Mitch McConnell Alive or Not?

I wonder how long they'll keep his body on life support. When does Andy Bashar's term end?

ten years too late

GoSlugs said:

I wonder how long they'll keep his body on life support. When does Andy Bashar's term end?

vacancy is filled by election not by appointment in KY. Keeping him Alice but absent is probably the best case scenario. 

@Steve:  cute typo 😉

I know Alice doesn’t live, at least not here anymore.

Maybe we're not really supposed to know the status of Schrodinger's Mitch.

Someone should do an open records request at the morgue. 

The interesting part of this article is that Republicans in the KY state legislature pushed through a new law a couple of years ago changing the process to replace a vacant U.S. Senate seat. The governor used to be able to appoint someone until the end of the term but now they hold a special election immediately. 

Of course Republicans claimed it had nothing to do with McConnell’s declining health. Sure.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/mitch-mcconnells-aides-make-bombshell-health-admission/

yahooyahoo said:

The interesting part of this article is that Republicans in the KY state legislature pushed through a new law a couple of years ago changing the process to replace a vacant U.S. Senate seat. The governor used to be able to appoint someone until the end of the term but now they hold a special election immediately. 

Of course Republicans claimed it had nothing to do with McConnell’s declining health. Sure.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/mitch-mcconnells-aides-make-bombshell-health-admission/

probably more to do with having a Democratic governor

ml1 said:

probably more to do with having a Democratic governor

Yes, though under the prior law, he was limited to selecting from a list of three names provided by the executive committee of the prior office holder (with McConnell, the GOP).  It was actually somewhat counterproductive in the sense that the seat will remain open for a while rather than having it filled quickly.

It feels like this is the sort of thing that would be better served by a national standard.

GoSlugs said:

It feels like this is the sort of thing that would be better served by a national standard.

Each state has the right to figure out how they should be represented in DC. 

It is interesting … it seems like a special election could provide an opportunity to flip the seat. Especially one that happens really fast. 

It sounds like Republicans were very worried about McConnell's health when they passed the law a couple of years ago. They didn't want Beshear to have any say over the seat if it opened up with 2-3 years left in the term.

Partisan politics at its best! The shining city on the hill!

McConnell’s soul left a long time ago. 

There seems to be some discussion about what happened to him. It sounds like he was found unconscious and paramedics had to do CPR. The terms “heart attack” and “cardiac arrest” have both been used. 

The term heart attack is generally used to describe a myocardial infarction. Blood flow to part of the heart muscle gets obstructed. That muscle gets no oxygen and starts to die. You can remain conscious for hours. Symptoms include arm and chest pain, lower back pain, fatigue, shortness of breath and nausea. Dial 911. Don’t drive yourself to the hospital with chest pain. 

Cardiac arrest is when the heart stops beating.  It’s a problem with the heart’s electric conduction system. Symptoms are dizziness, shortness of breath and passing out (syncope). If it happens to you, you need to be resuscitated very promptly. Oxygen isn’t getting to your brain and after just a few minutes, the person will develop irreversible brain damage. CPR can keep someone alive until they can be shocked back to a normal rhythm. Death only takes a few more minutes. 

Cardiac arrest can be part of a heart attack. As heart muscle gets starved of oxygen it can trigger the chaotic rhythm called ventricular fibrillation.  It can also happen in someone that seems fine. 

Anyway it’s unclear what happened in this case. If the paramedics were doing CPR they must have assessed that his heart wasn’t beating. It’s possible they went there because he was having symptoms of a heart attack, and he went into cardiac arrest. 

Even if he was swiftly and successful resuscitated, CPR is extraordinarily hard on the body. It’s nothing like you see on TV. A broken sternum and ribs are very common. So it could explain a lengthy hospital stay especially for an 86 year old man.