Barking up the wrong tree on the McConnell photo.

[Jirel]

About that Mitch McConnell “proof of life” photo that everyone is going on about being AI, staged, photoshopped, etc. - they’re all barking up the wrong conspiracy theory tree. The photo is real. Yes, of course it was staged by his staff, but it’s unaltered. Let’s take a moment for nuance, and understand what’s going on here.

1) The newspaper. It is fresh, unopened, unread, and “casually” placed in his hand in a position like he’s holding a napkin to (a) suggest that he’s fully capable of keeping up with daily written information, and (b) be identifiable by Internet sleuths as that specific day’s paper. BTW, they could’ve done a photo of him with it opened, reading it, which would’ve been a far more convincing shot. That is, if he were capable of reading it or holding it open steadily and looking down in a focused manner like he was reading it. It may be just a choice to look “casual” for the camera, but maybe not.

2) Notice that he’s in a nursing home - oops, I mean rehabilitation facility - chair, but for some reason he is being propped up with multiple pillows. THAT is an important plot point.

3) Check the facial expression. Eyes are pretty vacant, and the smile is lips-only, maybe even exaggerated. Where have you seen that smile before? How about in confused elders in a nursing facility who are asked to pose for a photo? We know he already had neurological issues, as demonstrated by his absence seizures in front of the media, commonly referred to as “freezes.” A serious infection does nasty cognitive things to elders who have cognitive decline already.

4) Much has been made of how Elaine looks 10 years younger, suddenly. This is a red herring. Even as an amateur, I can make myself or someone else look a decade younger using certain makeup products. I’m sure they had a good makeup artist involved. Why make the effort? Because her “youth” in the photo changes the narrative. If she looked older, tired, worried next to him, you could see this pic looking like an average elderly nursing home patient and elderly spouse. Her vibrancy next to him is meant to rub off on Mitch. “He’s sick for the moment, but this is a dynamic late middle-aged, dynamic DC power couple! See?”

5) Elaine’s hand… Can’t tell, but is she posing that way to demonstrate that she loves her husband, or to help prompt him to focus on the camera?

There’s plenty of subtext here, but it’s not what so many people still want to believe after a week plus of “dead McConnell” memes and speculation.

[Fiendish Thingy]

1. ARF! ARF!

(That’s dog for “K&R!”)

Just barking up the tree of the reality based community.

Of course, this thread won’t get half the recs that the “It’s AI!” threads have gotten.

DU is funny that way.

[Bettie]

5. It is not unreasonable to question

almost any image these days.

The thing that made me question it is that he looks 20 or so years younger in that image.

I question nearly every image I see these days.

[BannonsLiver]

9. It's funny to me that someone who purports to lead DU's "reality based community"

Also thinks the next Democratic president will be able to simply snap their fingers and expand the supreme court to 15 justices while locking up all of Trump’s top lieutenants in a matter of weeks after the next election. 🤦‍♂️

I think the photo is real FWIW, but like you I don’t trust anything they put out there. And I’m still not convinced it was just a fall, either.

[Bettie]

11. I will admit, I don't know what is real

anymore. We can't trust the word of ANYONE with an R after their name on anything.

Is it real? I expect that it's real with some alteration to make him look better (which is a relative thing, given that it's McConnell).

[UpInArms]

24. I believe it is a real photo

But, what a still shot tells you is different than what a video will say

His eyes are not focused on anything in particular, his brain probably does not focus well, either

He appears to be vapidly grinning, maybe someone promised him ice cream?

He is not leaning into the pillows, is he being propped up in some other way?

The pillows seem to be used as a screen so that whatever is behind him is concealed.

What does that say? I just have more questions than answers.

[Fiendish Thingy]

13. Hannah Arendt said it best:

“If everybody always lies to you, the consequence is not that you believe the lies, but rather that nobody believes anything any longer… And a people that no longer can believe anything cannot make up its mind. It is deprived not only of its capacity to act but also of its capacity to think and to judge. And with such a people you can then do what you please.”– Hannah Arendt

[BannonsLiver]

33. I actually think Lucky Charms "said it best"

[LuckyCharms]

27. I think DU, and the internet in general, is funny in some ways too.

One of the ways I've noticed it is "funny" is that some people attack the opinions of others like a dog chewing on a wasp, attempting to exaggerate their self-importance by using words, on a website.

