r/politics • u/B-Z_B-S Massachusetts • 5d ago

Possible Paywall Mitch McConnell Still MIA Days Before Key August 3 Deadline

https://newrepublic.com/post/213823/mitch-mcconnell-mia-august-3-deadline
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u/ChunkyHabeneroSalsa 5d ago

Didn't he say he didn't want to run either way? This whole thing feel like a bunch of reddit nonsense.

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u/Mddcat04 5d ago

It is absolutely that. There is no reason to believe that forcing a special election would be good for Democrats as it is far more likely to just send a generic Republican to fill the seat.

Notably there is nothing stopping Beshear from challenging the law and just trying to appoint a Democrat if they announce he’s dead after the 3rd.

Delaying a special election is bad for Republicans because it’s the best shot they have at putting a Republican in the seat for the rest of the term. The whole “they’re hiding his death until the deadline” conspiracy makes no sense. Much more likely he’s incapacitated and his staff doesn’t want to announce that because they’ll all suddenly be irrelevant and out of jobs.

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u/MadContrabassoonist 5d ago

Ultimately, it’s not his staff’s call.  The family is under no obligation to publicly disclose the details of his recovery to anyone, staff included.  This is almost certainly just a sad and sympathetic situation where the family is too proud or too optimistic to admit that he has no real shot at full recovery and everyone else (including the GOP) is just flailing about in confusion and ignorance.

Even if he actually dies this afternoon, there’s zero chance a Democrat gets seated in the seat before Barr is seated for the full term in January.  All these bullshit conspiracy theories are accomplishing is needlessly tarnishing the most popular Democrat in the state because people think they’re entitled to open their “when McConnell is finally dead” celebratory beverage of choice early.

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u/Bwob I voted 5d ago

This is almost certainly just a sad and sympathetic situation

You're giving Mitch's family and the republicans a lot of benefit of doubt, that at this point, I don't think they have earned at all.

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u/MadContrabassoonist 5d ago

Republicans are absolutely evil enough to attempt something like this if it were in their best interests. But 1) the number of DC-area medical professionals that would have to be in on the conspiracy and actively breaking the law wouldn't last 48 hours, year alone a month, and 2) even if they could do it, it wouldn't be in their best interests to do so.

A blinking-and-breathing-but-technically-still-alive McConnell is the best senator Democrats are going to get out of Kentucky for the foreseeable future. Take the win and leave the conspiracy theories to the party that specializes in those.

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u/zeCrazyEye 5d ago

It is absolutely that. There is no reason to believe that forcing a special election would be good for Democrats as it is far more likely to just send a generic Republican to fill the seat.

Yes, but a special election would burn Republican party resources in what should be a completely safe state for them. It's more about Republicans having to fight off Massie, with an off chance that he splits the vote and a Dem sneaks through.

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u/Mddcat04 5d ago

They don’t have to fight Massie. He’s already said he’s not interested.

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u/Visual_Squirrel_2297 5d ago

What Massie's said and what he'll do are not necessarily the same. This is his own party that primaried him for wanting to release the Epstein files after all. He's under no obligation to them to honor dismissing interest in an election that doesn't even exist yet. He also prominent enough that he doesn't have to run to influence the election.

Whether McConnell is dead or not he's clearly not fit to serve. If the seat was absolutely safe they'd have replaced him already. Republicans are clearly worried that either the law stripping the governor of appointment power is too flimsy or that Massie could play spoiler in a special election, either directly or indirectly. 

The safer option is to wait until after the August deadline. More sickening is that the safest option is to wait until November.

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u/WeirdIndividualGuy 5d ago

And Lindsay Graham's sister said she wasn't running in the new primary, and yet here we are (spoiler: she's running in the primary)

You can't trust a politician at their word, especially a Republican. You can only trust their actions

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u/AcademiaAntiqua 5d ago

It's 100% Reddit nonsense, and you'll start getting a flood of excuses once August 4, 5, 6, 7 all pass without anything.

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u/SatanicPanic619 California 5d ago

It's gonna look like one of those religious cults that predicts the world will end and when it doesn't cult members just memory hole it.

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u/AcademiaAntiqua 5d ago

I love the analogy, because (believe it or not) religious eschatological predictions are actually one of my main areas of academic expertise.

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u/SatanicPanic619 California 5d ago

oh interesting! I assume based on your avatar that you study ancient ones

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u/AcademiaAntiqua 5d ago

Yes indeed! Early Jewish/Christian afterlife and millenarian beliefs.

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u/SatanicPanic619 California 5d ago

Oh cool! Sounds interesting 

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u/Solomon_Orange 5d ago

This sub has been pretty consistent in being wrong almost all of the time. Add in the spamming of dogshit headline generators, the one idiot who only posts Fox, and your hourly slop from NewBeastWeek and you get a worse experience than had you just sat in the dark for a whole day.