Decision ‘08

Democratic Control Of Senate In Doubt?

By now, you may have heard that South Dakota’s Democratic senator Tim Johnson may have suffered a stroke:

Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., has been hospitalized with symptoms described as stroke-like. The seriousness of his illness has not been disclosed.

In addition to concern about Johnson’s immediate health, his illness draws political concern in that the Democrats currently hold a 51-49 advantage in seats, giving them control of the Senate.

The governor of South Dakota is Republican Mike Rounds. Should there be a vacancy as a consequence of Johnson’s illness and Rounds appoints a Republican to fill the term, that would make the count 50 Democrats and 50 Republicans. Under the rules of the Senate, tie votes are settled by the vote of the vice president — currently Republican Dick Cheney — effectively giving control of the Senate to the Republicans.

Well, look, I want control of the Senate as much as the next Republican, but not this way: best wishes for a speedy recovery to Senator Johnson. Sheer human decency should overrule partisanship on a story like this…

UPDATE 7:09 p.m.: Hopefully, it’s not as bad as it initially appeared, though it seems a bit unclear at the moment:

A statement issued by Johnson’s office said he was suffering from a “possible stroke.” But a spokeswoman later said that tests showed Johnson had suffered neither a stroke nor a heart attack, although it was not clear what had happened.

Julianne Fisher, a spokeswoman for Johnson, told CNN he was still undergoing tests and will stay hospitalized overnight, but she would not characterize his condition.

“We’re taking one day at a time,” Fisher said, “saying a lot of prayers and waiting until morning.”

If a firm diagnosis is issued, I’ll update…

UPDATE 9:03 p.m.: Well, we may not know at least until tomorrow; MSNBC is reporting conflicting sources on whether it was a stroke or not:

Democratic Sen. Tim Johnson of South Dakota was hospitalized Wednesday, weeks before his party was to take control of the Senate by a one-vote margin. But by evening, his condition was unclear, with conflicting reports over whether he had suffered a stroke.

The one thing that appeared to be true was that Johnson had some undiagnosed illness that has left him with difficulty speaking and moving.

22 Responses to “Democratic Control Of Senate In Doubt?”

1 peter Says:
December 13th, 2006 at 6:39 pm
In the event that it is necessary to replace Johnson, I think that if a Republican were appointed to the seat, you would see an uproar which would make Florida in 2000 pale by comparison.
2 Aaron Says:
December 13th, 2006 at 6:57 pm
They’rre saying it was neither a stroke nor a heart attack now.
3 Blogs of War Says:
December 13th, 2006 at 7:06 pm
Democratic Senator Tim Johnson Hospitalized After Possible Stroke

It’s an unfortunate event for the Senator and it could have profound implications:
Democratic Sen. Tim Johnson of South Dakota suffered a possible stroke Wednesday and was taken to a Washington hospital, his office said.
Johnson became disoriente…
4 Mark Says:
December 13th, 2006 at 7:08 pm
Aaron, that’s good news…I haven’t seen the latest…
5 Scrapiron Says:
December 13th, 2006 at 8:32 pm
Asron has it right. Guess the ‘blame game’ Bush did it nuts on KOS will immediately issue an apology. Those people are getting dangerously insane.
6 too many steves Says:
December 14th, 2006 at 5:38 am
This conservative hopes that Sen. Tim Johnson’s illness is not life threatening and that he is not incapacitated.
7 Eric Lindholm Says:
December 14th, 2006 at 7:50 am
Not so fast: reports this morning say that Johnson is in “critical condition.” Details are sketchy, but I’m thinking it may have been an aneurysm.

Johnson’s an upstanding guy and I’m praying he pulls through.
8 Chatterbox Says:
December 14th, 2006 at 8:46 am
He apparently had brain surgery last night and is now in critical condition. I wish him and his family the best. I hope he pulls through it. (I also hope the media stops talking about control of the Senate for at least a day or two and instead deals with the tragedy.)
9 Jim Pharo Says:
December 14th, 2006 at 9:40 am
It’s wonderful to hear our friends on the right acting like grown-ups: “I want control of the Senate as much as the next Republican, but not this way: best wishes for a speedy recovery to Senator Johnson.”
If you guys acted like this when you were running the place, you might still be in power (i.e., WWTDD — What Would Tom DeLay Do?”)

