Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

A consequence of cucumbers

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

You can’t love your country only when you win.

So many bastards, so little time.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier for them to cheat.

“I never thought they’d lock HIM up,” sobbed a distraught member of the Lock Her Up Party.

Happy indictment week to all who celebrate!

Tick tock motherfuckers!

I’m sure you banged some questionable people yourself.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

After roe, women are no longer free.

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires

As long as McCarthy is Speaker, the House will never be in order.

Let’s finish the job.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

Fani Willis claps back at Trump chihuahua, Jim Jordan.

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

I really should read my own blog.

You are here: Home / Politics / Weekend at Mitch’s

Weekend at Mitch’s

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I’m not sure if you all saw it, but all our thoughts and prayers are coming through and Mitch McConnell apparently had a mini-stroke on live tv yesterday:

Then the Minority Leader of the World’s Greatest Retirement Home Greatest Deliberative Body was, instead of being ushered back to his office to write a letter of resignation was ushered back to the podium to say “EVERYTHING IS FINE WHO AM I WHAT AM I DOING HERE.”

For those of you who say I shouldn’t be so giddy about this or that they “wouldn’t wish this on anyone,” well, you’re just a better person than me. This person is a fucking monster and my only regret is he didn’t die already in a great deal of pain. There are VERY few people who have caused more pain for the American people (Reagan, Laffer, Grover Norquist, Leonard Leo come to mind) than this piece of shit, and his unprincipled hyper-partisanship is a major reason we are in the mess we are in politically. So fuck him, and may he keep falling and freezing up until he finally, at long last, drops dead and rots away, with his flesh finally becoming as rancid as his soul.

Reader Interactions

204Comments

  2. 2.

    BR

    There’s something bad going around in congress and Dems are strangely buying into it — there are a bunch of surveillance bills that Dems in the Senate are teaming up with some of the most odious GOPers to push. These bills together will undermine privacy on the Internet and make it super easy for red state AGs to get data on all kinds of data they are openly saying they are planning to demand, such as data on women and queer folks that don’t live according to their “values”. Here’s a summary, I’ve been calling my senators — I think it’s worth us all calling our Dem senators and asking why they’re ignoring queer and abortion rights orgs and pushing ahead with these:
    https://www.badinternetbills.com/​

  5. 5.

    Alison Rose

    What pisses me off is JUST FUCKING IMAGINE if this had happened to Biden. My God, the right would be howling so loudly for him to resign, aliens in other solar systems would be asking each other who “Biden” was.

    Also, compare the way they’ve talked about Fetterman to this. Now personally, I don’t wish death on people (except putin), but I will agree that McConnell has spent his entire miserable life trying to destroy the lives of anyone who doesn’t give him money and that his presence on Earth is a net negative. But the right’s nastiness toward Fetterman was just “he’s a Democrat so he should die”.

  6. 6.

    Cacti

    I only regret that he didn’t go toes up on camera.

    I also remember some BJers saying how wrong it would be to have a mandatory retirement age for elected politicians.

    Hooray gerontocracy!

  7. 7.

    Almost Retired

    After viewing this video, some of you may have googled “signs of a stroke.”  I googled “signs of demonic possession.”

  10. 10.

    Redshift

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Given the state of the current Republican party his replacement will be worse than him

    Probably not worse (for us) in ability to get things done, however. There’s no shortage of people with horrible beliefs and intentions on their side, but they’re short on competence, which is where McConnell stands out.

  11. 11.

    bleh

    What I’m waiting for is the slow dribble of stories from “anonymous Senate staffers” and “people who see McConnell regularly” about how this is just the latest episode in a long series (there was already one about several falls in the recent past) and how staff and colleagues have been covering for him for some time and yada yada yada.

    I would guess the first open calls for him to “step aside” will come from “unaffiliated” conservative groups, and then the real open horse-trading can begin.

    Who’s gonna win?  Thune is probably best positioned to step in. Cornyn might also work.  Rand Paul has been gunning for McConnell for a while but he’s too damn dumb.  Johnson and Kennedy and Tuberville (!) ditto. Ernst is a loudmouth who’s full of herself but I can’t see them electing a woman.  Barrasso’s in the leadership but he’s just a newbie.  Grassley’s in even worse shape than McConnell.  Graham is too spineless.  Cotton and Hawley and Vance are probably too abrasive and too young.  Everybody hates Cruz.  I dunno … not a very deep bench.

  14. 14.

    Hungry Joe

    I’ve read that all three of his daughters are out-front progressive Democrats. Not sure if they’re estranged from Turtle. (Or is he now Turtle Soup?)

  15. 15.

    schrodingers_cat

    @J.: Because they are the party of the most powerful demographic in this country. The demographic that is considered the default. That’s the reason they punch above their weight

    They are the white people’s party.

  18. 18.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    McConnell was not trump’s only enabler and protector, but he was IM not even a little H O the single most important one. He has consistently put his own ideological interests, and probably personal score-keeping, winning for the sake of winning, ahead of the interests of country.

    He said in Obama’s first term that his overriding goal was to make Obama a one-term POTUS, and when he failed at that, said that telling Obama he would not fill Scalia’s seat was the greatest moment of his political life (and he has no personal life, his daughters don’t speak to him and his marriage is a business arrangement that makes trump’s look like Lifetime movie love stories.).

    If anything I’ve been disappointed by all the rather precious “Remember, he’s a human being” and “Let us not become what we despise” scolding on left twitter.

    Fuck him. I wish him a good five years of impotent suffering before he finally snuffs it.

  21. 21.

