# Iowa senator Joni Ernst chokes during lunch (11/30/23); Dr. Rand Paul does Heimlich maneuver **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [November 30, 2023, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iowa-senator-joni-ernst-chokes-during-lunch-11-30-23-dr-rand-paul-does-heimlich-maneuver/993927 "2023-11-30T23:18:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2023, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iowa-senator-joni-ernst-chokes-during-lunch-11-30-23-dr-rand-paul-does-heimlich-maneuver/993927/1 "2023-11-30T23:18:44Z")
She’s one of my senators, unfortunately, and I don’t have much use for Rand Paul either, but I am glad she’s okay, “choking on woke politics” notwithstanding, and that someone who knew what they were doing was available. > **[Sen. Rand Paul performed Heimlich maneuver on choking Sen. Joni Ernst during...](https://www.wgem.com/2023/11/30/sen-rand-paul-performed-heimlich-maneuver-choking-sen-joni-ernst-during-gop-lunch/?fbclid=IwAR1Qa0jF_lusN982yAM8GlQ8rDiYwBtJf_5Xq7_FPtLt7HVVittexj-atnA)** > > Sen. Joni Ernst, a Republican from Iowa, was choking on food during a luncheon Thursday when fellow Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky performed the Heimlich maneuver on her. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2023, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iowa-senator-joni-ernst-chokes-during-lunch-11-30-23-dr-rand-paul-does-heimlich-maneuver/993927/2 "2023-12-01T00:46:17Z")
Trying to work in ball removal here but it’s just not happening. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2023, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iowa-senator-joni-ernst-chokes-during-lunch-11-30-23-dr-rand-paul-does-heimlich-maneuver/993927/3 "2023-12-01T00:58:43Z")
The fuck is “Choking on woke politics”? No, I’m not clicking on your poorly described link. Describe better in your post if you want to make a point. Or don’t, if you just want to post clickbait. Seriously, is this fucking fecebook, or what? (Misspelling retained for value.) ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2023, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iowa-senator-joni-ernst-chokes-during-lunch-11-30-23-dr-rand-paul-does-heimlich-maneuver/993927/4 "2023-12-01T01:35:46Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > The fuck is “Choking on woke politics”? No, I’m not clicking on your poorly described link. Describe better in your post if you want to make a point. > Or don’t, if you just want to post clickbait. Seriously, is this fucking fecebook, or what? It’s a link to an article from the AP which was posted on WGEM, a Quincy, Illinois NBC affiliate. The “choking on woke politics” is a quote from the article by Ernst. Go ahead and click on it, it won’t hurt you (except to read the above quote and a Lindsey Graham comment ). ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2023, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iowa-senator-joni-ernst-chokes-during-lunch-11-30-23-dr-rand-paul-does-heimlich-maneuver/993927/5 "2023-12-01T02:42:48Z")
I mean, most Repubican politicians probably would sputter and struggle to breathe if they had to treat the majority of Americans like human beings. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2023, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iowa-senator-joni-ernst-chokes-during-lunch-11-30-23-dr-rand-paul-does-heimlich-maneuver/993927/6 "2023-12-01T05:16:30Z")
They sure wouldn’t if they could treat the majority like soon-to-be-castrated pigs. ---
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2023, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iowa-senator-joni-ernst-chokes-during-lunch-11-30-23-dr-rand-paul-does-heimlich-maneuver/993927/7 "2023-12-01T13:56:56Z")
It’s sad that someone can be so pathetically partisan that their reaction after choking severely enough to need the Heimlich is to crack a joke about “choking on woke policies.” ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2023, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iowa-senator-joni-ernst-chokes-during-lunch-11-30-23-dr-rand-paul-does-heimlich-maneuver/993927/8 "2023-12-01T14:07:42Z")
She’s just continuing the proud tradition of Anita Bryant, whose response to being pied in the face by a gay-rights activist was “At least it’s a fruit pie.” ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2023, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iowa-senator-joni-ernst-chokes-during-lunch-11-30-23-dr-rand-paul-does-heimlich-maneuver/993927/9 "2023-12-01T14:23:50Z")
Upon further review, I reacted too harshly to the OP. Apologies. I will try to do better. ---
**Author:** ![Chisquirrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6bbea6/32.png) [@Chisquirrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chisquirrel)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2023, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iowa-senator-joni-ernst-chokes-during-lunch-11-30-23-dr-rand-paul-does-heimlich-maneuver/993927/10 "2023-12-01T15:47:59Z")
WTF is Ernst talking about? The only woke policies affecting the constituents of the Senator is welfare for farmers. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2023, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iowa-senator-joni-ernst-chokes-during-lunch-11-30-23-dr-rand-paul-does-heimlich-maneuver/993927/11 "2023-12-01T16:47:12Z")
