Talk about an October surprise!
Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico, 37, disappeared off the campaign trail for more than 10 days, claiming a bad case of the flu. Now his office is denying reports that he spent the time in a mental health facility in Ohio, after conservative influencer Nick Sortor posted an unverified audio recording purportedly of an employee of the Lindner Center of Hope near Cincinnati, saying a patient named James Talarico had just been discharged.
The Center issued a statement Sunday night, saying: “Representative James Talarico has never received treatment from Lindner Center of Hope.” Talarico’s campaign called the allegation “a pathetic conspiracy theory.”
But that isn’t enough from the party that propped up Joe Biden for years and lied about his health problems. Democrats don’t get the benefit of the doubt anymore.
When a candidate in such a crucial race goes missing for so long in the final month before the election, the situation demands proof beyond an airy flu excuse and “trust me” attitude.
As White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller tweeted on Sunday: “Talafreako needs to release the medical records.”
It’s a reasonable request and one that the Washington Post, for one, should be demanding.
After all, the legacy news outlet has applied relentless scrutiny to Natalie Harp, an unelected White House presidential aide, complete with baselessly nasty insinuations about her relationship with her boss.
Where’s WaPo?
In the past seven weeks, the WaPo has published five substantial personal stories about Harp, 35, that amplify a dispute with an estranged brother and details of a family tragedy involving her father.
This weekend it was a 1,700-word investigative feature titled: “How Trump aide Natalie Harp’s family broke apart — and polarized.”
By contrast, the WaPo has been decidedly incurious about the mysterious disappearance of one of the highest-profile Senate candidates in one of the closest and most consequential races in the country.
A terse 250-word piece on Friday noted Talarico’s appearance at the Austin City Limits music festival: “The Democrat’s campaign said he was recovering from the flu, while Republicans tried to make his absence seem suspicious.”
Voters should be a little more informed when Talarico appears at a CNN town hall on Wednesday night in Fort Worth.
But, of course, that will rely on CNN moderator Erin Burnett doing her job to hold him accountable.
It’s inexplicable that the Republican candidate Ken Paxton has refused to confirm he will join Talarico for what should have been a debate.
It’s not as if he can afford to coast: the latest Trafalgar poll last week shows Talarico leading by three points.
Paxton should be there to press Talarico about his absence. It’s the least the voters deserve.
The successful strategy of hiding Biden in his basement during the 2020 election and then keeping him out of the public eye and away from the media during his presidency seems to have inspired candidates on both sides of the aisle.
Keeping voters in the dark paid off for Biden, goes the thinking, so why subject yourself to needless scrutiny — especially when you can count on friends like the Washington Post to cover for you?
Slanted media can be bypassed, and a lazy incumbent can be destroyed on stage by a talented upstart, as happened last week to New York Attorney General Tish James in her NY1 debate against Saritha Komatireddy, a formidable career federal prosecutor and mother of four.
Komatireddy stars
Komatireddy left a haughty James open-mouthed and flailing as she socked her with devastating criticisms of her failure to rein in lawlessness and Medicare fraud.
“New York is not safe under Leticia James. Crime is up, homelessness is up, and we are the worst in the nation in prosecuting fraud . . . She’s obsessed with national politics. I’m focused on the safety of New Yorkers.”
At one point, when James struggled for what seemed like an eternity to name a predecessor she admired, Komatireddy quipped, “She only admires herself.”
James, unused to pushback or accountability, grew even more flustered: “No, no, no, no. We admire others,” but still couldn’t name anyone.
Her only comeback was to call her opponent a “Trump puppet” and cite the president 15-20 times in the hourlong debate.
Komatireddy deftly parried: “Every time Letitia James mentions Donald Trump, just remember it’s because she can’t defend her failing record.”
In a slew of candidate debates across the country, Komatireddy was the breakout star.
Unfortunately, the most recent Siena poll puts her at 39 percent to 52 percent for James.
In a Democrat-ruled state, it’s hard for a Republican to get a look, even one as competent and well-credentialed as Komatireddy.
Across the country, if the polls are to be believed, far-left candidates who would have been unelectable a few years ago look to be victorious in November.
In Michigan, a socialist Muslim supremacist candidate in the image of Zohran Mamdani is polling ahead of establishment Republican Mike Rogers.
In their candidate debate last week, Abdul El-Sayed showed his true colors when he refused to say whether Iran or Israel posed the greater threat.
“That’s a ridiculous question,” he said.
Most Americans would have no problem instantly recognizing Iran as the greater threat.
A candidate who refuses to distinguish between an ally and an enemy and its proxies — who have killed hundreds of Americans for half a century, threatens the world with nuclear annihilation and against whom we are now waging war — has no business being in public office.
Rocky road ahead
Just as with Mamdani’s malicious disrespect for the victims of October 7 and 9/11, and dangerous advocacy for illegal alien criminals, El-Sayed’s moral compass is awry. Like Mamdani, he is loath to antagonize his socialist base but adept at masking his views when he must.
When he was interviewed by NBC’s Kristen Welker over the weekend, she asked him to “set the record straight about whether you or your family have any ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.”
El-Sayed replied flatly: “No,” despite credible evidence of family connections to the Hamas-supporting Islamist outfit.
Welker quickly moved on to such generous questions as, “Do you think that America is ready for a Muslim president?”
If a decent media applied fair scrutiny to the increasingly far-left extremists running for Congress, it’s unlikely we would be facing the prospect of a Senator El-Sayed or Talarico. Or the prospect of as many as 10 new DSA-aligned or self-described socialists entering Congress this year, along with at least another two to three dozen leftists aligned with factions such as the Justice Democrats or AOC’s Working Families Party.
They will advocate for Medicare for All, the Green New Deal, packing the Supreme Court, open borders, citizenship for illegal aliens and reparations, to name a few of their nation-destroying policies.
Like Tish James, they’re obsessed with Trump. Democrats in the House have already begun the impeachment resolutions.
It’s going to be a rocky couple of years.