US Sources: GOP senators preparing for McConnell retirement - The Senate Minority Leader had a serious fall last month

Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell has been out of the public eye for weeks, following a serious fall that hospitalized him. Now multiple sources confirm that Senators John Barrasso of Wyoming, John Cornyn of Texas and John Thune of South Dakota are actively reaching out to fellow Republican senators in efforts to prepare for an anticipated leadership vote — a vote that would occur upon announcement that McConnell would be retiring from his duties as leader, and presumably the Senate itself.

One source says that Cornyn has been particularly active in his preparations, taking fellow senators with whom he has little in common to lunch in attempts to court them.

Requests are being targeted at a plethora of conservative senators, including the sixteen who voted to delay the leadership election earlier this year, a proxy for opposition to McConnell’s leadership. Rick Scott, the Florida senator and former NRSC head who challenged McConnell, ultimately received ten protest votes. These members could prove key to determining the next Republican leader. Queries are also being made internally about the rules regarding replacement, and how the contest would be structured given the lack of an obvious heir apparent.

McConnell fell at a dinner event for the Senate Leadership Fund on March 8 at the Waldorf Astoria, formerly the Trump Hotel, in Washington, DC. He suffered a concussion, and only after being treated at a hospital and at his home did murmurs begin that he might be unable to return to the Senate. These discussions increased in volume based on the inability of other senators to do their jobs — with California’s Dianne Feinstein missing votes due to a shingles diagnosis and John Fetterman of Pennsylvania’s hospitalization for depression.

McConnell has guided the Republican Senate since 2007, and his role at the top of the party has been enormously significant. As the longest serving Senate Party Leader in history, he has been both a target for critics of the Republican establishment and a skilled leader in the judicial nomination fights that became one of the most important battlefields in Washington. His departure from the role of Republican leader would leave a massive vacuum, one that could be filled by Barrasso, Cornyn, Thune or potentially a dark horse ambitious enough to seize the moment.

McConnell is a giant in the history of the Senate — and much as many may question his methods, his departure from leadership would create new chaos for the GOP. Cockburn has reached out to Senator McConnell’s office for comment.

https://thespectator.com/topic/gop-senators-prepare-mitch-mcconnell-retirement/ (Archive)

 

[Your Starter for 10]

He's only 81. Are the adrenochrome, stem cell and child whole blood treatments not working or something?

 

[RiverFalcon]

Might explain why he worked so hard to sabotage MAGA republicans in 2022 (though that timeline doesn't align with his fall). If he was already thinking about appointing his successor then he wouldn't want them doing what they did with McCarthy in the House

 

[KiwiFuzz]

DiFi's going to be out first and Newsom's appointing her replacement. Which is going to be a wholeass shitshow, given that he promised to appoint a black woman, and the only black woman who has thrown her hat in is Barbara Lee.

 

[Jean ValJean]

This fossil has been in the Senate for 40 years. Joe Biden has been in politics for 50 years.

Nobody should be in office that long.

We need term limits. Two terms max anywhere (President, House, Senate) then go and get a fucking real job.

 

[Geddy Lee's Fee and See]

This fossil has been in the Senate for 40 years. Joe Biden has been in politics for 50 years.

Nobody should be in office that long.

We need term limits. Two terms max anywhere (President, House, Senate) then go and get a fucking real job.

A lot of the fucking blame also goes to voters for voting for these people over and over again, but yes, there should be a hard cap on all political offices to 8 years. and you can't run for other offices when that time is up. There's no reason you can't get all you need done in that amount of time.

 

[Fellen]

Considering he did jack squat to help the GOP in the midterms because of his hatred for Trump, good. Good riddance to that neo-Con.

 

[Mojo Thief]

Oops the turtle fell over on his back and couldn't get back upright, someone should send him off to a sanctuary on the Galapagos with his kin and Kentucky should vote for a human being who isn't essentially an ancient reptile into Congress.

 

[Absolutego]

man, even when it comes to stubbornly holding on to power until you're a decrepit corpse stapled to your chair, Republican leadership loses to the Democrats.

 

[Back me up!]

On one hand he DID keep Garland from the SC and used senate rules to put in a ton of Republican federal judges in place (while telling dem they would regret it).....but fuck him. The time of the Neo-con is over.

 

[Damocles_Sword]

First DiFi, then the turtle. Fancy Nancy when?

 

[Sniperwoof]

So that's why he was so incredibly desperate to fuck over Trump. He didn't have much time due to failing health.

See you in hell Mitch, we won't miss you here on earth.

 

[derpherp2]

This fossil has been in the Senate for 40 years. Joe Biden has been in politics for 50 years.

