all over that like stink on rice, screaming "RACIST BASTARD!!!" (Thanx, David... :D I still get a laugh out of that!! :D) to the high heavens..???
I think they would and I sure you do to... :D
Michale......
Michale: It's because the mandate is inseparable from the legislation..
The entire backbone of the legislation relies on the mandate to function...
Without the mandate, you don't have the Insurance Companies on board..
Completely right on both counts. The only reason we even have a "mandate" is because the insurance lobbyist insisted that O institute it and drop the public option. And this is the guy who was gonna "change the way we do business in Washington" and "not give in to the same old special interest groups," huh? Tell me another, O.
Obama's Babylon 5 will become the useless hulk of the USS Constellation that was fed to the nuetronium carrot...
ROFLMAO! You're too much, Michale. <3
The ruling against Obamacare is definitely unhatched. It was the insurance companies that wanted the mandate. They had big money on the line, and they can count SCOTUS votes as well as we can.
It was the insurance companies that wanted the mandate.
Considering what CrapCare was going to do to the insurance companies, I would say they had a RIGHT to the mandate...
Michale....