Beshear requests McConnell health update
Source: The Hill
07/08/26 10:24 AM ET
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D) sent a letter to Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.)s office on Wednesday, asking for a health update on the senator after he was admitted to the hospital on June 14. Over the last several weeks, Kentuckians have grown increasingly concerned about the health and well-being of Sen. McConnell, the letter reads. I am requesting the Senator provide an update on his current health status.
An emergency dispatch revealed first responders went to McConnells home in Washington, D.C. where a person was found unconscious and had suffered cardiac arrest.
His office has released few details on his condition, but on Thursday said the 84-year-old senator continues to improve, and is working closely with his staff on Kentucky Senate matters while the Senate is out of session.
Allowing speculation to continue in the media is not fair to the Senator or to Kentuckians, and my hope is that this provides him the opportunity to share the information in a transparent manner, direct from the source, Beshear wrote in his letter. I wish him a safe and speedy recovery.
Read more: https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5958881-beshear-requests-mcconnell-health-update/
Link to KY Gov. Beshear LETTER (PDF) - https://governor.ky.gov/attachments/20260708_McConnell-Letter.pdf
LetMyPeopleVote
(184,598 posts)
BaronChocula
(5,038 posts)IT'S ABOUT DAMN TIME!
I had assumed that Beshear had done it silently and was weighing his next move. But I'll give the benefit of the doubt and keep in mind there may have been a strategic reason for the timing. And he may have known way more than we know for a while now.
OhioBack2Blue
(241 posts)They rather invest all efforts in stopping a rebirth of a robust public sector than stop fascism, crony capitalism, and neo-feudalism complete with us as serfs.
Talitha
(8,266 posts)At least we'd get the truth.
Wednesdays
(23,573 posts)
generalbetrayus
(2,099 posts)Bayard
(30,808 posts)TomSlick
(13,156 posts)So long as Turtle is alive in a hospital, he isn't voting in the Senate.
The GOP controlled Kentucky legislature has passed legislation that any appointed replacement be of the same party - i.e. a Rethuglican. That would give the GOP another Senate vote until an election is held and would give the replacement the advantages of incumbency.
The Turtle will go to hell quickly enough. Leave it alone.
newdeal2
(5,699 posts)And hed still make the appointment on his own. Then it will be up to the courts to decide.
Not sure its worth all that for a few months if hes already out of commission.
Pinback
(13,757 posts)JT45242
(4,266 posts)Wiz Imp
(11,017 posts)McConnell's term ends at the beginning of January. The candidates have already been determined - Andy Barr (R) vs Charles Booker (D) . Aas of now, Barr is considered to have a 99% likelihood of winning. Democrats are not winning that seat.
Democrats theoretically could win a special election (though their chances would be only slightly better than their chances in the regular Senate election in November) but that person would serve for no more than a couple months, and doesn't really give Democrats an advantage in the Senate over the Status Quo. Right now, Republicans (without McConnell being able to vote) have a 52-47 advantage, meaning Democrats need 3 Republican votes to kill legislation or nominees. If a Democrat won a special election, that would make it 52-48, but still 3 votes would be needed to kill legislaation and nominees.
Wiz Imp
(11,017 posts)The Governor haas no power to appoint aanyone.
onenote
(46,429 posts)Under the current KY law, if McConnell's seat becomes vacant, the only way to replace him is with a special election.
Just_Vote_Dem
(3,743 posts)Escape
(577 posts)It would be the decent and honorable thing to do and would show great bipartisan respect.
McConnell would surely appreciate the visit...unless he's dead.
FakeNoose
(43,267 posts)This is getting ridiculous!
Harker
(18,354 posts)It fits.
Pinback
(13,757 posts)Skittles
(173,860 posts)that's what they said!
maxsolomon
(39,528 posts)Or Rand Paul - the other KY Senator. Ring Mitch up.
Marcuse
(9,167 posts)
RussBLib
(10,871 posts)Some reports say that Mitch is brain-dead. Others insist that several people have spoken to him for "20 minutes" or so. Surely not everyone is lying about talking with him? We know that Trump and his gang of grifters use AI when they feel like it. Another aspect of this "artificial" intelligence is deep fakes, not only video but audio. All you really need are a couple of samples of someone's voice, and you can make them say just about anything you want, and it's very hard to distinguish between the actual voice and a copy.
The GOP is capable of anything, including the destruction of the United States, and it would not surprise me at all if they had sampled McConnell's voice and have had him "talk" to various people while he is still actually brain-dead. This, to keep him "alive" long enough so that a special election would not be needed. His seat would simply remain open until the November election, and McConnell is not running for re-election. I guess the GOP being down one vote at least until January of 2027 is better than having a Dem voted into Mitch's seat for six years, from their perspective.
The following is a writing from another online friend of mine I will identify as L.C. He is a retired doctor and he knows what he is writing about.
I mean the turtle, of course. If you have read my rants, essays, and musings over the years, you will probably remember that the percentage of individuals who survive CPR at age 80+ is in the single digits - probably 1%. Of that number, an even smaller fraction leaves the hospital alive and neurologically intact. It isn't that CPR doesn't work or that first responders are incompetent, it is that we simply aren't designed to survive a prolonged period of cardio-pulmonary arrest - especially not in our later years.
It's because of these realities that I have for decades said that if I collapse from cardiac arrest, please leave me the fuck alone so that I may die in peace. If you want to hold my hand or stroke my face as I lie dying, thank you for that kindness. Just don't be breaking my ribs, blowing your bad breath into my lungs, and all that other "lifesaving" shit. I don't want it. I have already led a long and fulfilling life. Don't screw it up for me.
Mitch, on the other hand, got the "full resuscitation Monty," of course. It should come as no surprise to anyone that he is lying in a hospital bed probably on a ventilator with diffuse anoxic brain injury. That's what would happen to me or maybe you - if either of us were so fortunate as to have lived into the eighth decade of life and then had a cardiac arrest.
So, maybe Mitch still has a heartbeat. I don't know. But he sure as hell isn't going to be voting on any bills or floor motions. He was 84, and that was a good run. Too bad that he used the time he was allotted to run afoul of the Constitution chasing power over justice and democracy.
Mitch, what has happened to you, is going to happen to all of us. I just hope that when it happens to me, I will not be as hated and reviled by my fellow humans as you are after you have taken your last breath. AMF!
https://russblib.blogspot.com
SamuelAdams
(450 posts)The guy on CNN who claims they talked said he doesn't know what's wrong, McConnell's condition, or when he might leave the hospital. Aren't those things you would discuss with a friend in the hospital?
twodogsbarking
(19,990 posts)flamingdem
(41,002 posts)Permanently.
The nurse who spoke about it said "he's on life support".
moonshinegnomie
(4,189 posts)or else call a special election to replace him.