FOXNEWS: Democratic Sen. Tim Johnson Suffers Possible Stroke
By Mason Conservative Comments (48) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
I hope this isn't true, for his sake and his families! If it is, I hope Sen. Johnson will be ok. But we can't help but wonder--if he can't serve, SD had a "R" governor. It might sound callous, I know, but it is what eveyone is thinking.
It's reminiscent of the awful "deathwatch" we read about regarding Jesse Helms and Strom Thurmond after the 2000 election -- when some Dems were quietly wondering if one of these two geezers might kick the bucket and hand the Senate over to them. Of course, Jim Jeffords ended up making it a moot point.
Most strokes are minor -- particularly in a man so young as Sen. Johnson. Based on the report I heard, it doesn't sound like a massive stroke. So chances are that he'll be OK -- more along the lines of what took place with the Patriots' linebacker Tedy Bruschi.
All this talk about replacing him is macabre and tacky.
we are human. I want Tim Johnson to be recovered and at his best. I hope he is ok.
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"As nations can not be rewarded or punished in the next world they must be in this."
- George Mason
But I perused the news channels when this story broke and that topic seemed high on their minds. I suppose that is somewhat natural with an event like this.
But it just goes to show how cold politics has gotten in the modern era. It's as if it's some kind of meat market. And I think a lot of it has to do with the instancy and openness of news and discussion.
This man has a family which is, I'm sure, very concerned right now. And I don't think any of us would want to think that our families would have to be subject to that kind of talk were we to be hospitalized.
Anyway, like you, I hope he's OK.
I liked Tom Delay's quote from the Fox News story:
"This is a pretty mean town and lets just keep him in our prayers," said former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas. "This town is so eat up with power that everybody, you know, that's all they think about. You go to ask somebody for a cup of coffee, they question why you asked, there must be an ulterior motive to you asking.
Wubbies World - The odds of hitting your target go up dramatically when you actually aim for it!
He could very well decide to retire then, which would make winning that seat that much easier.
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Internet member since 1987
Member of the Surreality-Based Community
Of course I hope he's okay and recovers quickly, but if not....
- If he is in capacitated or in a coma, will the Dems demand he be left as the sitting Senator since he could recover? That would of course just happen to give them a 50-49 advantage with 1 NV. (To make it even more interesting, what if we had the sad circumstance where he was diagnosed to be like Terri Schiavo?)
- If he dies - and again I wouldn't wish that on him or his family - would the Dems demand that out of fairness Gov Rounds appoint a Democrat to take his place? I'm sure Tom Daschle or some other Dem would be glad to serve.
Within what sort of timeframe would Rounds have to call an election to replace him if he dies/resigns/can't continue?
My apologies for sounding so morbid about it, but let's face it - this could be a huge deal.
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Bipartisanship = give + take. Republicans give. Democrats take.
even they would have enough class not act like a vulture.
Here's wishing the Senator a fast and complete recovery.
...no buts...
Reinstatement means your rope is thinner and shorter.
Bear that in mind.
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Even those who learn from history are surrounded by those doomed to repeat it.
And right now, that should be it.
The Fuzzy Puppy of the VRWC.
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"I don't know." -- Helen Thomas, when asked by White House spokesman Scott McClellan, "Are we at war, Helen?"
He's a good guy, who has avoided the arrogance that most Senators fall prey to (or brought to the Capitol). Tries to serve his constituents. I wish him all the best.
precisely because it's hard not to think about these things - about what if this guy gets sick or dies or that guy gets indicted or some other fella gets his election recounted. Same for the Supreme Court. One of the nice things about having a 55-45 Senate for a while was not having this sort of thing on people's minds. It leads to dark places.
"No compromise with the main purpose, no peace till victory, no pact with unrepentant wrong." - Winston Churchill
... than the constant speculation about the health or life expectancy of justices (Stevens and Ginsburg especially) here and at Confirmthem.com.
I sure hope for the senator's health to improve, and for comfort for his family. This certainly is no way to win back the senate.
One historical note. Unless I'm wrong, didn't dem governors break the old tradition of appointing same party senators (of the deceased)? Either way it is reasonable to assume dems would scream to high heaven for a same party appointment (as we would in the same circumstance). People vote for a governor, and the law is the law. In such a case I think a gov should appoint a same party senator, unless a state law forbids such a practice. I would support such a law, but absent that law support a gov's decision. But I'd much rather have a healthy dem senator than a republican who had to replace someone because of a tragedy.
We should all pray for Sen. Johnson and his family. He's a young man, a family man, and in the broader sense of things he's one of us (an American).
