US senator Mitch McConnell on Sunday revealed for the first time that a fall led to his hospitalization, breaking the silence about the Kentucky Republican’s condition after weeks of mounting speculation about his health.

The statement included a smiling picture of McConnell with his wife, Elaine Chao, a tacit response to speculation online that he had died or was incapacitated. McConnell held a copy of Sunday’s Washington Post sports section in his hand.

    • ChunkMcHorkle@lemmy.worldOP
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      17 days ago

      Or, you know, McConnell himself could readily put all the whispers to rest.

      It’s not like reporters have never interviewed someone in a hospital before, and if he really did talk with all those Republicans that swear he did in the last few days, twenty minutes at a time apparently, then he should have enough stamina to issue a few words to the public personally. If he can sit in a chair, he can sit in a wheelchair.

      This is not live. It is a still, posed photograph issued by McConnell’s office along with a written press release, which would have been fine in say 1876, but technology has moved forward. Why the leap backward?

      When a sitting Senator who is facing the possibility of a special election because everyone, including his own state’s governor, thinks his seat is probably vacant, I don’t think it’s too much to ask that he say a few words to his constituents, LIVE, in a publicly verifiable manner.