    Butch

    @bleh: Actually it’s started – if you go to NBC you’ll see a story about how he face planted getting off a plane at Reagan Airport in DC.

    I had to go through medic/first aid training to become a divemaster.  You don’t actually become a medic, but you’re taught to recognize symptoms and try to stabilize the situation until actual medics arrive.  Based on that training and the way his face drooped suddenly, I’d say there’s no question it was a mild stroke or TIA.

  23. 23.

    Trollhattan

    McConnell is a proud thief of two SCOTUS seats at the bare minimum. His sins will haunt us long after he’s gone so let’s get on with that first bit.

  26. 26.

    Brachiator

    @Alison Rose:

    What pisses me off is JUST FUCKING IMAGINE if this had happened to Biden. My God, the right would be howling so loudly for him to resign, aliens in other solar systems would be asking each other who “Biden” was.

    McConnell is 81. He probably should retire.

    Voters may rethink voting for some very senior candidates in upcoming elections.

    Except for incumbents, in general, in a primary, I will not vote for any candidate who would be older than 77 when completing the second term of an elective office.

  27. 27.

    Turgidson

    @bleh:

     

    If Thune took over, David Brooks would swoon so hard I’d feel the breeze on the west coast.  He’s always had a crush on the “prairie himbo” as I think DougJ/pitchbot called him.

  28. 28.

    Trivia Man

    Let me just add J Edgar Hoover to the list of epic monsters that damaged America and caused untold suffering and damage.

  29. 29.

    rikyrah

    Andrew Desiderio (@AndrewDesiderio) tweeted at 9:21 PM on Wed, Jul 26, 2023:
    New: McConnell had a previously undisclosed fall at Reagan airport on July 14, according to a person who witnessed the incident. McConnell has also been getting around crowded areas with a wheelchair lately. NBC first reported the fall tonight.
    (https://twitter.com/AndrewDesiderio/status/1684388492564992001?t=TZq9rJB9p-3CpyRhHntQiw&s=03)

     

    Interesting how we’re just finding this out

  32. 32.

    Cacti

    I’ve never really understood the sentiment that I shouldn’t gloat at some awful fucker reaching the end of their life. And Mitch has been using the power of his office to make the country worse in every conceivable way for 4 decades.

    If anything, it’s a solace that even the worst people can’t outrun the grim reaper forever.

  34. 34.

    Edmund dantes

    Yep. Starting to get the stories about him falling down in other places. He’s definitely running into some balance problems recently. It could be any number of things including just getting older.

  35. 35.

    rikyrah

    NOTHING MORE IMPORTANT THAN JUDGES

    JP Collins (@prof_jpc) tweeted at 7:01 AM on Thu, Jul 27, 2023:
    New:  Four new judicial nominees, including nominees for the Seventh and Tenth Circuits:

    JP Collins (@prof_jpc) tweeted at 7:14 AM on Thu, Jul 27, 2023:
    There’s a lot to like about these new nominees.  First, they’re both to seats in Red states. Although blue slips are not required, my understanding is that they will be returned on both nominees, ensuring confirmation without drama.  1/x
    (https://twitter.com/prof_jpc/status/1684537780007849985?t=fgFzg0qrzsvgZ5g_kWwDCA&s=03)

  36. 36.

    Juju

    I can’t bring myself to feel sorry for McConnell. Oh well. Sucks to be him. Also, Republicans are all awful people. They have no redeeming qualities as alleged human beings.

  38. 38.

    Sure Lurkalot

    There are VERY few people who have caused more pain for the American people (Reagan, Laffer, Grover Norquist, Leonard Leo come to mind) than this piece of shit

    Such a short list! But in the interest of continued brevity, I feel obliged to add Gingrich and Scalia.

  39. 39.

    rikyrah

    Cole,

    If I lived near you, I would fix you a nice dinner. Neither one of us drink, but, we can enjoy a good homecooked meal when Mitch meets his maker.

  40. 40.

    LiminalOwl

    @Almost Retired: There’s also “absence” seizres, which is what I thought aI was watching.

    And apparently he’s fallen a few times this year, and has been uusing a wheelchair.  Not that FTFNYT is going to tell us about that.

  41. 41.

    p.a.

    I second John.  I do wonder, in his present state, how effective a minority leader he is now.  Maybe the nation is better of with him sticking around ’till he’s carried out in a bag.

  42. 42.

    MattF

    My old friend E, who was a very high level Congressional staffer, called McConnell ‘a snake’, which was unusually bitter for her. Only Newt Gingrich was worse, in her opinion, and Gingrich was the one who forced her to fire a large number of people when he took over the House. So, I hold no brief for McConnell.

  44. 44.

    cain

    @Redshift: What made McConnell formidable was that he wasn’t incompetent and understood the senate. He knew how to ratfuck. The next gen are way dumber and don’t have nearly the long term vision to do things.

    No, we’re better off with the replacement – with the only caveat is the replacement will be weak and the senators will be doing all kinds of bullshit with no one to tell them to knock it off.

  45. 45.

    Cacti

    @Sure Lurkalot: Richard Nixon for the win. Sabotaged the Paris peace talks and prolonged Vietnam for his own political benefit before making terms that had been on the table for 4 years. Subverted the entire executive branch in service of his personal corruption. And finally, unleashed the War on Drugs on the American people.

    If I believed in hell, Nixon would be in the 10th circle. He’s the rotten tree that the modern GOP springs from.

  46. 46.

    MobiusKlein

    McConnell apparently wishes to not retire, but die while in office.

    Who am I to disagree with him.  I wish him the best luck, godspeed.