P.S. I’d like to see the poster who thinks Dem reaction to a Republican replacement of Johnson surpass Bush-Gore 2000 post a retraction if he or she is proven wrong by — gasp — reality.
10 Dem in NM Says:
December 14th, 2006 at 10:56 am
“Sheer human decency should overrule partisanship on a story like this…”
Absolutely and I couldn’t agree with you more. My thoughts are with the senator and thank you at this blog for your decency.
11 Irrritated_Prof Says:
December 14th, 2006 at 10:59 am
“It’s wonderful to hear our friends on the right acting like grown-ups: “I want control of the Senate as much as the next Republican, but not this way: best wishes for a speedy recovery to Senator Johnson.”
If you guys acted like this when you were running the place, you might still be in power”

I’m trying to think of words to express exactly the same sentiment without sounding quite so smug.

Yeah, I do like being reminded that not everybody on the other side is Bill O’Reilly.
12 TheBunker Says:
December 14th, 2006 at 11:04 am
Are you guys nuts?!

Cheney can cast the tie-breaking votes now!

SWEET!

I’ll take it!
13 peter Says:
December 14th, 2006 at 11:43 am
I would happily post a retraction if proven wrong. Let’s see what happens.
14 Y.S.H Says:
December 14th, 2006 at 12:23 pm
I work in neurology. a bleed from an arterial-venous malformation can be mild or catastrophic, depending upon the severity of the rupture. As far as the “critical condition” status goes, that can change for the better within 48 hours. If I had my druthers, I would prefer an AVM over a stroke if caught soon enough. The likelihood of brain damage is much less in an AVM rupture (again, depending upon where it is and the size of the malformation.)

All just my humble opinion based on an OVER-ALL of 3o years experience with these kind of cases

BTW admirable sentiment regarding your “human decency over partisan politics” comment. Kudos to you for being as good of a human being as you are an American.
15 Chatterbox Says:
December 14th, 2006 at 12:54 pm
TheBunker = Troll. I hope nobody takes the bait (other than me that is).

He is now listed in critical but stable condition, which is good.

Y.S.H., your humble opinion is welcome here. Thank you for the information.
16 Anandakos Says:
December 15th, 2006 at 12:25 am
Thank you for your generous and humane posting. It’s no secret that there are scoundrels on both sides of the ideological divide, but there are far more people of good will. I’ve been a D for a good long time mostly because I am an internationalist at heart. I’ve found that 99 and 44/100’s percent of the people I’ve met around the world want to get along with one another, but for whatever reason, Americans tend to look down our collective noses at everyone else. It’s just not right, and it sure is limiting.

But I’ll be the first to admit that as a group we D’s pander and whine too much. However, more than balancing that for me is that as a group we seem to care more than most R’s that everyone is welcome on the life raft. Of course that’s not true of all R’s and I do think that the evangelicals are remembering that Jesus’ primary admonition was that we love one another.

I’m hoping that a couple of years of closely divided government may provide an opportunity for shared pain on entitlements and other unfunded liabilities. There’s not much time left to get it right.
17 JD Says:
December 15th, 2006 at 9:45 am
I really hope it wouldn’t ever come to this:

“It is called the “organizing resolution,” and is the bit of internal housekeeping that determines how committee memberships will be allotted between the two parties, as well as who will get to serve as chairman and ranking members of each of the panels. These resolutions traditionally stand until the next Congress, even if the makeup of the chamber shifts to put the other party in the majority, which is why precedent would seem to dictate that the Chamber would stay in Democratic hands, even if Johnson is replaced by a Republican….

If the Republicans filibuster the organizing resolution and the question drags on into January or even beyond, it presents another truly extraordinary possibility: a chamber with a new Democratic leader, but the existing set of Republican committee chairmen. That is because, until an organizing resolution is passed, incoming Majority Leader Harry Reid would have no control over the committees.”
18 JD Says:
December 15th, 2006 at 12:10 pm
I am appalled:

“Senator Tim Johnson: Just Another Brain-Dead Liberal?”
http://basilsblog.net/2006/12/15/senator-tim-johnson-just-another-brain-dead-liberal/#trackback
19 Mark Says:
December 15th, 2006 at 12:40 pm
Reading the comments, it looks like you weren’t the only one…not a very good use of humor, was it?…
20 ibfamous Says:
December 15th, 2006 at 4:16 pm
Sheer human decency should overrule partisanship on a story like this…

your comments are one step forward in our increasingly hostile national debate. thank you, and you’ve been added to my reading list because of it.
21 Mark Says:
December 15th, 2006 at 4:20 pm
Well, thank you, and we’re glad to have you…
22 Devil's Advocate Says:
December 17th, 2006 at 4:04 pm
TheBunker Says:

December 14th, 2006 at 11:04 am
Are you guys nuts?!

Cheney can cast the tie-breaking votes now!

SWEET!

I’ll take it!

Stop licking your chops, and start cleaning the egg from your face. Fortunately, the senator is now reported to be in much better condition.