On CNN: They can't get rid of Johnson! This is great!

[NoSheep]

Johnson able to retain senate seat even in prolonged absence
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Democrats' slight hold on power in the Senate is largely safe despite South Dakota Democratic Sen. Tim Johnson's health scare, Senate Historian Don Richie tells CNN. As stipulated by Senate rules, Johnson could retain his seat even if he is incapacitated, unable to vote, and not even able to show up to work.

Moreover, the Senate does not have the power to forcefully remove Johnson unless he committed a crime.

Such a scenario has even occurred in Johnson's home state of South Dakota. After South Dakota Sen. Karl Earle Mundt had a stroke in 1969 he remained in office until his term expired in 1973 without casting another vote after the governor refused Mundt's wish of appointing his wife to the post.

A state governor has the power to appoint a new senator only if the current senator dies in office or resigns his seat.


-- CNN Congressional Producer Ted Barrett

http://www.cnn.com/POLITICS/blogs/politicalticker/

[LSparkle]

1. This would be OK -- we'd retain the committee chairmanships

Our majority is thin as it is, so losing one vote won't be that big a deal, but retaining control is key. And hopefully Johnson will recover at some point and return anyway.

[BOSSHOG]

3. And what a shame

that "conservatives" want Johnson to die so the crimes of the bush family can remain covered up. Aren't they the most wonderful humans on the planet?

[LSparkle]

7. If there's anything "good" to come out of this, it's that revelation

Rethugs are VULTURES ... except, as Randi said, vultures only eat things AFTER they've died. And these hypocrites claim to promote a "culture of life" -- WTF?

[Cha]

30. they are the most

ungodly ghouls on the planet..right here in our midst.

[Ian David]

2. There will be more open seats after the investigations start.

Let Johnson worry about himself and his family first.

Let Mr. Waxman worry about getting us more seats in the coming months.

[NoSheep]

4. Sounds good to me!

[Richard Steele]

28. Yup. I expect we'll have a very SOLID majority by the end of 2007.

There's a WHOOOOOLE bunch of Repubs very firmly connected
to Abrahmoff, Ney, and Delay (oh my!), among others.
We have only BEGUN to see just how deep the Corrupt
Republican rabbit hole goes.

And I bet some of them are gonna be feeling an URGENT
need to "spend more time with their families" before
the year is out.

[in_cog_ni_to]

5. I just heard a report about Joe Biden. He had brain surgery back in the 70s (? I think they said)

and was not back to work for 7 Months. As long as he's alive, he can remain a Senator until '08 (reelection for him), if he so chooses.

[LSparkle]

8. I spent Thanksgiving with a friend who had brain surgery maybe 2 years ago

And she's absolutely FINE -- she was a smart woman before and she's a smart woman now; I can't tell any difference in her. When this happened, she was a bit younger than Sen. Johnson (probably in her mid-50s) but this nonetheless gives me hope that he can also fully recover.

[rodeodance]

6. the man is in critical condition and this is how the media shows its respect.

[NoSheep]

9. I'd say they are respecting his life more than those of our US troops!

[Kolesar]

10. yeah, no kidding. F'ing NPR started a segment with him mumbling & going mute this morning

I was so pissed off that I wrote them one of my "screaming fastball" emails. It was about another subject, but, well, I wrote it for Senator Johnson!

[bobbie]

11. Really? Is this true. If so that's the best friggen news ever.

Please be true.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

12. Hey I was just mentioning that situation in another thread.

I'm always slow to dredge up the good info. :mad:

[AspenRose]

13. Randi also mentioned Strom Thurmond

...who apparently spent his final year of public service in the hospital. :shrug:

[NobleCynic]

33. And wasn't there mentally for the last 10 years of his service

[NoSheep]

38. If ever at all.

[Zodiak]

14. OK, people might hate me for saying this

But it must be said (as ghoulish as it is).

