Exactly, the power vacuum is more disruptive than anything that could realistically happen.
Do you think Beshear showing up at George Washington Health & Rehabilitation every day asking to see McConnell would help Beshear? Booker? The Dems? Anyone in Kentucky?
Yes… if he’s incapacitated there is no vacancy as the law stands. So all this achieves is making everyone look bad.
Except what if the McConnell staff wants is exactly this: making all the Dem activists enraged at Beshear for not being able to produce what only Team Mitch can.
Same with Mitch.
If I had staffers to write them, quite often, and yes, just last month.
Staff who happen to be reptile people? 
Right.
It’s been published, with a photo and everything. Beshear likely accept this, and likely has had staffers inquire.
Right.
Mind you a phone call wouldnt be crazy.
Why? We already know he is recovering, doing phone calls and even a little work.
You guys wanted an announcement and Photo as to how he is doing, and that has been given. What next? DNA tests to make sure he is really human?
!!!
This is kind of like when Superman tricks Mister Mxyzptlk into saying his name backwards 
I won’t ask for a cite, but when I get a breather from paying work later today … I’m going to go through the letter of HIPAA to see if it’s crystal-clear that disclosing even the location of medical care is a violation.
If so … worth every penny. Recognizing that others’ mileage varies.
Dear JRD,
The Republican National Committee respectfully requests a rate sheet of your consulting services …
His status is “eyes are open”. That’s not very informative.
We know nothing of the sort. What gave you that impression?
The “why?” is answered amply in this morning’s posts, though I acknowledge that a difference in priors and personal sensibilities can perhaps not be bridged. No worries if so.
Speaking for myself: No, I don’t know that know he is recovering, doing phone calls and even a little work. For one, I’ve not observed it personally (to the strains of “oh, COME ON!”). Two, no one worthy of sufficient trust has reported it. I’m happy to be the kook here 
EDIT: High-fives @Chronos
Do we have any reports on the actual “work” he is performing?
What has been released by His family and staffers.
The 84-year-old, in the statement, pushes back against rumors of more serious ailments, though he said he had to “deal with a mild case of pneumonia.”
“My doctors have confirmed that I didn’t break any bones or suffer a concussion,” the statement added. “I didn’t have a heart attack or a stroke. I don’t have any tumors or hemorrhages. But I was briefly unconscious and was taken to the hospital.”
https://www.npr.org/2026/07/13/nx-s1-5891492/mcconnell-fall-hospitalization
McConnell said he will continue to work with his staff on Senate business. His statement included a smiling picture of the senator with his wife Elaine Chao, a tacit response to speculation online that McConnell had died or was incapacitated.
Statement from Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell:
“To my fellow Kentuckians –
“When you elected me to a seventh term and made me our Commonwealth’s longest serving Senator, you did so trusting that I’d keep showing up to fight for you every day. And over the past several weeks, Elaine and I have appreciated both your well wishes and your honest questions about what was keeping me away from the Senate.
“You all know how folks of my generation often hesitate to share the vulnerability that comes with growing older. Even in the public eye, I feel that same instinct – I can’t help it.
“But at the same time, I’ve had more than my share of experience with physical vulnerabilities. Surviving childhood polio meant spending my entire life with mobility challenges. They haven’t exactly gotten easier to manage with age. And last month, I took a fall which landed me in the hospital.
“My doctors have confirmed that I didn’t break any bones or suffer a concussion. I didn’t have a heart attack or a stroke. I don’t have any tumors or hemorrhages. But I was briefly unconscious and was taken to the hospital. While receiving excellent care over the past several weeks, I’ve also had to deal with a mild case of pneumonia.
So there has been an official statement, a photo and etc.
I have not personally observed trump or Russia for that matter.
Of course. I was merely trying to cover the epistemological bases in my response.
On the matter of trust: I trust that Donald Trump and Russia. Maybe not defensibly, but I do. It’s the inverse case for me concerning McConnell’s present fitness for office – my doubt may be indefensible, yet I doubt.
And to reiterate: It’s the coverup, not the thing being covered up.
You misunderstand me. I’m not being critical of people saying that transparency regarding the ability of elected representatives to do their jobs is important for a democracy. I’m being critical of people saying that the GOP is lying about the situation to bend it to their advantage. That doesn’t make sense, because this particular lying is to the GOP’s detriment, not their benefit.
He may not be fit for office. He is in recovery, but he is also 84. He may not be up to returning to the Senate. Maybe he is only dictating some work while the doctors, his family and him own self figure out if his health is up to it. That is all possible.
But he isnt dead, or in a coma, or a reptile man or any other crazy conspiracy theories.
So, why are they doing it, then? Why not either post evidence that he’s actually conscious, or admit that he isn’t? They’re covering up something. And yes, they probably wouldn’t do that unless they had some reason. But what is the reason?
And, again, you base this statement on what? We have a statement that could have been written by a staffer, and we have a still picture. Neither of those proves anything.
He might possibly be working on blinking, but nothing concrete.
There’s already reporting about his location.
Unfortunately, being fit to serve, or to read, or speak or even be aware of your surroundings is not a requirement to serving as a Senator. Telling the truth is not a requirement to serving as a Senator. If he has a bare minimal brain activity, and his staff lies and lies and lies about how great he’s doing… This does not disqualify him from serving out his term.
That’s the way the system is designed.
I’m glad Townsend’s taken a shot at it … but she’s one that was hitching her wagon (briefly) to “He’s brain dead, Jim!” last week. If she’s right, corroboration won’t be long in coming.
They did- the Photo.
Well, as Ripley said “Believe it or Not”.
The report sparked a deluge of theories about the Senator’s health, especially by MAGA conspiracy theorists like Laura Loomer who claimed McConnell was “brain dead”. Such was the noise around it that a slew of updates came pouring in from the Senator’s camp as “proof of life.”
It showed the 84-year-old Senator alongside a physician attending to him. Along with the photo, McConnell’s office said that he has been moved to a rehabilitation center and is recovering.Here’s the new photo:
First, it came as internet personalities posting on social media about their recent conversation with McConnell. Then came a hospital photo with his wife, Elaine Chao. Then, on Saturday, his office released another photo of Mitch McConnell from the hospital.
So now two photos.
This line is interesting-
The report sparked a deluge of theories about the Senator’s health, especially by MAGA conspiracy theorists like Laura Loomer who claimed McConnell was “brain dead”.