(TYVM kevao!!)
Posted on 06/05/2014 7:49:44 AM PDT by onyx
In 76-year-old Sen. Thad Cochran‘s case, the anecdote in Atlantic‘s Molly Ball’s story Tuesday, on the day of his primary, looks bad. Make that incredibly bad.
With a runoff in three weeks against his much younger opponent, Chris McDaniel, 41, Cochran (R-Miss.) can’t afford any more coverage like this. The story questions his physical and mental ability to serve in Congress after, ironically, 41 years in office.
Politicians half his age have had memories as bad as the silky white-haired Mississippi lawmaker. Some pols are good at that stuff– they make it a point to recognize reporters in the marble hallways of the Capitol and greet them with hugs or handshakes. Many even know regular Capitol Hill reporters by name.
Others, no matter that they’ve told you their whole life story that included the detail of eating chicken fat sandwiches as a child (yes, that’s you New York Democratic Rep. Jerrold Nadler), have no earthly idea who you are. It’s just the way it goes and a reporter should never take it personally. They have a lot of faces and names to imprint in their memories and if you’re a reporter, you’re largely on the level of shit under their shoe.
In Ball’s case, Cochran appears to really have no recollection of meeting her, even though she’d interviewed him just a half hour before in a square in Meridian, Miss. She asked why Mississippi needed him in the Senate. She wrote that he didn’t appear to understand the question. Later, the reporter followed the senator to a local diner.
The damning moment: “Cochran didn’t pose for any pictures during his brief sweep,” she wrote. “As he made his way toward the exit, the senator held out his hand to me. I had met and interviewed him less than half an hour before. ‘Hello, how are you doing?’ he said with a kindly smile. ‘I’m Thad Cochran.’”
Not only is Thad never in MS he rarely is at home mentally, either.
I read the article and he comes off as if he’s suffering from the same kind of dementia his wife has. He has problems staying on topic at appearances. He forgets people he just met. Based on how he comes off in the story he really has no business being a senator anymore.
Each morning Thad greets his chief of staff with a handshake and says, Hello! My name is...ahhhhh...Thad...ahhhh...Cochran. Thad Cochran! I’m running for Congress and I would appreciate your vote.
Hysterical. The ossified gOpE is being exposed for all to see. Hopefully, this Tea Party momentum can extend to South Carolina and Tennessee Senatorial primaries.
I feel sorry for him. His greedy cohorts have propped him up for this race like Bernie and I don't think he's up to it. Alzheimer's would explain why he didn't know who the Tea Party was and why he's ducking reporters.
Not saying it is Alzheimer's but, if that's his problem, he can't debate, period.
I've got to wonder if he even has any close friends. Or, just people whom he thinks are his friends but are using him for access to jobs, government contracts and the like.
Right.
Not enough sense to retire because he’s entrenched and too corrupt, and then there’s that D.C. GF of his.
He’s a place holder for BOSS Hog Haley’s pick.
THANK YOU SO MUCH for the link to this article on that other thread.
This one tells a lot of the story about “we tHAD enough!”
if he can remember after 30 minutes, he’s doing good, sometimes it takes me a day to remember the info when its of no use to me anymore...yikes....another problem is my brain has the word but its not always connected to my mouth. Once I bang my head on something, the brain lets go and I can say what I was thinking....growing old sucks in 2 ways, your not as strong as you use to be and the temp. disconnect between information the brain keeps hiding on me...
Which gives great credence to the theory that he was going to resign early next year, and let the Mississippi GOPe ( that’s you, Haley) pick the replacement..who would be expected to win easily in 2016..
Strom Thurmond had someone behind him who would pass him Cue Cards ,but he was 100 years old
Hey Haley…..so WHO is Todd Akin now?
you make a good point….Cochran is an OLD OLD OLD 76 - seems more like 85-90.
You know I’m not saying he doesn’t have memory problems but sometimes these D.C. types see others they meet as the “little people” and not worth really paying attention to. “Just another reporter, forget her. Just another voter, forget him. Now when I meet someone really important (you know, like me), then I’ll pay attention.” Whatever it is, I hope he’s on his way out.
I forget my kids names sometimes.
Not defending the guy for anything beyond that. Short term memory is a bitch as you get older.
I met Dan Quayle one time in a greeting line and then got out of line and back in a minute later. He introduced himself again with the same fake smile and NO recognition.
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