“You can’t say that you’re concerned about Joe Biden, but you’re not concerned about Mitch McConnell.”
— Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), quoted by Semafor, on the Senate GOP leader’s health.
“You can’t say that you’re concerned about Joe Biden, but you’re not concerned about Mitch McConnell.”
— Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), quoted by Semafor, on the Senate GOP leader’s health.
“We might lose 20 seconds a day from Mitch McConnell, but the other 86,380 seconds are just fine. And I’m happy to have him as our leader.”
— Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT), quoted by NBC News.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) isn’t buying that Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is healthy enough to carry out the duties of his role, USA Today reports.
Said Paul: “Everybody’s seen the clips. I don’t think it’s been particularly helpful to have the Senate doctor describing it as dehydration, which I think even a non-physician seeing that probably aren’t really accepting that explanation.”
He added: “From what I’ve seen, it’s a neurological event.”
The Hill: McConnell’s health becomes bigger problem for GOP.
You are reading the free version of Political Wire.
“Brian Monahan, the Capitol’s attending physician, said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) does not have a seizure disorder and did not suffer a stroke after a medical episode last week,” The Hill reports.
Roll Call: “Nearly a dozen stocks appeared on Sen. Tim Scott’s 2022 financial disclosure that weren’t there in 2021. But the South Carolina Republican, the only member of Congress running for president, never reported buying the shares, raising questions about whether he followed a mandate Congress imposed on itself more than a decade ago.”
“After Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) experienced his second freezing episode in five weeks, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D) is declining to say whether he would follow a state law requiring him to appoint a Republican in the event of a Senate vacancy,” the Washington Post reports.
Said Beshear: “There is no Senate vacancy. Senator McConnell has said he’s going to serve out his term, and I believe him, so I’m not going to speculate about something that hasn’t happened and isn’t going to happen.”
Washington Post: “If Republicans grow dissatisfied with McConnell’s continued practice of keeping matters of his health private, they could request a special meeting of the Senate GOP conference to discuss it, needing just a handful of signatures to prompt such a conversation. So far no Republican has made that request, and privately senior aides think senators will want to see McConnell — and each other — in person next week before deciding whether such action is necessary.”
“With the Senate on its summer break until Tuesday, Republicans were scattered across the nation and globe when news of the McConnell incident broke. Unable to speak face-to-face with McConnell, they instead relied on phone calls and texts to talk with the leader and each other about the health episode.”
New York Times: “Seven neurologists, relying on what they described as unusually revealing video of Mr. McConnell freezing up in public twice recently, said in interviews Thursday and Friday that the episodes captured in real time likely pointed to more serious medical problems afflicting the longtime Republican leader…”
“The neurologists said that the episodes justified close medical attention and could prompt treatment to keep them from recurring. While several possibilities were suggested, including mini-strokes, doctors said that the spells appeared most consistent with focal seizures, which are electrical surges in one region of the brain.”
A new Dear Colleague letter from Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer shows his plan to “drive a wedge between House and Senate Republicans” on government funding, Politico reports.
“The chamber passed all 12 approps bills out of committee on a bipartisan basis, he boasts — drawing an implicit contrast to the House, where Kevin McCarthy has broken faith on his spending caps deal with President Joe Biden, and is instead pushing partisan proposals that don’t have a prayer of becoming law.”
Bloomberg: “It remains uncertain when any vote would happen. But speculation has intensified after McConnell, the cold-eyed tactician who has set the record as the longest-serving Senate leader, paused for 30 seconds Wednesday when taking questions from reporters, the second time he has frozen publicly since late July. The incidents came after he was out of the Senate for several weeks this spring following a fall.”
“McConnell has said little publicly about his health and has not broached the subject of stepping down as GOP leader, a post he has held since 2007. Senators and GOP aides are reluctant to publicly discuss his future, or any race to succeed him. He isn’t up for re-election until 2026 and Senate leaders are selected the start of each two-year Congress.”
“On the surface, there’s relatively little to distinguish the trio of potential successors. All hail from red states. Thune is 62, Cornyn and Barrasso 71. They each came to the Senate during the George W. Bush administration. They all hold or have held key leadership posts. They have similar temperaments and are generally well-liked within the conference. And for a party that has changed dramatically in the era of Donald Trump, they all represent throwbacks to an earlier era of Republicanism.”
Jack Shafer: Why is nobody doing anything about Mitch McConnell?
“Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is ‘medically clear’ to continue with his schedule, the attending physician to Congress said Thursday, a day after McConnell suffered his second public incident of freezing up in five weeks, prompting questions about his health that his aides have declined to address,” the Washington Post reports.
“A handful of GOP senators is weighing whether to force a fraught internal debate about their leadership’s future after Mitch McConnell’s second public freeze-up in a month,” Politico reports.
