Beau Biden left the hospital today, and I am starting to wonder if the scare to his health last week will be the only scare he will face this election year. The Republicans held their convention last Saturday, and failed to nominate a candidate to challenge the first term Democratic Attorney General.
The notion advanced by the News Journal and others last week was that Beau’s stroke makes him unlikely to face an opponent.
After Beau Biden suffered a mild stroke on Tuesday, those prospects [in fielding a candidate for AG] dimmed to virtually impossible, GOP pundits said. Politicians know that any appearance of gloating over an opponent’s misfortune carries the danger of public ire and a sympathetic backlash.
Huh? Running against an incumbent does not mean you are automatically gloating over that incumbent’s misfortune or health problems. That GOP pundits conflate the two ideas (running against Beau and making fun of his stroke) is very revealing.
Republican Chairman Tom Ross said Wednesday he wouldn’t discuss challengers for Biden’s seat.
“It doesn’t feel appropriate talking about right now while the attorney general is in the hospital,” Ross said. “We still plan on having a very good candidate, and we’re going to work to do just that.”
Why is it inappropriate to talk about fielding a candidate in an upcoming election, even if the incumbent you are challenging was in the hospital at the time of your party convention? Unless, of course, questioning the incumbent’s health or attacking him personally are going to be important facets to any campaign against him.
Biden is improving and should soon resume his duties, said Joe Rogalsky, his campaign spokesman. He added that Biden remains dedicated to running for re-election. “Nothing should change,” Rogalsky said.
And nothing should have changed for the GOP either last week. Ross could have answered the question civilly without any insult to Biden, but then he would be stuck with the embarrassing notion that the GOP can’t find anyone.
As an aside, does anyone think Colm Connoly looks exactly like Peter Jennings?
Yeah, he declines to run too.