No, I'm not talking about the SSPX. It's about Mitch McConnell's Senate seat. Wasn't today supposed to be the deadline when a special election could be scheduled to fill McConnell's seat unless they could prove that he would be able to fulfill his duties? So far, crickets.
Kentucky governor Andy Beshear has repeatedly asked for McConnell's staff to confirm his actual condition. Some commenters have said he should just march into McConnell's hospital room and verify what is going on. Which of course he legally can't do. Not to mention it is not even known at this point which hospital or rehab facility McConnell is in.
My take is that neither the Republicans nor the Democrats want to change the status quo. The Republicans, because they might lose a special election, or Thomas Massie might run as an Independent, and win. The Democrats, because with McConnell missing in action, it's one less Republican in the Senate. In any event someone else will be elected in November, McConnell's status notwithstanding. I haven't heard that the Democrats have a candidate yet. They would be well advised to concentrate on that.
Stay tuned. Now that the deadline is passed, what news will come next week?
ReplyDeleteMcConnell’s forte was gaming the system to the level of abuse. Still doing it while suffering freezer burn would be an appropriate last hurrah. If they pronounce him dead in the next few days, someone should demand an autopsy just to find out how long. But they won’t.
ReplyDelete" I haven't heard that the Democrats have a candidate yet."
ReplyDeleteThe candidates to replace McConnell this fall are Republican Andy Barr, who has been serving in the US House; and Democrat Charles Booker, a former state representative. Here is Louisville Public Media on Booker:
"As he did in past races, Booker campaigned as an unapologetic progressive, championing policies like Medicare for All, universal income, free public university tuition and federal renter protections."
The same article reports that Trump won Kentucky by 30 points in 2024. Barr was Trump's endorsed candidate in the Republican primary.
Kentucky has a Democratic governor, Andy Bashear, but Booker doesn't sound like the kind of Democrat who is likely to win in that state.
Re: replacing McConnell with a special election: I'd expect that whoever Trump endorses in a special election would win in a rout. Personally, I'd rather have McConnell or, if he's not able to function, nobody at all, than another Trump Republican marionette in the Senate.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteSince Kentucky did elect a Dem for governor, why do you think Booker doesn’t have a chance? I suspect the people have a sentimental attachment to McConnell for some reason and if he’s not a candidate, maybe they would break ranks and vote for the Dem? I know - wishful thinking. There won’t be a special election now, so it’s November that counts
I think that progressive candidates and progressive policy proposals won't be general-election winners in purple and red states. I'm not sure whether Kentucky counts as a purple state, even though they do have a Democratic governor. From what I know of him, he's considered a moderate.
DeleteToday is a big day in Michigan from what I see in the headlines. Jean, do you have any insider knowledge based on your on the ground conversations?
DeleteBooker was a former representative in the state government, so at least he had a constituency in his district. I think he would be better off to pick one or two issues that were progressive but have broad support. Healthcare access and affordable housing would be two such issues.
DeleteNo big insights. The mainstream candidates are favored to win. They have more $$. Their TV ads in the last couple weeks hauled out charges that their socialist opponents were racist/sexist. That was pretty much the same drum they were beating in the debates I saw. There really has not been any significant discussion of issues much as the socialists tried to push the discussion that way. It's depressing, really.
DeleteI am reading that the Senate race in Michigan is still too close to call, and that William Lawrence won the Democratic primary for the 7th district.
DeleteYep. Abdul and Haley are too close to call.
DeleteLow turnout where we were, but that's because this is a deep Red town and Repubs were running unopposed in their primary, so Repubs were not bitheringnto vote.
There was a property tax cap proposal and a school initiative, however, and given the griping about taxes and schools on the community page, I was surprised the turnout was so low. Or maybe not, since our newspaper is useless.
... and looks like Abdul has been declared winner.
DeleteNow it's up to centrists, who feel like they're the "real" Democrats, to either get behind the leftists or to sulk and demand recounts and say the "democratic socialists" are anti-semitic and should get their own party.
The Bulwark, a pretty good indicator of how Independents think, is making a distinction between two types of leftists: the ones with DEI priorities (ban Thanksgiving cuz it makes some ethnic groups feel sad, for ex) and the ones mostly concerned with wage disparity and outsized influence of billionaires. Hopefully, leftist candidates will taken some of that to heart and concentrate on universal issues instead of identity politics.
However, as a lifelong Democrat, I'm not optimistic. My prediction is that we'll see a lot of party infighting and that the GOP will handily goosestep back into congressional majorities for the next two years.
I’m not sure the Democratic Party can elect progressives fast enough to stave off the ongoing and oncoming disasters. Iran and China will probably have more effect on our future life in America than our votes. I ran into one interesting article on why the war against Iran is not having more of an effect on our gas prices. It’s China. They have precipitously dropped their import of oil. They are asking their citizens to travel less and use public transportation. They are probably dipping into THEIR reserves which are massively greater than ours. They are relying more on coal for power. In effect, the smart Chinese government is helping the world economy while our clown car government is trying to destroy it. I think the US is becoming less and less important. Hopefully, in the future, the only people we can harm with our stupid voting choices will be our own.
DeleteIMO, a lot of stupid and dangerous voting choices are the result of the demise of community newspapers and rise of rightwing religious schools/homeschooling, and crazy talk on social media by "citizen journalists" pulling people to political extremes.
DeleteI agree about the demise of newspapers. We lost a lot when we no longer have dependable local newspapers. The online stuff doesn't fill the gap, and tends toward political extremes to get the clicks.
DeleteUnrelated, yesterday I sang with the funeral choir. The family requested Serdeczna Matko for one of the songs (Stanley, do you know that one?)
ReplyDeleteI'm going to have to listen to Youtube for correct pronunciation, I was faking it.
Hi Katherine, sounds like sair-r-r-detch-nah maht-koe. The r is rolled. Yeah. It’s one of standards.
DeleteThanks Stanley. We sang two verses in English and two verses in Polish. You could tell the English words had been retrofitted because the syllables didn't quite fit the meter.
DeleteAlso unrelated, but a frequent topic here. I’m not sure everyone can access America’s site. Pope Leo is promoting the Liturgy of the Hours
ReplyDeletehttps://www.americamagazine.org/news/2026/08/05/pope-leo-prayer-liturgy-of-the-hours/
That was an interesting article.
DeleteMitch McConnell has announced that he has left the rehab facility and will continue rehab at home.
DeleteWhile it is encouraging to see Leo promoting the Hours (you have to go back to Paul VI to find another Pope doing so) he also did it in terms of reviewing the Vatican II document on the liturgy.
DeleteThere, of course, reform of the Hours was a big topic. But in practice it has only been relevant to clergy. Celebration of the Hours has occurred in parishes only on a few occasions such as doing Advent, Lent and Holy Week -giving it a false association with prayer and penitence whereas the Hours, especially Morning and Evening Prayer are more about praise and thanksgiving.
Leo seemed to be aware of the great advantage of praying the Hours outside of churches has for integrating the liturgy into daily life and evangelization. It is far easier to invite non-Catholics and those who are spiritual but not religious into the celebration of the Hours than to persuade them to go to church for Mass.
Leo seemed to have no awareness how phones and computers have made the Hours especially in their sung forms much more accessible than breviaries. Most of the movement among laity is occurring in this area rather than promoting reading the breviary or holding services in the parish.