Time For Mitch McConnell To Retire

FILLER

wo questions immediately spring to mind, neither of which have answers at this point: is this the end of the dreary McConnell era of establishment Republican Me-Tooism? And is there some karmic relationship between Mitch’s fall and his throwing Tucker Carlson under the bus and affirming the Left’s bogus Jan. 6 “insurrection” narrative?

We know little at this point about what is going on with Mitch. John Bresnahan of Punchbowl News tweeted late Wednesday night:

@LeaderMcConnell has been hospitalized following a fall at a DC hotel. Per a McConnell spokesman: “This evening, Leader McConnell tripped at a local hotel during a private dinner. He has been admitted to the hospital where he is receiving treatment.” The 81-year old McConnell was at an event at the Waldorf Astoria DC when he fell, according to our sources. We have no further information on the extent of McConnell’s injuries or his prognosis.

David Popp, Mitch’s obfuscation manager, uh, that is, communications director, stated: “This evening, Leader McConnell tripped at a local hotel during a private dinner. He has been admitted to the hospital where he is receiving treatment.”

McConnell was dining at the Waldorf Astoria when he fell, according to a tweet from John Bresnahan, co-founder of political daily Punchbowl News, who first reported on the news.

That’s all. Nothing to see here.

Whether or not Mitch recovers fully and resumes his role as the leader of the Democrats’ controlled opposition, there ought to be a lesson in this for him: when people get very old and frail, they begin to be susceptible to falling, and those falls can be deadly. Maybe it’s time for Mitch to retire to his Old Kentucky Home.

This is, after all, not the first time this has happened.

Newsweek reported Thursday morning that “in 2019, the 81-year-old suffered a shoulder fracture after falling outside on a patio at his home in Kentucky.” There are going to be more falls. Is this octogenarian really up to carrying out his serious and solemn duties as the water carrier for Chuck Schumer? What if he trips again while carrying one of the Democrats’ corrupt, pork-laden 1200-page programs for shafting the taxpayer yet again? That thing could fall on Mitch and cause serious damage.

McConnell was 2 years old when he was diagnosed with polio, 10 years before a vaccine would become available. He was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 1984 and became the Senate GOP leader in 2006, serving as the Senate majority leader from 2015 to 2021.

Earlier this year, McConnell took over from Democrat Montana Sen. Mike Mansfield to become the longest-serving party leader in Senate history.

Mitch McConnell is exactly nine months older than Old Joe Biden. He has been a member of the United States Senate since the waning days of Ronald Reagan’s first term, when Madonna’s “Like A Virgin” was at the top of the pop charts. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was leading the Los Angeles Lakers to the NBA championship. People were streaming into theaters to see Eddie Murphy in Beverly Hills Cop. McConnell is a key member of the Washington gerontocracy whose senior member, 89-year-old Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-California SSR), was hospitalized last week. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) is also 89. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who still wields considerable influence, is 82. McConnell’s boss Chuck Schumer is 72.

What does it say about America that so much of its senior leadership is senior in all senses of the word? It says that the “public service” in the United States today is so comfortable and lucrative that people can’t bring themselves to surrender the reins of power once they get them. The reason why America is turning into a gerontocracy is the same reason why six of the fifteen richest counties in the country are in Virginia and Maryland, right outside Washington, D.C. Public service in the United States has become a lucrative exercise in mutual back-slapping, with numerous well-heeled lobbies eager to pay a cash-strapped congressman outlandish speaker’s fees after he gets them what they want on the legislative floor. And once you’ve climbed aboard the gravy train, it’s hard to get off.

But it’s time for Mitch McConnell, and many others, to get off. Not only is he obviously in poor health, and is unlikely to improve significantly given his advancing age; he also represents the old Republican style of being the accommodationist minority that wants everything the majority wants, only maybe a bit more cheaply or slowly. The time to allow the Democrats, who are increasingly authoritarian and dishonest, to set the agenda is long past. The fact that McConnell endorses the Jan. 6 nonsense is more of a reason why McConnell should resign than the fact that he has suffered another fall. We all hope he recovers quickly. And then goes home.✪

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