It really does have that “fulfill our stupid obsession and all our problems are solved” quality reminiscent of Goering’s “if a single bomb falls on Berlin, you can call me Maier.” (Maier being a stereotypical Jewish first name). ---
**Author:** ![eschrodinger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschrodinger/32/122_2.png) [@eschrodinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschrodinger)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2023, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iowa-senator-joni-ernst-chokes-during-lunch-11-30-23-dr-rand-paul-does-heimlich-maneuver/993927/12 "2023-12-02T19:48:26Z")
I guess he’s not keeping up on the current recommendations. The Red Cross doesn’t recommend using abdominal thrusts unless you’ve first tried 5 back blows and been unsuccessful. (And they don’t call the abdominal thrusts the Heimlich maneuver any more.) [First aid for someone who is choking](https://www.redcross.org.uk/first-aid/learn-first-aid/choking#:~:text=Hit%20them%20firmly%20on%20their,allow%20them%20to%20breathe%20again). ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2023, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iowa-senator-joni-ernst-chokes-during-lunch-11-30-23-dr-rand-paul-does-heimlich-maneuver/993927/13 "2023-12-02T20:09:29Z")
> [@eschrodinger](#): > > The Red Cross doesn’t recommend using abdominal thrusts unless you’ve first tried 5 back blows and been unsuccessful. (And they don’t call the abdominal thrusts the Heimlich maneuver any more.) > **[Heimlich, developer of maneuver to save choking victims, dead at 96](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-people-heimlich-idUSKBN1460QS/)** > > Henry Heimlich, the medical maverick who came up with a maneuver credited with saving thousands of choking victims but who damaged his standing as a proponent of the curative powers of malaria, died on Saturday at the age of 96. > _In 1986, it was officially recommended as the primary anti-choking technique by the Red Cross, although the organization would reverse that decision in 2006, saying “abdominal thrusts” should only be a secondary method._ > > _As the Heimlich Maneuver became part of American culture, its namesake sought more innovation. He thought his technique should also be used to clear mucus from the lungs during an asthma attack and was better than cardiopulmonary resuscitation for drowning victims - claims that were dismissed by authorities such as the Red Cross and the American Medical Association._ > > _Heimlich damaged his credibility further by espousing malaria therapy, saying the high fevers of malaria stimulated the body’s immune system enough to counter AIDS, cancer and Lyme disease._ > > _The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention discounted that theory, but under Heimlich’s direction, human malaria therapy trials were conducted in Mexico, China and Africa because they would never have been permitted in the United States._ > > _“I don’t follow all the rules if there’s a better, faster way to do it,” he told the Los Angeles Times in a 1994 interview. “If your peers understand what you’ve done, you are not being creative.”_ Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2023, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iowa-senator-joni-ernst-chokes-during-lunch-11-30-23-dr-rand-paul-does-heimlich-maneuver/993927/14 "2023-12-02T20:17:54Z")
Yeah. . .right. . .he was “doing the Heimlich maneuver”. Oh Rand, you naughty boy. ---
**Author:** ![Tride](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tride/32/13907_2.png) [@Tride](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tride)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2023, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iowa-senator-joni-ernst-chokes-during-lunch-11-30-23-dr-rand-paul-does-heimlich-maneuver/993927/15 "2023-12-02T21:36:06Z")
Obligatory Bloom County “It’s not… Hind Lick?” ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2023, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iowa-senator-joni-ernst-chokes-during-lunch-11-30-23-dr-rand-paul-does-heimlich-maneuver/993927/16 "2023-12-02T22:53:58Z")
Oh, believe me, in the early days of AIDS, scientists were throwing pretty much everything at it, hoping it would stick. Malaria therapy WAS a legitimate treatment for syphilis in the pre-penicillin era, especially for people who were not candidates for, or could not tolerate, therapy with bismuth or arsenicals, which as the name implies could be brutal, and lasted as long as 18 months. It’s where the word “chemotherapy” originated, and was every bit as feared as cancer treatment. Anyway, Dr. Heimlich made headlines when he actually used his “treatment” at his retirement home. [https://www.cnn.com/2016/05/27/us/heimlich-inventor-uses-maneuver/index.html](https://www.cnn.com/2016/05/27/us/heimlich-inventor-uses-maneuver/index.html)