About F’ing time.
Honestly at this point I think the governor should just declare Mitch to be either deceased or unable to serve and start the process of appointing a successor. Then if Mitch’s team challenges him, say look I want to be wrong please produce the Senator for an in person visit or appearance of any kind, or shut up.
Because if you strip away the politics, McConnell is there to represent the interests of his constituents. If he is unwilling or unable to do so then he should be replaced.
Yeah, there’s no excuse to not do a video conference in this day and age. Mitch could even stay in his bed, or whatever turtles sleep in.
There’s like 20 things he could do all the way from a public appearance down to simply releasing medical records. He’s doing none of them.
When evaluating such things, I look at motivation. I put myself in the other person’s shoes, and ask what set of circumstances or motivations would cause me to act as I am?
Take for example the lot of people who make outlandish claims about hover propulsion, free energy from drinking water, etc.
I put myself in those shoes, and I say ‘okay, I just built a device that turns water into power. What do I do?’
Most likely I patent the thing, build 50 of them, and send them off to research labs for evaluation. When everyone concludes my thing works, I start licensing the patents for $billions and I retire.On the other hand, let’s say I invent a water-to-power machine but it doesn’t work. What do I do? I act sketchy, try to appeal to people without much sense, try to get their money.
Which one more matches the behavior of the person advertising the free energy machine? The second one? Then I guess it’s probably bullshit.
Same deal here. If I was McConnell or his staff and I was alive and was going to return to the Senate, I’d post a video, I’d release medical records, I’d do something to reassure my constituents that I will continue to represent them.
On the other hand if I was a political director for a dead or brain-dead or almost-dead Senator, and I didn’t want the opposing Governor to appoint a successor, I’d do whatever it took to delay the world realizing that the Senator won’t be returning ever. Delay, Deny, Defend. Then once the deadline passes, we announce the Senator has ‘made an unfortunate turn for the worse’ and no longer is able to return. And our defense against fraud is someone we pay off to swear that when our brain-dead comatose Senator was asked if he’d return, his eyelids twitched twice for yes.Yeah, pretty hard to argue against that. Not sure of the details but I imagine there must be some near-term date they’re stalling to reach - no way they could keep this ruse up through the end of his term.
Next Monday.
If he’s found dead or unable to conduct his duties before then, there’s a special election. If that happens after Monday, the seat simply remains vacant until it’s filled January with whomever wins the regular election.
Assuming what’s happening is what we all think/know is happening I would really love to see someone go to jail over this.
Justice in the US no longer comes from the increasingly corrupt legal system. So don’t get your hopes up.
Oh I have no hopes at all. I’d hope that Dems might press it but they seem consistently determined to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory by ignoring their voters’ calls for reform and nominating boring, status-quo candidates like Kamala Harris while actively sidelining more energetic reform-minded candidates. Not to mention half the shit GW Bush did was actively unconstitutional if not actively classifiable as a war crime, IE torture memos, warrantless wiretapping, etc, and the Dems did fuck all about it when they took power.
Like in chess.
When your opponent puts you in a bad move, sometimes putting them in a bad position is the best way to get out of your bad position.
Force his hand.
I thought the best way to get out of a bad position is to avoid getting into one in the first place?
I mean it is, but you cant stop the GOP from doing something like this, so you gotta fight back and make them react to your move.
Imagine not showing up to your job for 43 days and even the governor is demanding that you do something, but you’re just like “nah” and nothing happens to you and you keep your job.
#nokings?
Well all you have to do is work hard enough to buy your own lawless reality. They’re living the American dream, I think?
The actual one, yeah.
Call for the special election anyway.
If he’s alive he’s gotta say something to stop it.
That’s what I’ve been saying: Call their bluff, by appointing a replacement, and make them sue the state to stop it. The only way to stop it is to demonstrate to the judge that the Turtle is still swimming, and if he is, then great, MAGA wins.
But if they can’t, MAGA’s got some ‘splainin’ to do.
It’s fucking infuriating that they haven’t done this. If the parties were reversed, there would be no kid gloves.
The last decade has really shown us how much of our system of government is operated on the handshake agreement not to be complete and utter piece of shit assholes to the detriment of our society, and the Republican party has made it abundantly clear they are done with that agreement.
Kentucky Gov sends sternly worded letter.
Hello everyone it’s me Mitch. Im doing well. Thanks for all th
If he didn’t lockup at the end I might not have believed it.
thanks for the update we were worried about you be safe see you soon
Yet, the Democratic governor of Kentucky continues to be a chicken-shit coward. He has the power to end this now, but he’s too much of a coward to do anything. He can simply declare the seat vacant by death or incapacitation and call for a special election. If McConnell still walks among the living, then he can show up in court to prove his health quite easily. It would be the quickest court case ever.
This is squarely on the hands of that sniveling coward Governor Beshear.
Yep, completely gutless/meaningless: “If the Senator is unable to respond for either of those or other conditions, consider this letter a demand for his Senate staff to be honest and transparent with the people of Kentucky.”
It should be a specific date and time when he’ll start the replacement process with a specific date and time when he expects the new person to be sworn in.
He can simply declare the seat vacant by death or incapacitation and call for a special election.