Politically, this event is not going to hurt the progressive movement that much. Typically, Johnson votes on the big issues with the conservatives across the aisle (about 70% of the time), so in many cases ,but certainly not all, the tenure of his absence and recovery will shift the balance power slightly more in favor of the Democratic agenda for the Senate.

I feel ugly for saying it, but I am trying to be objective like a football coach that just lost a player to an injury. Of course, I wish for Johnson's full recovery and wish him absolutely no ill-will.

[robinlynne]

15. I think you"re missing the point. We now have a dem majority by one, exactly one senator.

Should we lose one seat, for any reason, we would lose all of the chairmanships.

[Zodiak]

16. I do not think we are going to lose the seat

I think Johnson will come out fine, but it will require at least a few months to recover. Until then, he cannot be removed from his seat unless he resigns or dies. I highly-doubt he would do either. I think Leiberman jumping aisles is more likely, and even that is not very likely.

As unfortunate as this is, our team is not hurt that badly and Johnson can return when he feels better.

And we have been well-aware of our tenuous one-senator majority for over a month. That would make for a lot of nail-biting, but in this case, I think we dodged a bullet and are not hurt siginificantly during Johnson's convalescence. We came out lucky this time.

And I am fairly certain that we can get more seats in '08 so the nailbiting and the high blood pressure can end. It is not fun.

[NoSheep]

36. What really matters is chairmanship of committees and we

don't get that if we lose the Senate

[Zodiak]

40. How many times do I have to answer this?

we are NOT going to lose our SD seat in the Senate, and we are NOT going to lose the Senate in total. The legal precedent has been set already and it says that Johnson would have to die or resign. He will do neither.

I am trying to look past the possibility of losing the Senate (which we will not lose, once again) and take stock in what kind of voter on the Senate floor we are losing temporarily. Frankly, Johnson is no paragon of liberalism.

But apparently too many want to keep worrying about losing the Senate. It isn't going to happen. Turn off the news; they are lying to you.

Please, anyone else who is going to miss my point and tell me the only thing that matters are committee apointments and that we need to worry about losing the Senate, just save yourself the breath. I already know that and am trying to move past that. How many friggin' times do I have to say that?

[NoSheep]

43. Turn off your computer. It seems to be upsetting you.

My OP says we don't have to worry about it, okay? How many times have you NOT read the OP??? You clearly have anger management issues.

[Zodiak]

44. I have forgotten what the OP was about

to be honest. But you need to decide...which position do you take? Do we worry about losing the Senate (hence your need to tell me that the only thing that matters is control of the Senate), or do we not worry about it (in that case, there would have been no need for you to even respond to my post in the first place)?

Why don't we try not to use Fristian techniques to diagnose others of anger managment issues sight unseen, okay? Or was that just an ad hominem attack? Either way, it does not reflect well upon you.

[NoSheep]

45. You really are amazing. You admit you don't remember

what I posted yet continue to argue. Amazing.

[Zodiak]

47. ok...one last time

I read the OP and posted....I didn't note who posted the OP. I wanted to add that since we aren't going to lose the seat, then we have dodged a bullet plus we have a slightly more progressive Senate as a result because Johnson has a bad voting record.

In response, I got "but we can lose the Senate"....three times. Clearly my point was missed.

A day or two later, your post appears, and I read it in a self-contained manner (without paying attention to which thread it was on) as a response to my post and yet another person who says "but we can lose the Senate". I had no idea nor cared who posted the OP, but it gets tiring responding to people who missed my point completely.

You have not answered my question....are you worried he is going to die (hence why you felt the need to respond to my post about how important it is we keep committee appointments) or are you not worried he is going to die (in that case, I have no idea why you responded at all)? Or do you just not care how a Senator votes?

Calling me angry and "amazing" and implying that I am clueless does not address the issue, and personally, I have no patience with people who try to argue by getting personal, ignoring questions, and moving the goalposts.