  47. 47.

    gene108

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Given the state of the current Republican party his replacement will be worse than him

    I doubt his replacement will have as solid a grasp of Senate rules or the donor network Mitch built up to elect Republican senators.

  49. 49.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @cain: There are two different replacements here: the senator from KY (which might indeed be a worse person, though they will not have Mitch’s power so that’s good) and the Minority Leader (who will probably be less competent, which is maybe good for us?)

  50. 50.

    Redshift

    @J.: They’ve spent decades selling their voters on the idea that government doing anything is bad. So they don’t get punished at the polls if they accomplish nothing, and leading the Two Minutes Hate is all their supporters want from them.

  51. 51.

    zhena gogolia

    I’m trying to be an adult here, but “Weekend at Mitch’s” is a great post title.

  54. 54.

    gene108

    @J.:

    And on a related note, why/how do Republicans always get away with this BS? Is it because of Fox News and the like?

    @schrodingers_cat:

    They are the white people’s party.

    More specifically they are the party of white men. In recent elections, on a national basis, between 3/5’s to 2/3’s of white men vote Republican.

    Society is still not so “woke” that we’re questioning if white men’s problems are serious or not. Their problems are always serious.

  56. 56.

    Ken

    @bleh: I dunno … not a very deep bench.

    As long as they spend months fighting among themselves, opening up divisions in their caucus, I’ll be satisfied with any outcome. Mind you, a few actual assaults leading to arrests would not be unappreciated.

    EDIT: I see Dorothy A. Winsor and bleh got there first, though I don’t think we can realistically hope for the execution of all opponents of whoever ends up on top.

  57. 57.

    piratedan

    is old enough to remember when GOP Senators were publicly praying that death would come for Democratic Senators Kennedy and Byrd before they could vote to prevent the passage of the ACA.

    That God himself would intervene to prevent people from the abomination that is affordable healthcare.

  58. 58.

    hilts

    Mitch was Trump’s most powerful enabler so the sooner he departs this mortal coil the better.

  59. 59.

    Redshift

    @p.a.: I remember Strom Thurmond, who at the end of his career couldn’t speak intelligibly except to a few aides who “interpreted” for him (always wondered about that.) It’s hard to believe they’d keep him as majority leader if that happened, but they’re so rigidly hierarchical, who knows.

  60. 60.

    Law & Disorder (Lurker)

    Does anyone think it’s coincidence that Mitch’s brain froze up on the same day someone testified in the House that aliens are real? Clearly the mothership shut down his software to avoid further detection.

  61. 61.

    MattF

    @Ken: Considering that McConnell has been holding back the likes of Rick Scott, who openly advocates ending Medicare and Social Security, worse is waiting in the wings. Here, one should shun the temptation of arguing that ‘worse is better’— that’s false, worse is worse.

  62. 62.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @hilts: Mitch is solely responsible for the Supreme Court the way it is now. He took up the challenge of getting completely unqualified people through to a set on the Court, and he made it happen.

    I hope he stays just healthy enough to stay in office till Nov 2024, but misses every vote and all other Senate business during that time. You go, Mitch!

  63. 63.

    Gravenstone

    @schrodingers_cat: His replacement in Senate seniority will likely be no worse than a push compared to Mitch. His replacement in his seat will at least be a newbie with neither Mitch’s power nor administrative ratfucking skills.

  64. 64.

    Devore

    Even better.   Kentucky has a democratic governor, and I assume Mitch would be replaced by a democrat

  67. 67.

    schrodingers_cat

    @gene108: There are enough white women married to those white men who want to preserve the hierarchies as they currently exist.

    If Rs lose the slim advantage they have with white women nationwide they will be a minority party in perpetuity. With the current attack on women they are heading there.

  68. 68.

    Josie

    @bleh: ​ You left out Scott from Florida, who has been trying to become top dog for a while now.​
     ETA: MattF sort of beat me to the punch.

  69. 69.

    brendancalling

    I also wish he had died at the podium. Just collapsed. He’s a horrible piece of shit, and I reserve the right to wish pain, humiliation, misery, and yes even death on someone like that.

    As a result of that fuckhead, my kid (who is trans) is afraid to visit me in the US. Fuck him, and I hope he winds up like Ariel Sharon.

  70. 70.

    Anotherlurker

    I agree with John, Mitch deserves all the suffering he can get.  I hope it is lingering .

    Regarding his potential replacement: she/he will be a monster but he/she will not not have the seniority or the power of the withered, stroked out homunculus.

  73. 73.

    geg6

    @Cacti:

    I’m pro letting the voters make that decision.  If they want the stroking out at a press conference octogenarian, that’s their call.

  74. 74.

    bleh

    @Josie: good point, but I’d put him almost up with Cruz.  He either mismanaged or swindled the ’22 Republican Senate campaign, so I can’t imagine he’d have too many supporters.

    I’m sure a bunch of them will “declare,” just for brand maintenance.  And probably the winner will be the one who has raised and handed out the most money in recent years.  I dunno who that is.

    @MattF: hmm, so would he pick the least insane one, to minimize the damage, or the most insane one, to maximize the probability of a loss in the next general?  I’m sure there will be no lack of candidates for the latter.

  76. 76.

    The Dark Avenger

    Dad had a TIA when he was out and about with my sister, fortunately she’s a nurse but he couldn’t talk for an hour or so and the situation scared her terribly.

  77. 77.

    Betty Cracker

    I hope Rick Scott never gets anywhere near a gavel. He’s a wily sumbitch who is constantly underestimated because he’s so cartoonishly evil and obviously corrupt and because he occasionally does dumb things like putting out a document that calls for sunsetting Medicare and SocSec right before an election. But his discipline and ability to get evil shit done behind the scenes should not be underestimated.