Can he actually?
Waaaah, but what if we caaaan’t? What if it doesn’t work? What if the courts just overrule it?
Who fucking cares if it doesn’t work? Try it anyway and quit being a god-damn child.
Let’s stop this self-defeating, surrender-in-advance attitude. Here’s an idea. Try having a god damned backbone. Try it anyway and see if it sticks. As long as you have a half-decent legal case, give it a go.
Liberals are shiftless cowards. Republicans will happily try a dozen things out, expecting only one or two of them to hold up in court. Democrats second-guess themselves into paralysis.
I love how criticize Republicans for doing certain things and then also Democrats for not doing those things.
Really makes a lot sense.
It seems lost a noun.
You said he could and I was curious if that was an official thing he could do as a part of the process.
That’s all I was asking.
The problem is that the right just does the thing five fucking times over while the left wrings their hands about how they might be perceived for even considering the thing.
It works because they think the whole pearl clutching act from the right is genuine. It never fucking is. It’s a cudgel.
I’m not sure how this can ever be fixed because the left tends to genuinely care about doing things ethically. The right knows this and uses it. There’s no way to stop it without fundamentally changing our ethics (and losing our ideology in the process).
We have to be mindful of this strategy and stop giving the benefit of the doubt to people who abuse it as a means to an end. To literally kill people for being trans, for example.
If trump has taught me anything, it’s that lawmakers can do whatever the fuck they want and let the courts sort it out later. And then maybe ignore the courts anyway.
Jump down into the shit with the pigs then. “Republicans will happily try a dozen things out, expecting only one or two of them to hold up in court.” Yeah that’s one of their worst traits, they’re fundamentally acting in bad faith all the time. That’s WHY they’re willing to do this McConnell bullshit. That’s why McConnell was willing to block Merrick Garland’s supreme court confirmation the way he did, and then do a 180 to push Trump’s nominee through. They DO. NOT. CARE. about acting in good faith.
To the extent that Democrats refrain from that kind of behavior I applaud them. You’re right a Republican Governor in this position would happily have pulled the trigger on this awhile ago because when they ask themselves “do I actually have the authority to do this thing? Can I do this thing without negative consequences?” they’re absolutely fine if only the second question can be answered with a yes.
Historically it took killing millions to defeat fascism.
You’re not even willing to be a little rude.
Sure. Whether or not its constitutional, etc. is really beside the point. Any official challenge to the governor’s declaration would necessarily involve demonstrating that McConnell is alive and well (or not). In either outcome, the question of the governor’s authority would be moot.
My issue is that we now see how these types of actions aren’t punished, and it’s becoming a race to the bottom. I’m concerned the system will collapse, and not in the way that births a system that’s better for the world.
I don’t know what the best step forward is but I suppose it would be to come out on top during the race and hope for the best.
I wouldn’t like to be the guy that claimed mitch mcconnell was dead and then having to recuse myself because he comes to the court.
And I would get laughed at in the internet
Oh no better do nothing instead of risking being embarrassed then
Can you really be a DNC ghoul if you aren’t prepared to preserve decorum at the cost of everything else?
Why would you have to recuse yourself. Just say glad to see you’re alive Mitch and cancel the election.
McConnell doing what he’s best at: stalling
So we’re calling mildly worded letters an order now? He’s doing the same bullshit everyone else does. Every week that gets added to this he writes another letter. MF the deadline for the election is next week.
For context Senator Ben Lujan from New Mexico got BRAIN SURGERY after a STROKE. He returned to work after a little over a month. He took less time off than McConnell has had for what is allegedly only a minor case of Pneumonia.
Why does Trump get carté blanché but when it’s anyone else they just throw their hands in the air. Beshear needs to just hold the special election. Watch how fast they provide information.
Props to Senator Lujan. One month after any surgery is intense, let alone brain surgery.
Guys. Guys. I’ve got it. This is poetry.
Show us your death certificate
Or else what?
He has instructed the liberal establishment to prepare their strongest worded letters.
He has instructed the liberal establishment to prepare their strongest worded letters.
My question is simple if the august 3rd? deadline is reached and then they announce he is deceased and has been what recourse do we have? The reason i understand they have not announced it is to prevent maisie from running in a special election. I do believe mcconell is likely passed or fully unresponsive.
This is turtle’s last fuck you to ethics and decency
The next admin can go after his staff for defrauding the government.
Is this a firm “day after it doesn’t matter” deadline?
They’ll update on August 3rd to avoid the special election
He’s passed on! This senator is no more! He has ceased to be! He’s expired and gone to meet his maker! He’s a stiff! Bereft of life, he rests in peace! If they hadn’t nailed him to the hospital bed he’d be pushing up the daisies! His metabolic processes are now history! He’s off the twig! He’s kicked the bucket, he’s shuffled off his mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the choir invisible!! HE IS AN EX-SENATOR!!
His soul has left, but his shite remains
Nope! Chuck Testa.
Mitch “The Bitch” McConnell is a traitor who made a career out of obstructing progress for the American people. It’s no surprise that he’s chosen to continue obstructing progress as his final act.
It can’t come soon enough. Not that the treasonous Republican party is going to offer anyone better to fill his position.
