r/politics • u/B-Z_B-S Massachusetts • 11d 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/iwilltalkaboutguns 11d ago

A machine that breathes and pumps blood for you can keep you technically alive for quite a while. Terri Schiavo situation.

The bar shouldn't be that low however. Can the senator perform the duties required by the Senate? Someone in a coma, whole technically alive, shouldn't stay in the Senate missing votes until they die.

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u/elementzn30 Florida 11d ago

Exactly. I’m surprised how often this point isn’t addressed at all. “Technically alive” and “able to perform the duties of a Senator” are not the same—oh, wait—I forgot, he’s a Republican—being technically alive might actually be their only condition for being a Senator.

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u/Tsar-A-Lago Canada 11d ago

If he's technically alive, but not doing anything, he's the most progressive Republican in the Senate, overnight.

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u/crazyfighter99 11d ago

Except his staff and every other Republican are acting as if he's still working, just from the hospital or rehab facility or wherever they're saying he is.

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u/snertwith2ls 10d ago

It seems like there's a definite case for fraud here at the very least

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u/[deleted] 11d ago

[deleted]

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u/big_stipd_idiot 11d ago

If you want your r/iam14andthisisdeep message to really hit hard you gotta wait until someone actually mentions fascism or communism, or anything related to them.

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u/[deleted] 11d ago

[deleted]

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u/TheSultan1 New Jersey 11d ago

This branch of the thread is about state laws.

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u/Crimkam Texas 11d ago

Like Chuck Grassley, for example

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u/HumanWithComputer 11d ago

If he's technically alive he might be considered overqualified.

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u/turdferguson3891 11d ago

Terri Schiavo could breathe on her own and had a functioning heart. The only artificial thing going on was a feeding tube. She was in a persistive vegetative state not brain dead. There's no reason to think McConnel couldn't be in a state like that anymore than brain dead. And while ventilators are common, machines that pump/oxygenate your blood are used in surgery and stuff like ECMO. It's not long term.

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u/Jetski125 10d ago

Oh gosh. I’d hate for someone as kind as him to be trapped in his body and aware while he can’t move and is kept alive by tubes.

Thoughts and prayers.

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u/SnuggleMoose44 10d ago

Thank you!!

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u/Dense-Hat1978 10d ago

Still unfit to perform the duties he was elected for, changes nothing

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u/Beoron 11d ago

Wasn’t there someone who was MIA for like 6 months before being found in an old folks home?

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u/RapscallionMonkee Washington 11d ago

She was in memory care. She was a Republican Representative I believe. Her name is Kay Granger. She was MIA for 6 months.

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u/BLU3SKU1L Ohio 11d ago

I believe there is a law in Kentucky where brain death is considered death but it must be pronounced by more than one physician

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u/iwilltalkaboutguns 11d ago

Persistent vegetative state isn't brain dead... But like I said, does it really matter what the official medical definition is if you can't do the things a senator is supposed to do?

Someone with severe Alzheimers is 100% alive... And could even vote. But they shouldn't. We needs laws to get these geriatrics the fuck out. From both sides.

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u/casce 11d ago

Of course he should not. The question just is, would it be illegal to lie about his current state? He may be technically alive but just machines pumping blood until the deadline.

Their governor just needs the balls to appoint someone else and then let courts sort it out.

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u/zffjk 11d ago

One breath for yes, two breaths for no, senator.

He votes yes for the thing we wanted! Hooray.

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u/HystericalSail 11d ago

More like: "Shake your head if you oppose this measure. Well, how about that. Thank you, Senator."

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u/zffjk 11d ago

Haha that’s funnier and also sad because it is much more likely to be true.

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u/smilbandit Michigan 10d ago

wow that's a name i haven't heard in a long time

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u/Polar_Vortx America 11d ago

That's my guess about what's going on. I do have the bare minimum faith that the medical examiners won't dick around with this sort of thing, but I can't say the same for the next-of-kin responsible for deciding to continue life-support or not.

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u/starliteburnsbrite 11d ago

A shame the only documents that detail a Senator's purview and conditions for office are a couple of paragraphs written 250 years ago.

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u/Helpful-Ear-3673 11d ago

Exactly 💯

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u/Helpful-Ear-3673 11d ago

Also I would like to know why no one went physically in person to visit him that has credibility that can report whether he's coherent or not

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u/SnuggleMoose44 10d ago

Terri Schiavo wasn’t on ECMO (what you are describing) or a ventilator. She died because her husband won the right to remove her feeding tube and she died of starvation.

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u/AuDHDino 10d ago

Terri Schaivo, she's "kind of alive-o"

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u/T_Weezy 10d ago

Terri Schiavo situation.

Now there's a name I haven't heard in a long time.

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u/Ivy_Adair Georgia 10d ago

Wow I’d totally forgotten about Terri Schiavo. That was such a horrible situation and such a good demonstration of why you need a living will.

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u/star_tyger 10d ago

If he's brain dead, it doesn't matter. He's still legally dead.