  78. 78.

    Anyway

    @Law & Disorder (Lurker):

    Does anyone think it’s coincidence that Mitch’s brain froze up on the same day someone testified in the House that aliens are real? Clearly the mothership shut down his software to avoid further detection.

    “testified”

  79. 79.

    Ksmiami

    @schrodingers_cat: maybe – but they won’t be as effective at throwing sand in the gears of governance. Mitch is/was a dangerous combination of ruthlessness, hyper-partisanship and administrative competence.

  80. 80.

    SoupCatcher

    @Betty Cracker:

    I have this image of Rick Scott seeing McConnell freeze and snapping to alertness like a predator, locking eyes on the target and flicking out his lizard tongue.

    I feel the tribble on top of Rand Paul’s head also started trilling in anticipation.

  87. 87.

    Skepticat

    If only he’d had a medical issue that only Merrick Garland could treat—and had the event when Garland was on vacation in another country.

  88. 88.

    Alce_e _ ardillo

    Odio a Mitch McConnell.

    Que muera en un incendio.

    (The test on this will be next Friday)

  90. 90.

    lowtechcyclist

    @MattF: ​
     

    Mitch’s replacement between now and the 2024 election would be selected by the governor from a slate proposed by the KY legislature.

    Fixed.

    I asked this question downstairs: what happens if Beshear declines to pick any of the five three names that the KY GOP puts forward? The law doesn’t appear to say.

    I think it would be cool if Beshear was able to keep that seat vacant between now and November 2024, just the way Mitch kept a certain Supreme Court seat open for a year.

    But my question for the lawyers is, would that actually be what happened if Beshear just didn’t pick anyone?

  93. 93.

    MisterForkbeard

    @geg6: I think it’s Cornyn. Thune doesn’t seem quite caustic and neanderthal enough to get the senate to vote for him, but I think Cornyn could make it work.

  94. 94.

    Roger Moore

    @MattF:

    Considering that McConnell has been holding back the likes of Rick Scott, who openly advocates ending Medicare and Social Security, worse is waiting in the wings.

    I would rather someone like Rick Scott, who openly advocates ending Medicare and Social Security, than someone like McConnell, who moves to end them behind the scenes.  I want the Republicans to be out, loud, and proud with their dumbfuckery, to the point ordinary voters can’t ignore it and pretend the Democrats are exaggerating when they say the Republicans want to end those programs.

  95. 95.

    TriassicSands

    @J.: …why/how do Republicans always get away with this BS?

    As with most of our political problems, I think it is a result of the abysmal quality of our electorate. People are kidding themselves if they think that most Democratic voters are well-informed or adequately engaged. As for Republican voters, they’re a lost cause, except in rare circumstances.

  96. 96.

    Roger Moore

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym:

    Mitch is solely responsible for the Supreme Court the way it is now.

    He is the principal architect, but he couldn’t have achieved it by himself.  He needed the coordinated backing of his whole party to make it happen.  He needed the connivance of the media to make it happen without it being a major disaster for the Republican party on the eve of the 2016 elections.

  97. 97.

    Roger Moore

    @Anotherlurker:

    I agree with John, Mitch deserves all the suffering he can get. I hope it is lingering .

    I also hope it’s lingering, though not so Mitch suffers.  I want it to be slow, lingering, and just debilitating enough that he can’t do his job while making people optimistic enough he’ll recover that they don’t push him to resign.  Is that too much to ask?

  98. 98.

    TriassicSands

    @Roger Moore: …to the point ordinary voters can’t ignore it,,,

    You may be overestimating the ability of most American voters to respond appropriately. Unless it affects voters personally and immediately, they are unlikely to change their ways. Today, there may be widespread belief that Social Security and Medicare won’t be there when most voters today retire or reach the age of eligibility. Having Republicans “take it away” might not move as many people to action as would be expected.

  99. 99.

    randal sexton

    Well this made me laugh and also , you know cringe a little.  Kind of a classic post I would say

  100. 100.

    M31

    50/50 the Kentucky GOP gets into such a poo-flinging slapfight that they can’t agree on the 3 names to send to Beshear so the seat remains vacant for months

  101. 101.

    TriassicSands

    One problem with McConnell’s condition is that it may reinforce the belief that Biden is too old. I’ve already seen that in WaPo comments. Their relative health and condition may not matter since so many people today focus only on Biden’s age and not on his health and fitness.

  103. 103.

    MattF

    @Roger Moore: There’s been a series of recent mishaps. That injury to his hand, the recent absence, plus, one assumes, other ‘events’. So, it’s happening right now.

  105. 105.

    Ruckus

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Given the state of the current rethuglican party, his replacement will be worse than him.

    FIXITFY

    The current day republican party is pretty much the same one I’ve known all my life. And I’ve got less than a year to hit 3/4 of a century. But because they have lost some power and states, like the most populated one – CA, they have become seemingly even more retrograde than they have been all my life. They want to move backwards in time and in their power level. The world moves at a faster pace than it did decades ago, we have quite a few 24 hr news advisers/advertisers, and all of them mostly tell the story of how bad the US is. And it really isn’t, other than there are far more of us now.

