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Parody ‘missing person’ posters for Mitch McConnell hit DC

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BS BRIEFING:

  • Parody “missing person” posters featuring Sen. Mitch McConnell have appeared around Washington, D.C., mocking the Kentucky Republican’s nearly seven-week absence from Capitol Hill and telling anyone who locates him to “keep it to yourself.”
  • McConnell’s office says the 84-year-old senator is recovering in a rehabilitation facility after a June fall and a mild case of pneumonia, but he still has not released a video or made a public appearance. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear is now demanding that McConnell speak directly to voters, prove he can continue serving or resign.
  • McConnell’s extended absence has moved beyond ordinary health privacy. He has missed dozens of Senate votes, and the refusal to provide even a brief recorded statement is fueling questions about whether Kentucky currently has two functioning senators.

‘MISSING MITCH’ POSTERS HIT WASHINGTON AS MCCONNELL’S SEVEN-WEEK ABSENCE FUELS QUESTIONS

Washington has seen plenty of political posters over the years.

Campaign posters. Protest posters. Wanted posters.

Now the nation’s capital has Mitch McConnell missing-person posters—complete with a hospital-bed photograph, a “tortoise-like appearance” and a final instruction that may be the most McConnellian sentence ever printed: “If you have any information about his whereabouts, please keep it to yourself. He would.”

The parody flyers began appearing around Washington as the 84-year-old Kentucky Republican’s absence from public life approached seven weeks. McConnell has not cast a Senate vote since June 11 and has not appeared publicly since he was hospitalized several days later.

The poster describes him as: “84 years old. 5’9 feet. Turtle-like.”

Under “known for,” it reads: “Blocking something in the Senate.”

And under distinguishing features: “Tortoise-like appearance.”

Effective? Well, here we are talking about it.

The anti-Trump Save America Movement acknowledged responsibility for distributing the posters, telling The Independent that the continuing silence from McConnell and his staff had become “absurd.”

“For more than a month now, the senior senator from Kentucky has not cast a vote, has not appeared for the work of the chamber, and has not, in any provable or functional sense, represented the four-and-a-half million people who sent him there,” a group spokesperson said.

The flyers arrived as another video circulated showing independent reporter Nicholas Ballasy attempting to question Robert Steurer, one of McConnell’s senior communications advisers.

Ballasy asked whether the senator would release a video statement. Steurer kept walking.

No answer. No explanation. No “the senator will address that shortly.” Just the Washington version of disappearing into the wallpaper.

McConnell was hospitalized June 14 after what his office later described as a fall. In a written statement released nearly a month afterward, the senator said he briefly lost consciousness, suffered minor injuries and developed “a mild case of pneumonia” while hospitalized.

“My doctors have confirmed that I didn’t break any bones or suffer a concussion,” McConnell said. “I didn’t have a heart attack or a stroke.”

The attending physician for Congress attributed McConnell’s recent falls in part to complications from the polio he suffered as a child. McConnell said his reluctance to provide details reflected a generational discomfort with discussing declining health. “Folks of my generation often hesitate to share the vulnerability that comes with growing older,” he said.

That explanation may account for his preference for privacy. It does not explain why an elected senator who remains on the government payroll cannot sit in front of a phone for 30 seconds and tell Kentucky voters how he is doing.

McConnell’s office has released two still photographs, including one showing him holding a newspaper and another beside his wife, Elaine Chao. His staff says he continues to receive briefings, participate in calls and undergo “strenuous” rehabilitation. But he has not appeared on camera, spoken publicly or announced a firm return date.

That gap has created a political vacuum, and—as Washington surely knows by now—political vacuums are quickly filled with rumors, memes and people asking for “proof of life.”

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, Majority Whip John Barrasso and former McConnell adviser Scott Jennings have all said they spoke with McConnell and described him as engaged in detailed conversations. Those assurances have done little to end the speculation.

Kentucky Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear has now escalated his demands, sending McConnell another letter and also asking Thune to investigate whether the senator remains capable of performing his duties.

Beshear said McConnell should address Kentuckians verbally, demonstrate that he can continue serving or resign.

“Absent any direct communication from Senator McConnell demonstrating his capacity and intent to serve, the people of Kentucky are left without critical information about whether they have effective representation in the United States Senate,” Beshear wrote, according to reporting on the letter.

The governor’s pressure campaign has itself drawn accusations of political opportunism.

Longtime Kentucky political journalist Al Cross told CNN that McConnell may simply be acting “a little cranky and pugnacious” near the end of his career and is determined to handle the matter on his own terms. “He cherishes his independence, and he could easily resolve this matter,” Cross said. “I wish he would give us a short video and put all this misinformation to rest, but he’s going out the way he wants to go out.”

Cross also suggested McConnell may be enjoying the governor’s frustration. “McConnell has basically, I think, been happy to let Beshear stew in his own juice,” he said.

Republican commentator Lanhee Chen was even more direct, calling Beshear’s demands “a political stunt” designed to elevate the governor’s national profile. “There is no power for him to do anything,” Chen said. “This is strictly an effort by the governor to get some attention, particularly attention with voters who might determine his political future in a Democratic presidential primary.”

But even Cross acknowledged that Beshear has a legitimate point: McConnell’s staff can answer calls, read briefings and issue statements, but only McConnell can cast McConnell’s vote.

That matters with narrow Senate margins and major nominations hanging in the balance.

McConnell has reportedly missed at least 38 votes since his hospitalization, and his prolonged absence has already helped inspire legislation from Rep. Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y., that would require members of Congress who miss three consecutive weeks of votes to file a formal health-and-attendance disclosure with the appropriate ethics committee.

McConnell has already announced that he will not seek reelection and is scheduled to leave office in January.

Until then, however, he remains Kentucky’s senior senator.

And as long as his office keeps providing photographs instead of a voice, the posters will continue doing the talking.

DBS WIRE SOURCES:

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