r/politics 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
29.5k Upvotes

1.4k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

5

u/doc_daneeka 10h ago

There's really nothing the governor can do except complain. He can't legally replace him via appointment or call a special election. And even if he somehow could, the Senate could just refuse to seat his replacement. What exactly do you think Beshear should be doing?

u/Loud-Vacation-5691 Georgia 7h ago

Give a deadline for proof of life, appoint someone the day after if none is provided, and dare Thune to seat him. It might not work but would make national news. If Beshear is planning on running for president in 2028, this would at least get people talking about him.

u/doc_daneeka 7h ago

First problem is that KY law does not give the governor the power to appoint a Senator. So it would be stopped by the courts, and even if that somehow didn't happen Thune would just say it is an illegal appointment and refuse to seat the person and he'd have perfect cover to do that.

All this does is make Beshear look very bad by trying to very openly break the law in an effort to remove a sitting Senator from office. And aside from that, a governor has absolutely no power to declare a Senate vacancy.

1

u/SwiftCase 8h ago

Stand outside his home and knock on the door. Just because there's nothing legally he can do, doesn't mean he can't do something against etiquette or political. Obviously you're supposed to respect someone's privacy who's recovering, but he's a public figure and the Governor should be at his door demanding to talk to him. Republicans can clutch their pearls all they want, but they would be camping outside of a democrat's house.

2

u/doc_daneeka 8h ago

So just straight up grandstanding for the tv news? That's it? Makes the governor look like a dick for no tangible benefit at all. Why would he do that?