"Greater is an army of sheep led by a lion, than an army of lions led by a sheep" - Defoe
The last Senator to die in office with a Democrat as governor (Independent Jesse Ventura was Governor of Minnesota when Paul Wellstone died) was Georgia Republican Paul Coverdell. Gov. Roy Barnes replaced him with Democrat Zell Miller.
Jesse appointed a "Independence Party" buddy of his to serve out the last couple months of Wellstone's term just because he could, even though that move cost Coleman (who had just won the election) senority in the Senate.
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Underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself. - Milton Friedman
Wellstone died during the campaign and was replaced by Walter Mondale. Ventura was going to appoint a Democrat, but he got PISSED when Dems booed him at the memorial, so he put in Dean Barkley. This move did not cost Coleman any seniority becasue he had not been elected yet.
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"As nations can not be rewarded or punished in the next world they must be in this."
- George Mason
He could've simply waited a few days and appointed the winner of the election (whoever that ended up being). That would've put that Senator ahead of the rest of the incoming class. That would've been best for Minnesota. That also would've been what anyone with a bit of class would've done. Of course it was abundantly clear by that point just how much class the guy had, and it was a lot less than "a bit."
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Underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself. - Milton Friedman
Neither Ventura nor the dems in the state showed any.
"Greater is an army of sheep led by a lion, than an army of lions led by a sheep" - Defoe
Harry Reid had a stroke and he's now senate majority leader.
U.S. Rep. Mike Castle (R-DE) reportedly has had several strokes and he is still in Congress - having just won re-election.
The way people are acting about this one you would THINK that it was much worse than either of those two, who are older than Johnson. But I haven't really seen anything - other than hysterics - that really suggest that.
I think the ideal situation is that Johnson remains but doesn't run for re-election. That way Stephanie Herseth gets drawn away from her house seat into a losing campaign against Mike Rounds, and the GOP can surely field a GOP candidate to win the House seat back.
Craig Thomas has cancer. McCain, Kerry, and Specter, among others, have survived various cancers. And Robert Byrd suffers from erosion.
"No compromise with the main purpose, no peace till victory, no pact with unrepentant wrong." - Winston Churchill
I can't even see trying to make political benefit out of this. I hope this man comes out as unscathed as possible.
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Run like Reagan!
I hope the man is ok. I'd rather earn the Senate than acquire it through someone dying or being hideosly injured by a stroke.
2006 is done, 2008 is another day and another fight
Just flipped through the channels to Wolf Blitzer's "Situation Room" and Sen. Johnson was being discussed. The crawler headline read "Balance of Power At Risk?". This tells me two things:
1) CNN is, well, icky
2) The term "at risk" indicates they think a power shift would be terrible and a real threat. Craven, agenda driven jerks. If anyone watched, they would also see that, but of course no one watches.
I would never wish death on anyone or betray my country to gain power. Too bad the left doesn't feel that way.
is just as icky. And (at least at this moment) the headline on their website reads
"Sen. Johnson in Critical Condition
Lawmaker out of surgery after suffering stroke-like symptoms; illness could throw Senate power back into GOP hands"
The networks love a death-watch, or a sickness watch--the kid at the bottom of a well, climbers on Mt Hood, missing girl in Aruba, or whatever. Sensation and slime sell--on all the networks.
Tom DeLay is right. "This town is so eat up with power..."--the power that corrupts our hearts and spirits. We are all corruptible, and Tom DeLay is wise enough to have said just that. The most important battle is not us/them. It's in our own hearts. I know that I spent way more time thinking about the political ramifications of this than any decent person should have done.
why are you even talking about it?
If he's OK, as you claim you are hoping for, then there is no issue for Republicans, including the mention that the SD governor is a Republican and under law can name a replacement if the Senator is "incapacitated".
Simply posting a disclaimer that you realize such comments are callous, premature, or out of bounds does not excuse making them.
How would you respond to someone from Kos bragging about Jean Kirkpatrick??
Then expect to get the same from anyone else. Disclaimers don't matter, friends; discretion does.
We don't need the attention for being vultures, even if that means vultures who say we really don't hope what we're hoping for.
Fair enough?
Because there is no 'we' here. There is 'us', some of whom are struggling with unworthy thoughts during another person's tragedy, and some of whom are instead trying to rise above said thoughts for our own pride's sake; and then there is 'you', who pops onto sites like these to lecture on civility because you don't have the guts to do so to your own ilk.
