Sen. Tim Johnson of South Dakota was undergoing brain surgery early Thursday at George Washington University Hospital after suffering stroke-like symptoms, two Democratic sources familiar with his condition told CNN.
Johnson, 59, was taken to the hospital Wednesday morning after he appeared to suffer stroke-like symptoms, although a spokeswoman for the senator said subsequent evaluation showed he did not suffer a stroke or a heart attack.
Staffers told CNN Johnson was conscious when he was transported to the hospital.
… Johnson spokeswoman Julianne Fisher said the senator was in the Capitol on Wednesday morning conducting a conference call with South Dakota reporters when “his speech pattern slipped off.” …
Fisher said the senator was able to walk back to his office in the Hart Senate Office Building, then began having problems with his right arm. He thought he was all right, she said, and went to his desk, but came out a few minutes later and “it was apparent he needed help.”
Staffers put him on a couch in the office and called the Capitol doctor, she said. He was taken to the hospital shortly afterward. His wife, in the office to have lunch with him, rode with him, Fisher said.
I just read that Democratic Senator Tim Johnson appears to have suffered a stroke. Details are still coming in.
What’s especially upsetting is that if he cannot serve his term, the Republican Governor of South Dakota can appoint whomever he deems fit, and there’s nothing to say he has to appoint a Democrat.
In other words, it’s hard not to wonder if the Republicans, having failed to steal the election, are still trying to steal power anyway.
The CIA has long studied ways to kill undetectably. The Washington Post did an article on some of these studies in 1979. Maybe I’ll quote from it later. The problem is, as with black box voting, there’s no way to prove theft did or didn’t occur. There’s just no test to detect some of the compounds that can kill silently.
I hope and pray Senator Johnson survives and comes back hearty and healthy from the hospital. But if he doesn’t – I don’t think we should assume the best here.
Remember what happened the last two times the balance of power in the Senate were at stake.
In 2000, Senator John Ashcroft was losing to Governor Mel Carnahan in the Senate race in Missouri. Carnahan went down in a small plane crash. But the “dead man” won the race anyway, and his wife was appointed to his seat. The Republicans managed to eeke out control of the Senate, but then in 2001, Jim Jeffords resigned the Republican party (in disgust at their abuse of authority) and began serving in the Senate as an independent, essentially throwing the power to the Dems.
A republican took the Missouri Senate seat when Jean Carnahan failed to win a reelection bid. Power restored? No, power tied. So who was next on the target list? The Republicans openly waged an operation to unseat their biggest nemesis, the principled, progressive Paul Wellstone. But whoops, Wellstone’s plane went down, this time with his wife in it – so no repeat of the upset victory was possible. In 2002 the Republicans firmly reestablished control of the Senate.
Until 2006. Just a month ago, the Democrats, for the first time since Jeffords and before that, 1994, regained the power in the Senate (49 Dems, 49 Repubs, and 2 Independents who caucus with the Dems). So if Tim Johnson doesn’t return and a Republican is appointed instead, it will be 50-50.
In another year, I would not give this a second thought. But the neocon madmen in chief have nowhere to go with the Dems in power, and these aren’t the kind of guys who will sit on their hands for two years. I imagined some pretty ugly scenarios, but a covert assassination or debilitation attempt was not on the list. It is now. I wouldn’t put anything past these people.
I don’t know what happened. I don’t know that there’s a foolproof way to find out what happened. All I know is that we’re going to be in for plenty of spin about his failing health, etc., whether it be true or untrue. And if untrue, who will dare tell us?
