Oh.
The 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.
McConnell, 84, said in a statement that he has undergone a battery of tests as doctors try to determine what led to his fall. He explained the long silence about his condition by saying that “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,” he said.
McConnell said he is now in a rehabilitation center and will not be returning to the Senate “quite yet”. He said he continues to work with his staff on Senate business in the meantime.
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. […]
Before McConnell’s office released his statement, one of his colleagues, the Democratic senator Cory Booker, offered his “thoughts and prayers” to the former Republican majority leader, but added: “This is just unfortunately an issue of politics in general: people don’t know when to gracefully step aside.”
100%. Also, MITCH, you’re a senator. You have constituents, and obligations to them. They deserve to know whether or not you’re able to do your job of representing them; fuck, they deserved to know whether you were even alive or not. There was nothing stopping you from doing that little, you didn’t even need to tell people what was wrong. Oh, old people get embarrassed about getting old and things going wrong with them? Fuck off. That happens to old people. We know that and we understand that. We won’t think any less of you just for getting old, not when there are so many other reasons to think less of you. Gracefully step aside while you still can.
