Senator Johnson’s Sudden Collapse: Coincident?
by Jeff Davis
Only weeks after losing the House and the Senate to the Democrats, a Democrat Senator has suddenly fallen ill threatening to cause a major shift in political power. A recent news article reports “Senator Tim Johnson underwent surgery to relieve bleeding in his brain and treat a congenital malformation of his arteries, his doctor said. Control of the new U.S. Senate may depend on Johnson’s health… Democrats would have a 51-49 majority in the next session of Congress that begins Jan. 4 if Johnson retains his seat. If his seat were to become vacant, South Dakota Governor Mike Rounds, a Republican, may appoint a Republican replacement, shifting the partisan balance to 50-50 and giving Republicans control through the tie-breaking vote of Vice President Dick Cheney.”
When the first news of Johnson’s sudden trip to the hospital became public, more than a few news commentators from Air America to the far right, pondered the possibility that Johnson was being “liquidated” by the Bush-Cheney regime. Perhaps some tell-tale polonium 210 might even turn up at any moment. The fact that serious political commentators would even discuss this, shows how far America has slipped toward a political dictatorship.
Like the old Soviet Union, America wages wars of aggression based on lies. Like the old Soviet Union, America tortures people. Like the old Soviet Union, America denies people their day in court. Is it really such a great leap to suggest that like the old Soviet Union, America assassinates people in power struggles. Having lost the Senate to the Democrats, could the neocons be going to “Plan B?” And could Plan B involve certain extra-legal activities such as assassination?
Most Americans dismissed the idea of assassination once it was announced that Senator Johnson had a congenital malformation of blood vessels in his brain. But wait a minute. Senator Johnson had lived with this “malformation” for 61 years without any trouble, and it suddenly threatens to kill him at a remarkably convenient time for the likes of Cheney and Bush.
And consider the other key coincidences: South Dakota is one of the few states which gives the governor authority to appoint a replacement Senator for two years, and South Dakota just happens to have a Republican governor. If the neocons were going to select a Democrat Senator for assassination, they would need EXACTLY the conditions which exist in South Dakota and Senator Tim Johnson would be their biggest target.
Political assassinations are done discreetly. When Ron Brown’s plane flew into a mountain, most Americans didn’t blink an eye. It was just a tragic airplane accident. Nevermind the fact that Ron Brown was the target of a massive corruption investigation and he made the ill-advised threat that if he went down, he would take the Clintons with him. More subtle forms of assassination may involve giving an individual an incurable form of cancer. We may not know how to cure many types of cancer, but infecting someone with cancer would be a very effective and subtle form of assassination.
In the case of Senator Johnson, who knows what really happened? He had won his political race. He was part of the winning team. All his stressful days were behind him. Why should he suddenly suffer a severe brain hemorrhage AFTER winning? What if some rogue CIA agents set up a microwave generator in the motel room next to Johnson’s and microwaved his brain while he slept. The congenital malformation may have been a “lucky” weak spot for the assassins.
If this one man conveniently dies, the Republican governor of South Dakota can appoint some shill as Senator and un-do at least half of the results of the 2006 elections. Any Senate investigations of the Iraq war and the abolition of civil liberties would never materialize. And the Senate, of course, votes on whether to approve an impeachment assuming the Dems and the few remaining sane Republicans ever find their collective spine and begin to take their oath to uphold the Constitution seriously.
Even if Senator Johnson’s sudden health crisis is only a coincidence, think for a minute about the bigger picture. This incident says something about the nature of the Bush administration that these suspicions will inescapably leap to people’s minds, other than my own admittedly suspicious one. We’re dealing with people who have LEGALIZED TORTURE, never mind legalized warrantless searches and electronic eavesdropping and abolished the right of habeas corpus and laid the foundation for a police state.