Yeah, I checked; yeah, I actually can. Bit of a SNAFU for you, huh?
Go.
The Fuzzy Puppy of the VRWC.
Here's the first diary I found:
I am sorry she died just I would be about any human being. But I find it hard to remember her in the clinical way the media wants everybody to. The cries of the bereaved, the addicts, and the victims of the mayhem she helped spread still reverberate - but more to the point, the lesson we have not learned about our system of government which justifies lending itself to buyers, foreign and local, with barrages of sham cries about democracy and freedom is alive and continues the legacy of Ms. Kirkpatrick - a legacy of bloodshed, death and destruction.
As far as I am concerned, please do not use the terms "friends" and "we" while you are here. You are only embarrassing yourself and irritating others.
And as far as your screen name goes, now that you have your country back, what's the plan for Iraq? Surely you have one - right?
If you go over to Kos, you get a 496-comment discussion of this. There's about 100 comments wishing him well (some of which wish him well "for the good of the country"), about 100 discussing whether a stroke is a death sentence, but the balance is an extended discussion of SD law on who appoints the successor, whether that law can be changed, and whether any potential defectors can be contacted.
Yeah I know the original poster was just a troll, but I'm just sayin'.
They only give a crap about Senator Johnson because he is vote #51, and wish him well only because they need him to stay vote #51.
Like I said before, I will never wish anyone dead or betray my country in order to gain power. The left does not suffer under those constraints.
Most lefties spend their time cursing Senators like Johnson, Ben Nelson, Pryor, Bayh (pre-2004), etal. And, to be fair, we righties curse people like weak Linc, Snowe, Specter, and Collins.
But at times like this, a seat's a seat -- and a seat means everything.
The dozen or so that are conspiracy theory in nature, blaming Rove/Bush in nature, wondering if the GOP has been taking lessons from Putin, etc.
It's about eighty percent sad and twenty percent hilarious that this is (some of) their speculation.
And adding to the general sentiments of this thread, I'm very glad that it seems Sen. Johnson did not suffer a stroke or heart attack. Hopefully he is able to achieve a full and complete recovery.
so we can say thank God and the Dems can say thank goodness.
This was the first thought I had when I heard this. I could just imagine him saying something really dumb and the media predictably painting him as the evangelical spokesperson on the desirability of Sen. Johnson dying.
I will confess to about a quarter second of thinking, "wow, can you imagine the look on Ted Kennedy's face if..." And then I realized Tim Johnson has a wife and kids. And he was made in the image of God too. And my own depravity was once more made clear to me.
I'll just say it this way, I would far prefer a world where Republicans have to campaign and win a battle of ideas to get control back of Congress two years from now AND Tim Johnson's children have a dad to the alternative.
Actually, I completely agree. I do not want the Dems in control, but I don't want same-old same-old GOP either. We have to get back to principles. Having the other side die off (to be blunt) only let's 'em off the hook.
Bah, if the situation was reversed, they'd be doing voodoo and witchcraft, wishing death on our Senator. You KNOW this.
We're different people.
Ideal situation: NO discussion of the political situation, until we absolutely know something certain.
I hesitated to post when I first heard the news, because I wanted to see if others shared my thoughts. Of course we want the man to live and to recover his faculties; for Georgians, this sounds very similar to what happened with Paul Coverdell in 2000.
He also is known as one of the more low-key senators and he's probably someone that might occasionally support Republican initiatives, or at least someone who wouldn't support far-left ideas just out of party affiliation.
I really think the numbers are less important than what happens with actual legislation. I wish the best for Sen. Johnson.
The DEMS had us on death watch, in the-late 90's, when Zell Miller (D) replaced Paul Coverdell.
They had us on another death watch in 2001, with Sens. Helms and Thurmond.
As such, I'm NOT afraid of putting THEM on a death march, frankly.
I notice a lot of boasting going on in this thread about how much better some people are than others.
I'd suggest that for those people doing that it might be helpful or instructive to read the bible.
This is coming from the guy whose first RS comment apparently was to say the Democrats made a mistake in being loyal to the US in their opposition to Repubicans.
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Run like Reagan!
Instead of wishing him a speedy recovery because he is a human being, we should do like the folks at Dkos and wish him a speedy recovery so he can stay in the Senate.
I'd suggest that you go back to salivating over the thought of Cheney having a heart attack, and watching In Death of a President for the 57th time.
Evil prevails only when good men do nothing.
one of the very best of the Democratic senators. He also had a child serving in Iraq, unique among sitting senators (Jim Webb notwithstanding - he has not yet been seated).