    The U.S. population almost quadrupled during the 20th century – at a growth rate of about 1.3% a year – from about 76 million in 1900 to 281 million in 2000. And we are now at approximately 330 million.  Los Angeles County has a larger population than 40 states. 9 million.  The point is that we (and yes the world) have a lot more people to feed and house and be in close proximity with. Some of our citizens would like to go backwards to a time they thought was better. IT WAS NOT BETTER. It was less populated. It was slower paced. It didn’t have 24 hr news telling anyone who will listen that the world is horrible and more people die every year than ever before. (They don’t say this out loud exactly – but it’s the message.) As I point out above the population of the US and the world is much larger than it used to be because humans do, like every other animal in the world – we reproduce. We do so and this is what has happened seemingly continuously since the first humans learned what those organs between our legs are for. Just like every other critter does. And conservative critters have decided that the world was a better place before, just like they have since there was more than 2 of us. How it was better they really can’t explain but before is always their concept. But they miss one rather important concept of existence. Time only moves one way – forward. We have history, now and the future. We can look forward or we can put our heads up the exhaust chute that waste comes out of but time only moves one way, forward. We don’t live, act, govern realistically if we think the world should move backwards. And the other party thinks we should slow down, return to a better time, restrict those they don’t like, act like time stands still, wait, change nothing. But change is the ONLY constant. This country, this world, has changed dramatically in the lifetimes of a not insignificant percentage of it’s population. We can see this, live like it’s happening, or we can stuff our heads up the exit chute and not see or think that it’s happening, but it is, like it or not.

  110. 110.

    mrmoshpotato

    with his flesh finally becoming as rancid as his soul.

    I think there are good odds on this being true already.  Fuck this Supreme-Court-seat-stealing, fascist shitstain!

  111. 111.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Baud: I imagine it hinges on if the law gives Beshear a timeline.

    If it doesn’t, he can just say that he can’t decide between the 3 candidates and will be giving extensive thought to the selection process. And then just continue to do that.

  116. 116.

    Jinchi

    @Redshift: Agreed, Mitch was both evil and skilled at getting his schemes done.

    And I don’t think it’s worth worrying whether the next guy will be worse. That’s the argument I keep hearing about Putin. It becomes a justification for leaving them in place.

    It’s worth getting rid of these guys whenever we can.

  121. 121.

    cain

    @TriassicSands: Everything is always going to be about Biden. I mean sure – but you know that doesn’t hold true the other way around. Nobody is going to question whether Grassley should be around.

  122. 122.

    Hungry Joe

    @TriassicSands: For decades the GOPers have been attacking Social Security by telling younger people that “It won’t be there for you when you retire,” hoping to get them to go along with ending it since there’s nothing in it for them. I started hearing this when I was in my thirties … and I’ve been drawing SS for seven years now. The deposits show up every month, right on time. Odd, huh?

  123. 123.

    Geminid

    @lowtechcyclist: Right now Andy Beshear is on track to win reelection. That would change if he left Kentucky with only one Senator in order to please out-of-state Democrats. It would shred his “Team Kentucky” brand. He’ll almost certainly appoint one of the 3 options.

    I hope he does. Kentuckians need a second Beshear term.

  125. 125.

    hueyplong

    It seems like maybe the best scenario is one in which Mitch can’t even cast votes but refuses to step down. Would cancel out the existence of Fashion-Forward Quisling, at least until some MAGAt loyalist appears in Mitch’s room with a pillow.

  127. 127.

    dww44

    @suzanne:  At what age would you set a mandatory retirement?  Would it differ for the Senate versus the House? Would you also make one for the Presidency as well as for federal judges, including the SC.?

    It’s obvious that McConnell should have retired within the last couple of years.  Dianne Feinstein, given her obvious cognitive issues, should have not run for reelection 5 years ago.

  128. 128.

    Another Scott

    @Edmund dantes: He had polio as a kid.  Polio often has  complications that show up in later age.

    NIH – Post-polio syndrome:

    • Slowly progressive muscle weakness
    • Fatigue
    • A gradual decrease in the size of muscles (muscle atrophy)
    • Loss of muscle function
    • Pain from joint degeneration
    • Increasing skeletal issues such as curvature of the spine (scoliosis)

    He has almost no muscle-tone in his face anymore.

    It all seems to fit.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  130. 130.

    Geminid

    @MattF: A younger person would most likely bounce back from the injuries McConnell sustained this winter. At his age though, people often start sliding downhill fast after such trauma. I don’t think McConnell will make it through this year.

  131. 131.

    janesays

    @lowtechcyclist: What would happen is that very likely the overwhelmingly Republican Kentucky state legislature would commence impeachment proceedings against him for dereliction of duty, and they would almost certainly succeed in removing him from office, given their massive supermajorities in both chambers.

  132. 132.

    Jackie

    Media shift begins to shift focus from Mitch.

    DiFi gets confused:

    “During a roll call vote at Senate Appropriations Committee meeting, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) was called and she started reading a statement.

    A staffer whispered in her ear and Sen. Patty Murray (D-WAS) could be overheard telling her: “Just say aye.”

    Said Feinstein: “Aye.”

    Political Wire

  133. 133.

    Roger Moore

    @dww44:

    Dianne Feinstein, given her obvious cognitive issues, should have not run for reelection 5 years ago.

    I think you have to lay some of this on voters.  We had a real choice at the last election.  Not only could we have gone for someone else in the primary, the general election featured two Democrats, so we could have picked Kevin DeLeon instead.  I’ll admit, DeLeon has turned out to be quite the slime since then, but there was a real choice that wouldn’t have involved sending a Republican in her place.

  134. 134.

    janesays

    @Baud: I think they bypass the court and just go straight to impeachment. They control 80% of the House and 79% of the Senate.

