Democrat Senator undergoes emergency surgery

From Reuters...

Sen. Tim Johnson of South Dakota underwent surgery on Wednesday, a source said, after suffering what a doctor called "symptoms of a stroke." The actions prompted concerns about his fellow Democrats' razor-thin majority in the incoming Senate.

While there was no immediate word on the condition of the 59-year-old senator, the source, who is familiar with Johnson's situation, said surgeons sought to remedy an unspecified medical problem.

Just hours after Johnson was admitted to George Washington University Hospital, a spokeswoman for him said the senator had not suffered a stroke. She provided no other details.

The description of what happened seems equally confusing. He apparently became disoriented and stuttered during a conference call with reporters (in all honesty, fairly typical of democrats who are actually asked real questions rather than the softballs thrown to them by the MSM), he then returned to his office, and asked the Capitol physician to look him over. The physician recommended hospitalization, and now he's having surgery. If it's not a stroke or a heart attack (something else his spokesperson denied he suffered), then it's more or less anybody's guess at this point.

The media are noting the significance of the situation were his condition to require him to step down from the Senate. But I kinda hope it doesn't come to that. First of all it would be terrible for opportunity to come at the expense of someone else's suffering. Democrats may like to work that way ("tax break for the rich", killing inconvenient babies in the womb, destroying marriage for the homosexual vote, etc.) but I hope the GOP is above that kind of soulless pragmatism. Second, if he did have to step down, and a Republican were appointed to fill his term, we'd have two years of the Democrats and the MSM in full squeal about how the mean ole GOP stole the Senate.

Although, it would be interesting to see South Dakota's Republican governor, Michael Rounds find someone like Zell Miller (a democrat that has the integrity to vote like a Republican) to fill the spot, if, God forbid, Johnson did have to step down.

Posted by Danny Carlton at December 14, 2006 7:36 AM