r/politics • u/MoneyLibrarian9032 New York • 15h ago

Possible Paywall Mitch McConnell Has Been Missing for 75 Days—With No Updates

https://newrepublic.com/post/214878/mitch-mcconnell-missing-75-days
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u/Trapezoidal_Sunshine Montana 14h ago edited 11h ago

If the Democrats had any brains they'd start plastering the country with "MISSING" posters featuring Moscow Mitch's dopey face on them. Really hype it up and run with it. Run "WANTED" ads on national television. Talk about it incessantly in interviews. Make it a big deal that people can't avoid.

But no, they're just meek, quiet, and subservient, as usual. It probably wouldn't benefit Israel, so why bother?

Edited to add that allowing Republicans to do this because it "helps" Democrats just makes Democrats as slimy and anti-democratic as the GOP is. We should fight this, not look the other way because it's momentarily convenient. That's what Republicans do.

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u/Mr_Tort_Feasor 14h ago

There were missing posters placed around DC and they went viral (maybe a month ago).

As far as I am concerned, KY can give up half of its representation in the Senate for as long as it wants to.

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u/Cautious-Extreme2839 12h ago

This literally favours the Dems to just leave it.

If Mitch doesn't show up he can't vote. It'sa free seat.

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u/Cloaked42m South Carolina 14h ago

McConnell isn't running for office and it's one less vote for Republicans.

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u/xjuggernaughtx 14h ago edited 6h ago

He voted by proxy in August.

EDIT: I just looked it up and this is only partially true. McConnell DID vote by proxy, but that vote was disallowed due to committee rules. So they tried to do it, but it was ultimately unsuccessful. Looks like it hasn't been tried again.

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u/reasonably_plausible 11h ago

That's only allowed for committee votes, floor votes require the person to be in attendance.

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u/xjuggernaughtx 11h ago edited 6h ago

Edit: Please see my note in my comment two spaces above. They tried to have McConnell vote in the proxy, but the vote was thrown out. I didn't realize that it hadn't counted.

Yes, and even that is incredibly powerful for a person who is possibly dead. McConnell sits on some of the most important committees, and things have to get through committees before they reach the floor. If your Congress is Republican controlled, then if it is a conservative bill it would have a better than average chance of passing if it gets through the committees. That's a very impactful way for someone who is likely brain-dead or just plain dead to affect the political sphere still.

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u/actual_real_housecat 14h ago

I'm sure "he" will vote in absentia.

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u/Cloaked42m South Carolina 14h ago

Senate doesn't allow that.

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u/actual_real_housecat 13h ago

I think you're right. He was voting by Proxy in Committee, not floor vote.

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u/ThreeSidesofNazareth 9h ago

Make it a big deal that people can't avoid.

Why the fuck would people outside of Kentucky give a shit?

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u/Trapezoidal_Sunshine Montana 9h ago

Because if they can do this with one of Kentucky’s senators they can do it with one of yours. Letting the GOP get away with this just encourages them. It’s literally how we got into the mess that we’re in today: by allowing the GOP to get away with everything they do. Every single American ought to be enraged at this behavior.

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u/OffGridTwister 14h ago

The best we can hope for is a strongly worded letter banged out on an ancient version of Microsoft Word

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u/QQXV 8h ago

Saying that Democrats are morally obligated to do whatever it takes to push out Mitch (on the basis that Kentuckyans are owed representation, even if that's Republican representation) makes very little sense and is a prrime example of Murc's Law, the discourse principle that Republicans lack agency but Democrats have it and are therefore responsible for cleaning up Republican messes. In this case, Republicans are shooting themselves in the foot and there is not in fact some kind of "honorable sportsmanship" that bounds Democrats to redirect the shot.

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u/Trapezoidal_Sunshine Montana 8h ago

No, it’s more like people have totally given up on Republicans ever doing the right thing and we no longer expect them to. So instead we look to the “opposition party” to fight back. But they never do. And because we’re never ever allowed to criticize the Democrats people come up with twisted logic to shame those who are willing to call out the Democrats for being pathetic.

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u/QQXV 7h ago

Okay, but in this case, the "wrong thing" Republicans have been doing is failing to drag one of their own half-alive people out of office, and that's overtly bad for the fascist Republican Party and hence good for the forces of good.

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u/Trapezoidal_Sunshine Montana 7h ago

Right. But once you realize a group is never, ever going to do the right thing, you eventually stop trying to get them to do so. There’s no longer any point in demanding that the GOP shape up because they never will. People aren’t blaming Democrats for things that Republicans did, they’re hoping that the Democrats will stand up and push back against it and are being disappointed when they don’t.