Nobody should be in office that long.

We need term limits. Two terms max anywhere (President, House, Senate) then go and get a fucking real job.

Honestly I'd make military service, actual military service (or some sort of limiting factor for desk jobs idfk) mandatory for politicians, akin to South Korea's shit. Each year in politics begets a year in military, or vice versa. If you are physically incapable of doing the basic shit in military you are unworthy of doing politics. Also it indirecly turns politics into a retirement home for military whatevers.

Or some other 1:1 political career system, point being politics shouldn't be their fucking career, it should be a reward for civic duty.

And I actually mean fucking reward, so embezzlement bullshit isn't a thing.

 

[make_it_so]

Honestly I'd make military service, actual military service (or some sort of limiting factor for desk jobs idfk) mandatory for politicians, akin to South Korea's shit. Each year in politics begets a year in military, or vice versa. If you are physically incapable of doing the basic shit in military you are unworthy of doing politics. Also it indirecly turns politics into a retirement home for military whatevers.

Or some other 1:1 political career system, point being politics shouldn't be their fucking career, it should be a reward for civic duty.

And I actually mean fucking reward, so embezzlement bullshit isn't a thing.

Nah, in the long term that would just create a different type of insulated political class.

Hell, we can see right now that it wouldn't fix things - you have veterans like Tammy Duckworth and Dan Crenshaw who, like the rest of them, are using their position to further the interests of the Oligarchs and Deep State while working against the basic 2nd Amendment rights of the citizenry.

 

[derpherp2]

Nah, in the long term that would create just a different type of insulated political class.

Hell, we can see right now that it wouldn't fix things - you have veterans like Tammy Duckworth and Dan Crenshaw who, like the rest of them, are using their position to further the interests of the Oligarchs and Deep State while working against the basic 2nd Amendment rights of the citizenry.

Hence the whole "limit desk job" shit. I WANT them to make field positions more cushy, and if it takes forcing them ins aid positions, then so be it.

 

[make_it_so]

Hence the whole "limit desk job" shit. I WANT them to make field positions more cushy, and if it takes forcing them ins aid positions, then so be it.

Duckworth and Crenshaw did not work desk jobs.

 

[Bland Crumbs]

A lot of the fucking blame also goes to voters for voting for these people over and over again, but yes, there should be a hard cap on all political offices to 8 years. and you can't run for other offices when that time is up. There's no reason you can't get all you need done in that amount of time.

I think eight years is a little low and running for other offices should be allowed. That said two terms should be a hard limit. Perhaps a twenty four year cap for what people would consider major positions. The house, the senate, and president. Time as governor should probably count as well.

You want some elder statesmen but once you crack thirty years there is very little chance the person is not bought and is still in touch with reality.

 

[Romulus augustulus]

A lot of the fucking blame also goes to voters for voting for these people over and over again, but yes, there should be a hard cap on all political offices to 8 years. and you can't run for other offices when that time is up. There's no reason you can't get all you need done in that amount of time.

to be fair, The turtle has had such a stranglehold on KY senatorial politics that no one ever runs a serious campaign against him, usually it's some wierdo. The democrats always run legitimate communists and woke liberals against him (this is kentucky, only a blue dog dem could win here and even that is a stretch). Last election his opponet was Amy McGrath, who was secrely recorded saying that Trump's election was worst than 9/11 (trump won Kentucky with 62% of the vote). She also never listed her party in her ads, instead repeating over and over that she was a fighter pilot and mom.

The runner up against Mitch on the GOP side (Qanon retard/ democrat endorser) daughter was murdered shorty after the primaries.

 

[The Mass Shooter Ron Soye]

A lot of the fucking blame also goes to voters for voting for these people over and over again, but yes, there should be a hard cap on all political offices to 8 years. and you can't run for other offices when that time is up. There's no reason you can't get all you need done in that amount of time.

We're going to see a cap on SCOTUS before anything else, because the reeeeing is so strong (on all sides).

Going from lifetime to 30 years would be an improvement there, which is sad.

 

[World Famous Quasi Payer]

Last election his opponet was Amy McGrath, who was secrely recorded saying that Trump's election was worst than 9/11 (trump won Kentucky with 62% of the vote). She also never listed her party in her ads, instead repeating over and over that she was a fighter pilot and mom.

Lady looks like a dude!

McGrath has stated her support for the 2nd Amendment and the right to bear arms, noting she "went to combat with a 9 millimeter strapped to my chest and a 20 millimeter cannon on the front of my jet."[73] She favors stronger background checks on firearm sales, as well as "banning sales to those on terror watch lists, and continuing federal research on the gun violence epidemic."[71]

Typical anti-gun shithead.