  139. 139.

    janesays

    @M31: Is the Kentucky GOP known to be overflowing with massive dissension within its ranks? There is a specific 54-person executive committee who would get to choose the 3 candidates.

  142. 142.

    different-church-lady

    I do not wish he was dead.

    Instead I wish he was gravely ill with a long, lingering disease and every day someone was at his bedside telling him they were going to take away his health insurance.

  143. 143.

    Ruckus

    @Cacti:

    I didn’t understand, and still to some extent still don’t to the point of a maximum age for a lot of things. A minimum age sure, like drinking or driving age. But humans exist/live to different ages. I had a cousin who lived 6 months. His aunt, my mom, lived 95 yrs. A lifetime is different for all of us.

    BUT.

    As I now am a rather old fart myself, I understood we age, we get old. (Or not) I get it. Life slows down. OK – one individual life slows down. Till it comes to a stop. Some times it is a very gradual stop and sometimes it is the equivalent of hitting a brick wall at light speed. Mitch is almost there. HE has had a good life. He’s been in a position to shape, control, restrict, promote other lives, to make other’s lives better – or worse. He’s chosen for a large percentage of other people – worse, and for himself – better. That is not the best concept of humanity. To say the least. But it is the conservative concept of life and living.

  149. 149.

    BR

    @No One You Know:
    Sorry, link got messed up by WordPress for some reason. If you just paste it in it works. Also, despite what the site says, call, don’t email. Emails don’t amount to much because they’re so easy to automate.​

  150. 150.

    No One You Know

     

    @MisterForkbeard: With lengthy,  public explanations of what each one has done to qualify according to Republican standards, to be followed by a debate. Just to make it GOP intentions clear to the people still not paying attention.

  154. 154.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    From Mediaite:

    Former President Donald Trump denied reports that his lawyers were told he would soon be indicted on charges stemming from Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election in a Truth Social post on Thursday afternoon.

  157. 157.

    Roger Moore

    @janesays:

    I think they bypass the court and just go straight to impeachment. They control 80% of the House and 79% of the Senate.

    And in total fairness, they’d have a solid case; it wouldn’t just be revenge for Beshear interfering with their plans.  Voters deserve to be represented, and no governor should be able to block that representation by refusing to do the job that’s clearly spelled out in the law.

  160. 160.

    Jackie

    Tick Tock! Tick Tock!

    Donald Trump on Truth Social:

    “My attorneys had a productive meeting with the DOJ this morning, explaining in detail that I did nothing wrong, was advised by many lawyers, and that an Indictment of me would only further destroy our Country. No indication of notice was given during the meeting — Do not trust the Fake News on anything!”

    You can literally smell the fear emitting from his orange skin!

  162. 162.

    Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony

    Added to people who have deeply damaged the US: Rupert and Rush. May Rush continue to burn in Hell and may Rupert finally join him after living far, far too long.

  163. 163.

    Steppanhammer

    @Gin & Tonic:

    @japa21:

    Occasional lurker here, but saw the comments downstairs about Kharlan and Fencing Worlds and it’s my old sport so I can add a little bit of detail (and doing it here as this is the current Open Thread – apologies if that’s not etiquette!):

    Handshakes are part of the rules, yes, but tapping blades (or fist/elbow bumps) was allowed as a replacement acknowledgement during COVID and is still in some usage internationally. Any other matchup and it wouldn’t have been an issue (see the Italian Garozzo fist bump the Danish Winterberg-Poulsen at the same event: Well under new FIE precedence, would this be a black card too? Not a handshake – if Garozzo was Ukrainian, he’d be mega black carded by… | Instagram ).

    That said – Smirnova’s also been issued a black card (DQed), as FIE (the international fencing body) rules for the “neutral” Russian athletes require them to have publicly distanced themselves from the Russian military/invasion/etc, and recent photos from her social media were promptly produced of her supporting the Russian military. She never should have been allowed to fence. Who is responsible for her participation anyway is something of an open question.

    Usmanov was removed as FIE president following the invasion, technically, and the current president Katsiadakis is Greek, but that hardly means his/Russian influence vanishes. The FIE probably isn’t FIFA/IOC levels of corrupt but it’s not hugely better, either.

  164. 164.

    NotMax

    Extremely OT.

    Some jackals will be saddened to hear that Max (formerly HBO Max) has announced the cancellation of Perry Mason.

  165. 165.

    Ruckus

    @Brachiator:

    As someone getting close to that time, I’d say it really depends. I’ve known people who are vibrant at 90. OK not many but still. But we all have likely known some who are not vibrant at most any age. As a medium I’d say a member of congress shouldn’t be able to run if over 75. BUT. And it’s a big, round but, our president is 81 and like a number of people I know older and still vibrant. Is he 25? Not in any way, shape or form. We all age different. We all end at different times. We all slow as we get up there in those years.

    But. I have a problem with maximum age for some things. It’s different for life/living. But we depend on many people to do things that can massively affect all our lives. Politicians, doctors, police.

    Your age of 77 might just be about right. I’d probably think 75 because some at 77 shouldn’t be responsible for anything but then I know some older and think 80. And then I see the guy who is 81 and one of the better presidents I’ve seen. He still gets IT. Living, helping, being better. But president is a job that not many could do well. I’ve seen a few who should never, ever, under any circumstances should have been elected. And it wasn’t age that was the problem.

  166. 166.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    Listen to your body, Mitch. It’s time to go home, settle down, sit with family and enjoy consuming the souls of the innocent. Together.

  167. 167.

    Kelly

    @Ruckus: I didn’t understand, and still to some extent still don’t to the point of a maximum age for a lot of things.