“Some rank-and-file Republicans have discussed the possibility of a broader conversation once senators return to Washington next week… Party leadership is not currently involved in those discussions, and nothing has been decided yet, this person added.”
Punchbowl News: “Inside McConnell’s circle, there are doubts about how long he will last as the top Senate Republican, the position he’s held since 2006.”
They note that “with Congress facing a turbulent fall session, including a potential government shutdown, the timing couldn’t be worse.”
Said one GOP aide to Politico: “If we’re going to stick with him, he kinda owes it to us to tell us what’s going on.”
Playbook: “The GOP leader’s latest health scare has sent the congressional rumor mill into overdrive, triggering questions about both his health and his political future. And yet, McConnell’s operation is saying very little. In that absence, both reporters and McConnell’s own rank and file are left to speculate about what’s happening.”
“How frequently are these bouts occurring? Are they seizures? Miniature strokes? Are they the byproduct of his concussion? Has he seen a neurologist?”
Philip Klein: “It’s one thing for something to happen once, but when it happens twice, and in a progressively worse way, it becomes harder to sweep under the rug.”
Politico: “The feud over the estate left by Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s late husband, Richard Blum, has many of the ingredients of a Netflix thriller — complete with a billion-dollar fortune and the potential for a season-ending cliffhanger over whether she will unleash political chaos by retiring from the Senate. It’s the story that everyone is whispering about given the messy final chapter in the life of a grand dame of California politics.”
“The family struggle that has emerged in recent weeks raises fresh questions about the 90-year-old senator’s ability to serve. A review of the San Francisco Superior Court file, along with a half-dozen interviews with family friends and associates, suggests Feinstein appears to be almost completely removed from the legal brawl, despite her stature and vast knowledge of government and the law.”
“Mitch McConnell’s latest health scare guarantees Republican senators will return from recess next week just as they left — publicly and privately discussing the future of their 81-year-old leader,” Politico reports.
“The Senate GOP leader paused for roughly 30 seconds during a press availability in Kentucky, a little more than a month after a similar episode in the Capitol in late July. His office attributed both episodes to lightheadedness, adding that McConnell would consult on Wednesday with a physician as a precautionary measure.”
“That explanation may not stem questions when the Senate reconvenes next week. While worries about McConnell’s first freeze had faded somewhat during August recess, with even some critics publicly defending his abilities, the second incident is sure to trigger increased scrutiny of McConnell’s hold on the conference, as well as who might succeed him.”
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) appeared to freeze again during a gaggle with reporters in Covington, Kentucky, stopping for more than 30 seconds after he was asked if he would run for re-election, NBC News reports.
When it became apparent that McConnell had frozen again on Wednesday, an aide came up to him and asked, “Did you hear the question, senator?”
A video shows McConnell continued to be unresponsive.
“Sen. Joe Manchin and his daughter Heather Manchin are pitching major political donors on a nascent effort to promote centrist policies and candidates that is projected to cost more than $100 million,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“The project comes as Manchin, a 76-year-old West Virginia Democrat, is weighing whether to mount an uphill effort to win re-election to the Senate in 2024 or pursue a long-shot run for president—or take on a different role in politics altogether. The centrist senator, who represents a solidly Republican state, has been a pivotal deal maker in recent years and has flirted with becoming an independent, citing increasing frustration with both parties.”
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.
“There are a lot of blogs and news sites claiming to understand politics, but only a few actually do. Political Wire is one of them.”
— Chuck Todd, host of “Meet the Press”
“Concise. Relevant. To the point. Political Wire is the first site I check when I’m looking for the latest political nugget. That pretty much says it all.”
— Stuart Rothenberg, editor of the Rothenberg Political Report
“Political Wire is one of only four or five sites that I check every day and sometimes several times a day, for the latest political news and developments.”
— Charlie Cook, editor of the Cook Political Report
“The big news, delicious tidbits, pearls of wisdom — nicely packaged, constantly updated… What political junkie could ask for more?”
— Larry Sabato, Center for Politics, University of Virginia
“Political Wire is a great, great site.”
— Joe Scarborough, host of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe”
“Taegan Goddard has a knack for digging out political gems that too often get passed over by the mainstream press, and for delivering the latest electoral developments in a sharp, no frills style that makes his Political Wire an addictive blog habit you don’t want to kick.”
— Arianna Huffington, founder of The Huffington Post
“Political Wire is one of the absolute must-read sites in the blogosphere.”
— Glenn Reynolds, founder of Instapundit
“I rely on Taegan Goddard’s Political Wire for straight, fair political news, he gets right to the point. It’s an eagerly anticipated part of my news reading.”
— Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist.