I am not sure why he's resigning. It doesn't appear to be a joke (other than the date)
BREAKING: Sen. Thad Cochran, a Republican from Mississippi, says he will resign April 1.— The Associated Press (@AP) March 5, 2018
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BREAKING: Sen. Thad Cochran, a Republican from Mississippi, says he will resign April 1.— The Associated Press (@AP) March 5, 2018
He only ran again to keep the seat away from very conservative Chris McDaniel so the Governor could appoint someone after he resigned to fill out the rest of his term. I'm not sure , but it seems a bit early and there may have to be a special election. The aging factor has really caught up with him and he is in poor health and his mental faculties seem to be greatly diminished. Basically a shell who vote how they tell him too now.
ReplyDeleteI assume his health really is declining rapidly for him to resign.
DeleteAs of 2012, he was 74 years old and his time in Congress had exceeded in length an ordinary man's lifetime employment history. Yet, he insisted on standing for re-election. It was rather rum that he was living in Washington while his wife was billeted in a nursing home in Mississippi. And he isn't the only one who clings to office (in spite of having a sweet pension on deck) as if he'd evaporate were he just a private citizen. See Richard Lugar, John McCain, Pat Roberts. It really should be written into the constitution that no one can hold a given elected office for more than 10 years in any bloc of 12 (or perhaps 14 years in any bloc of 16), judges excepted. Age limits would also be salutary: no one runs for a supralocal office who hasn't reached the age of 39 on election day and no one runs for such an office if they'll be over the age of 72 on that day.
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