    I’ve been observing the variations in aging close up. Mom, 87, lives next door. She’s needed steadily increasing help organizing and getting around for about a year. Her brother, 92, is still sharp as a tack and plays 9 holes, walking, twice a week.

  169. 169.

    rikyrah

    @bleh:

    good point, but I’d put him almost up with Cruz.  He either mismanaged or swindled the ’22 Republican Senate campaign, so I can’t imagine he’d have too many supporters.

     

    totally stole from them..LOL

  170. 170.

    Ruckus

    @Hungry Joe:

    I’ve been drawing ss for 11 yrs and many of the folks in my apt. complex have been even longer. I live in a seniors apt, one has to be 55 to rent here. The oldest that I know of is 97. I’m not sure why conservatives want to take away ss other than they wouldn’t have to pay into it and a lot of olds would die off if they couldn’t rent or eat, sort of ending the need to have social security. Because many seniors don’t spend money, which means that people trying to sell crap can’t. We also have stuff so don’t need a lot. In a capitalistic country, not being able to make bank off of a 1/4 of the population is horrible to them.

  171. 171.

    bleh

    @MattF: @Dorothy A. Winsor: my guess would be he’s just saying what he thinks might help to DELAY DELAY DELAY, which of course was the point of the meeting in the first place.

    “It was a really good meeting, very good, very productive. Many useful things were said, useful things.  More meetings scheduled, probably, I’m told, useful meetings, get this done, finished.  End the hoax, end the witch hunt.  Biggest witch hunt in American history, really, disgraceful, end it.”

  172. 172.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Steppanhammer: Thank you for taking the time to explain. I know approximately zero about fencing, except that around my vegetable garden (you people probably hate those comments,) so this was very helpful. My interest is Ukraine.

    And note that around these parts, every thread is an open thread.

  174. 174.

    Bupalos

    @Ruckus: Thanks, that’s a great meditation on conceptions of time, and the way they relate to our politics.

    Lots of things that are simple are not true, but this one is: the fundamental nature of conservatism is an often understandable but always ridiculous desire for time to run backwards- to a place of distorted memory. It’s an eternal and powerful draw. The progressive challenge is to present something that competes with this corrosive fantasy of time-travel to the imaginary past.

    Often I think we would do well to sit down like therapists with these visions and ask ourselves what need folks under the time-travel delusion are expressing.  And to what extent we can dilute the social appeal of the delusion by finding positive ways to meet these needs.

  175. 175.

    Roger Moore

    @Ruckus:

    I’m not sure why conservatives want to take away ss other than they wouldn’t have to pay into it

    It’s not exactly that.  The big goal is to avoid having to pay off the Social Security Trust Fund, i.e. to specifically renege on a part of our debt that would otherwise go to ordinary people.  That would let them avoid whatever taxes would otherwise be needed to pay off the Trust Fund.

  178. 178.

    rikyrah

    @Ruckus:

    Kay from BJ always points this out…

    Wall Street is mad, and continues to be mad at that pile of money for Social Security – THAT THEY HAVE NO ACCESS TO.

  179. 179.

    Kay

    I was hoping you would do “turtle on its back, little arms and legs waving around”.

  180. 180.

    The Up and Up

    The post title does remind me the late great Jermaine Stewart of the 80s hit “We Don’t Have To Take Our Clothes Off” sang the opening/closing song “Hot and Cold” for Weekend At Bernie’s.

  185. 185.

    Ruckus

    @Alce_e _ ardillo:

    Does it really matter if he dies in a fire or if he even dies?

    As long as he retires. Walks away, carried away in a stretcher, shuffles off, moves to an old folks home, is never heard from or votes on another issue.

    I’d like people working for US. (That’s all of us or the USA, which ever way you look at it) working for US, not just the rich, the white, the 1/3 of country that insanely thinks they are better than everyone else or own things like banks. I’d like it if ALL of us, the humans that live here (and our citizens elsewhere), and even the rest of the world, benefited from the governance of our branches of the federal government. We are a big and powerful government. But we shouldn’t act like we own everything, because one, we don’t, and two, because it makes the world a better place. We hire people to run and shape OUR country, we do this because we supposedly think that everyone is equal. Not just the white people or the rich people or the religious people, or the conservative people. ALL OF US, every color, every sexual orientation, every age, WE the PEOPLE own this. It doesn’t belong to the wealthy, we are all shareholders. Equal shareholders. The president gets one vote. The drunk sleeping it off in an alley gets one vote. Or should. The entire fucking point of this country is that we are supposed to be equal as citizens. Sleeping in the alley or owning several hundred acres shouldn’t make a difference, the point is, why does this country exist the way it was founded? EQUALITY, of citizenship, of skin color, of sexual orientation, regardless of land ownership or bank account or lack thereof either. Since the invention of currency, no matter the type of currency – livestock, land, monetary, mineral, most humans have been viewed as having monetary value. This country is the attempt to not use monetary value as a measurement of citizenship. It’s a birth right or a desire to be one and go through the legal steps to become one if born elsewhere. Monetary value should never be a measure of citizenship. That’s a ShitForBrains concept. Among others. It’s wrong. It’s not your wealth, no matter how you measure it. It is where you are born or that you ask and go through the hoops and are accepted as a citizen. Conservatism is currently the opposition to the concept this country was founded upon.

  186. 186.

    Ruckus

    @Another Scott:

    I have a friend my age that had polio as a 1 yr old. Now a great grandparent but lives in a wheelchair. The story goes along the line of every person I’ve known that has had polio. And I’ve known more than one, because I was born a bit before the vaccines were figured out. I grew up with people with polio, went to school with them.

