Murkowski, duped by RFK's obvious lies, needs to admit she was conned
This is too little, too late from the concerned Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who turned off her brain and voted for RFK Jr. in February, choosing to buy the fantasy that he is competent.
Back then she said she claimed she voted for RFK because he promised that he “would do nothing to make it difficult for people to take vaccines or discourage vaccination efforts.”
“I continue to have concerns about Mr. Kennedy’s views on vaccines and his selective interpretation of scientific studies, which initially caused my misgivings about his nomination,” Murkowski said six months ago."
“These commitments are important to me and, on balance, provide assurance for my vote,” Murkowski claimed.
“Assurance for my vote.” Weasel words from the reigning Alaska champion.
Meanwhile, Sen. Dan Sullivan, the other Alaska senator, didn’t have to turn off his brain in deciding to back RFK Jr., who was confirmed on a 52-48 vote.
Sullivan was an instant supporter of RFK last November, claiming Kennedy could help make the nation healthier. “This is the kind of outside thinking that I think can kick bureaucracies into motion,” Sullivan said.
Sullivan doesn’t have to say he is concerned or that he has questions. Or that there appears to be evidence that politics are taking precedence over policy. Sullivan sides with anything that Donald Trump proposes.
Right now, I’m not sure which approach is worse.
I’ll remind you that it was in early August that Murkowski and Sullivan shared laughs with RFK Jr. as he lied about vaccines on his tour of Alaska.
Murkowski and Sullivan could have tried to prevent Kennedy’s confirmation, but they sided with ignorance and arrogance and Trump. They are culpable for the damage Kennedy is doing, which includes making future pandemics harder to stop.
Kennedy’s entire campaign for the presidency was based on lies that vaccines cause autism and are dangerous, lies about antidepressants, lies about cancer, lies about fluoride, lies about AIDS, lies about COVID and more. He spreads vaccine doubt wherever he goes, including Alaska.
The New York Times reports that RFK demanded that the CDC leader “needed to fire career agency officials and commit to backing his advisers if they recommended restricting access to proven vaccines — or risk being fired herself, according to people familiar with the events.”
“Public health leaders said the health of all Americans was at stake,” the Times said.
Monarez was confirmed in July on a 51-47 vote, backed by all Republicans, though Sullivan and Bill Hagerty of Tennessee were absent.
It’s time for Murkowski, the only Alaska senator with the ability to do something more than issue robotic statements praising Trump, to communicate clearly, admit she made a mistake in backing Kennedy and provide a plan to counter the damage he is doing. We need more than her weasel words right now.
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