[sallyseven]

17. It doesn't matter how he votes.

What matters is that he is a deomo and he represents 51 democrats to 49 repukes. That is the difference of us leading and them not. I am sure that he will see what the repuks think of him.

[Zodiak]

18. Of course that is what matters

and that portion of the Democrat's power is intact.

And I have absolutely no idea why so many Democrats vote along with the Republicans on big issues >50% of the time. They never get ANY benefit from it....but do it anyways. Johnson is one of those Senators, unfortunately. He's from a conservative area and I suppose that is his motivation.

[Crunchy Frog]

19. At this point, politically, the only thing that matters

is the "D" after his name. That's what will make Barbara Boxer Chair of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, instead of Jim Inhofe.

I'm not trying to be crass here, but as long as there's a "D" after his name, that's the only thing that really matters politically.

I of course wish him the best, just as a human being, but if it weren't for the "D" after his name, and the 51-49 Democratic majority in the Senate, he would not be any more an object of concern to me than anybody else. For these purposes, how he votes isn't of particular importance either.

[niyad]

20. love your sig pic--is that the infamous pagosa springs peace wreath?

[Crunchy Frog]

22. Yeah. :)

Why is it that people always compliment me on my sig pics and not on my posts. Waaaaaah! :cry:

;)

[silverojo]

23. I love the WORDS in that sig even more!

"It's what Satan would want"! :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[Zodiak]

41. But he is not going to die

so the issue of committees and whatnot are moot because he is not going to die or resign his seat. Not going to happen, so why are we still acting like we are going to lose this seat? The media?

Looking BEYOND that issue, which is what I have been trying to do, shows that losing Johnson on the floor for a few months will really just cost us a 70% republican voter. And that does matter to me once the life/death issues are resolved (which, as far as I know, they are...he will live, and recover).

[Crunchy Frog]

46. When I wrote that post yesterday evening

I was not at all sure that he was going to survive this. I'm feeling much more confident of his prognosis tonight, but I'm still going to wait awhile before breathing my final sigh of relief.

I was very much thinking in life or death terms yesterday when I wrote that though.

[scarletwoman]

21. Voted to recommend -- I'd really like to see this on DU's front page.

There doesn't appear to be any slowing down of the talking heads' speculations about Senator Johnson's health, and "the balance of power" in the Senate.

If these are truly the facts, then all this chattering about whether the Dems will keep their Senate majority is just bogus.

sw

[NoSheep]

37. That is precisely what I'm thinking.

[Lex]

24. Excellent.

Kicked and Recommended!

[July]

25. So how hard would it have been for AP to talk to the Senate Historian?

Before headlining that the Senate was going to 50-50 because of Johnson's illness?

Are there any real journalists covering government any more? How hard is it for these people to do their damned jobs?

[frylock]

26. that would require a minimum of research..

most "news" outlets can't be bothered to check out facts.

[I_Make_Mistakes]

27. For the West Coast The News Hour also did an extensive

report on this topic. They covered when I forget which Sen. voted by pointing to his eye for (aye), that was really clever. They said that there is really no mechanism to force a Senator out!

[MOB]

29. Have some respect man

scuse me, but this man's life is in jeopardy - have some respect!

[Cha]

31. Oh, please...Nosheep

is showing the greatest respect in the world for Senator Tim Johnson.

[niyad]

32. ummm, perhaps you should be telling that to the reichwing corporate media whores who are so busy

dancing on tim johnson's grave, even though he isn't dead yet?

[MonkeyFunk]

34. the

"reichwing corporate media whores" aren't dancing on any graves.

Since the ramifications of Johnson's death or resignation are so huge, they're rightly covering the story.

[NoSheep]

35. The lives of everyone in this country are in jeopardy if we

lose the damn Senate.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

48. Is being HAPPY because he'll get well disrespecting him? Since when? -nt

[okieinpain]

39. well why didn't the talking heads report this when they were running

around like ghouls speculating on what might happen.

[flying_wahini]

42. the dems need to post a guard at his door.......

n/t