    Mitch is no exception to what late life polio looks like and in fact seems to have had a better overall life than many victims. And at least he’s had a life.

  188. 188.

    brantl

    Only NOW are they starting to show pictures of Mitch looking like a concussed turtle, who has just shit himself. Only now, when they can’t possibly avoid it. Lefty media has shown his wrinkly puss for years, but nobody else has. Why aren’t the GQPers calling for his resignation as they did Fetterman. He’s in obviously worse shape.

  192. 192.

    Mel

    The rather lackadaisical response by those around McConnell makes me think that episodes like this have been going going on pretty frequently – enough so that they know what the cause is, and therefore didn’t do the full-on, “call an ambulance” response that freezing, inability to communicate, and utter disorientation would normally inspire, especially for a person 80-plus years old. Not to say that whatever is going on isn’t damn serious, but clearly they’ve seen it / dealt with it before, based on the lack of urgency and the desire to try to minimize the event instead of seeking immediate medical help.

    Whether it’s TIAs, neurological fallout from post-polio syndrome, or something else, it is clearly not unfamiliar to those around McConnell, and it’s also something that they’ve tried hard to conceal until – oopsie!- it happened on camera.

    It makes me doubly furious about how the GOP monsters respond to any sort of disability accessibility or small accommodation required by those on the Dem side of the aisle, even when they give full disclosure about their health and are clearly fully prepared, competent and able to do the work required. (Think John Fetterman, etc.)

  193. 193.

    Ruckus

    @Roger Moore:

    @rikyrah:

    I left this part out but absolutely correct, we all pay in but our current income and company taxes also pay in and support all of us on social security. And in an economy people not working simply do not make enough to survive without social security, people like me. I have enough in the bank to live for a bit without it, and might have more if I hadn’t had to pay into it for 60 yrs, but given my health and the COL I would likely out live my savings. And if we all made enough and saved enough we could get along without social security. But that’s not how the world works and that is the reason that social security exists. And is vital to our country.

  199. 199.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    While I co-sign John’s excellent summary of Moscow Mitch, I do think that John was taking it a bit easy on the saggy anus from Kentucky.

    I was hoping to see him drop right there. There’s still hope though…

  200. 200.

    Ruckus

    @Odie Hugh Manatee:

    Not me.

    I want him to retire and live for another 20 yrs in a facility for people that don’t die but really are only breathing but not actually able to live. IOW he should have no power of any kind, he should have to pay someone to wipe his ass and feed him. We had to do that for my dad who had Alzheimers and lived way longer than the average patient with it. He couldn’t even speak for the last 5 or 6 years, didn’t know his kids names for a while before that, but he knew he knew us, he would light up like a christmas tree when any of us walked into his room, still had a iron grip and had to shake my hand every time. I wouldn’t normally wish that on anyone. But there is always an exception. Mitch should get that exception. He gets to live, but with zero power, zero friends, has to pay someone a hell of a lot to feed him and wipe his ass, all the while he knows that he’s breathing and that he is by far worthless and useless. It won’t make up for his political life but it might make up for his pitiful humanity and drain his bank account.

  201. 201.

    Miss Bianca

    @Law & Disorder (Lurker):

    Does anyone think it’s coincidence that Mitch’s brain froze up on the same day someone testified in the House that aliens are real? Clearly the mothership shut down his software to avoid further detection.

    Late to the thread, but that got a genuine LOL from me on a shitty day dealing with FB fuckery from fundies who are accusing my theater – MY THEATER – of allying with pedophiles if we don’t show that “Sound of Freedom” movie. I shit you not. Some people are bug-fuck nuts.

  202. 202.

    Joelle

    @satby: I’m getting by.  Lots of hydration and hiding indoors.  I’ve continued biking to and from campus despite the 115+ temps.  I try to leave for the office as early as possible and linger a little late to avoid the worst of it.  A delightful local theater chain, Majestic, was kind enough to grant AZ educators free admission to first run films until the end of July.  So I’ve been ducking into their frosty theaters for Barbie, MI and this Sunday, Oppenheimer.  I’m really looking forward to that.  Big Florence Pugh fan.
    JG and I talk everyday but I still miss him.  😞 I’ll be back in wild n wonderful the last week of September for Homecoming and an engagement party/fraternity pinning ceremony.  So there’s THAT!

  203. 203.

    citizen dave

    @Ruckus: Waaay late to this excellent thread.  I am in total agreement with the Blogfather here–was tired of reading on Elon’s Ruth’s Chris X-ter tweets saying “I’m liberal but hoping the best for Mitch, etc.”

    Didn’t know about the polio angle.  One of my favorites, Neil Young, 75 years young, had it.  From an Independent piece where a fan speculates if Neil’s polio experience informed his stance on Joe Rogan (https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/neil-young-polio-joe-rogan-podcast-b2002631.html)

    “Young suffered from polio in 1952 during the last major outbreak of the disease in Ontario, when he was five years old. There was no vaccine at the time.

    In his memoir, Waging Heavy Peace, Young recalled his parents rushing him to the Sick Children’s Hospital in Toronto, and that “it was hard for [him] to walk for some reason”.

    He underwent a lumbar puncture “that hurt like hell and scared me to death”, before revealing the moment his doctor confirmed he had contracted polio.

    “I remember him trying to get from one part of the living room to another by hanging on to furniture to keep his balance,” his brother Bob Young said in a letter excerpted in the memoir.

    “He was unsure of what had happened with his battle with polio. ‘I didn’t die, did I?’ he said.”

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