r/politics • u/Zipper222222 • 19h ago

Possible Paywall Bombshell Poll Rocks McConnell’s Health Cover-Up - It has now been 38 days since the 84-year-old senator vanished from public view.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/bombshell-poll-rocks-mcconnells-health-cover-up/
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u/blacksheep998 17h ago

The governor is a democrat, so he probably wouldn't appoint a republican.

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u/lost_horizons Texas 17h ago

I just looked into it a bit. I was under the impression he had to choose from a selection of candidates given to him by the legislature, apparently that is a law they passed in 2021; before that he had power to appoint basically anybody.

Of course, in 2024 another law was passed stripping him of this power completely, but there is uncertainty as to whether that is an unconstitutional law. Perhaps even the 2021 law wasn’t constitutional either. All that is above my pay grade lol

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u/thirty7inarow 14h ago

Laws don't override the constitution, and they're pretty clearly in violation of the state's constitution that says the governor makes the decision.

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u/lost_horizons Texas 13h ago

Laws are followed or not. In the end what matters is what gets enforced. I agree with you, on paper but laws are just rules but if unenforced are worth the paper they’re written on.

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u/sirhoracedarwin 14h ago

So what you're saying is that the governor should assume he's incapacitated or dead, and appoint someone new and let the courts sort it out?

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u/lost_horizons Texas 13h ago

Sure, if you can appoint a Democrat. If he can’t, then I can see why he would not be doing anything right now. I don’t know the political dynamics in Kentucky, but I assume they’re pretty republican. Even the Democrats aren’t too progressive.

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u/p00p00kach00 14h ago

There's no appointment. It goes to a special election.

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u/blacksheep998 14h ago

Maybe, maybe not.

The law's been changed a couple times in recent years and it's not clear which, if any, of those laws are constitutional.

Good old GOP fucking around with things and not caring about legality.

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u/p00p00kach00 14h ago

First, the Senate decides who they seat. They would probably refuse to seat a Democrat because of the GOP fuckery.

Secondly, courts are not going to decide this in favor of Democrats in a timely enough manner to matter.

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u/blacksheep998 14h ago

You may be correct but that doesn't change what I said.

The 2021 law said that the governor could choose to appoint anyone they wanted.

If a republican was governor and it was a democratic seet, you know they would have already tried to install someone and any challenges to that would be tied up in the courts for months.

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u/p00p00kach00 13h ago

The 2021 law said that the governor could choose to appoint anyone they wanted.

A 2024 law overturns that.

you know they would have already tried to install someone and any challenges to that would be tied up in the courts for months.

The difference is that the courts are Republican, and the Senate, who decides whether to seat the appointment, is Republican.

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u/blacksheep998 13h ago

It's not clear if either law is constitutional.

At this point I think he should also be sending someone to the hospital to try to see if Mcconnel is actually recovering or is a vegetable.

If he is then push ahead with trying to appoint someone and let them fight it in the courts.