Attacking for no reason, people posting in good faith. Not showing grace for the opinions of others. Belittling their thoughts.

I think that's pretty "funny".

[Fiendish Thingy]

31. Opinions presented as facts, or opinions that spread misinformation or kooky CT nonsense do not deserve grace

Those types of opinions must not be met with passive, nodding, unthinking “K&R’s”, but must be challenged, refuted and yes, ridiculed, lest they mislead others into believing falsehoods and fallacies.

If we cannot exist within a shared reality based on facts, but instead retreat to feel-good echo chambers filled with fact-free truthiness, then democracy is doomed, and the fascists have already won.

The Hannah Arendt quote was spot on in describing this phenomena.

For those unfamiliar with Arendt, here is a link:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hannah_Arendt

As for self importance, it’s not about me, it’s about standing up for truth and reality.

I’m just a retired schmuck who can’t stand by silently while the truth takes a beating.

“I am only one, but still I am one.I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do.”

― Helen Keller

[LuckyCharms]

32. Sorry, I can't read all of that.

For two reasons:

1) I don't care about the opinions of people who personally attack me, and then cowardly and strategically delete that personal attack, and then alert on my response to that attack. Anything those people say to me subsequent to that is meaningless, and I can't take one word that they type seriously because people like that seem mean to me, and I don't like mean people. I don't respect people like that. I don't respect people who just attack without expressing a counterpoint in a respectful manner. And it makes me think that those type of people have an agenda.

2) I don't know how to read.

[UpInArms]

2. His eyes are not focused on the same place as her eyes

Her eyes are looking in a direction and his are looking front and center

[Emile]

10. Looks like he's on some kind of happy drug.

[ColoringFool]

15. She is looking at the camera.

[wnylib]

16. It looks to me like his shoulders are not touching

the pillow behind him. Is he leaning forward? Is her hand supporting him to lean forward?

His eyes look glassy and unfocused.

[UpInArms]

21. The pillows are used to camouflage something behind him

He isn’t using them

[wnylib]

22. ?? What would they be camouflaging?

[UpInArms]

26. Maybe the corner of a bed like this

[Ilsa]

28. Perhaps the upper backrest of the chair has some sort

of identifying emblem on it, so they grabbed a pillow vs looking for a sheet or towel. It's covered so people don't look for him at a facility.

[VTderry]

39. I disagree that he's looking "front and center."

Zooming in, it appears to me that both eyes are looking up, but not in exactly the same direction.

"Gaze palsy" is associated with many degenerative neurological conditions.

[UpInArms]

40. It was probably the wrong term

I was reminded of a friend who was in the midst of a Parkinson’s dementia and he couldn’t focus his gaze appropriately

He passed on September 18 2020 and I have a picture that I won’t share with that same unfocused look

[Buckeyeblue]

3. Agreed. Also if he's doing so well how about some visitors we can trust

A 5 minute conversation would go a long way. The picture is weird. The entire secrecy of this is weird. What are they hiding?

[PCIntern]

4. Assuming it's real,

they must have spent three hours making him up. His face has been nearly-purple for years now.

[BannonsLiver]

6. And the filters are working hard on both of them.

[LisaL]

7. He looks very hydrated.

I am sure the hospital had him on IVs.

[fujiyamasan]

8. Yes it's completely staged and he likely has a lot of make up on

This was just a way to quiet down rumors that he’s dead.

My guess is cognitively he’s much worse than we’re led to believe. That’s why they didn’t release a video of him speaking.

[LisaL]

12. And clearly if he was in good shape, he wouldn't be in a hospital for such a long time.

But he isn't dead.

[displacedvermoter]

19. A strong standard...

He isn't dead!

[LisaL]

20. Being dead makes it impossible to be a Senator.

Everything else seems to be not a deal breaker.

[Ilsa]

29. Or even president! Even Sarah Palin thought she could be prez! nt

[wnylib]

18. Agree. Looks like there is nothing going on behind his eyes.

[allegorical oracle]

35. Here in rural Trumplandia, where I live, everybody looks like that.

[wnylib]

37. Yeah, I know a few like that where I live, too.

[Jirel]

23. Very true re: photo vs video.

It would have been far preferable from their standpoint to do a brief video greeting to post on his various social media/official site/constituent emails. The fact that they went with a single, still photo is telling.

But I’m going to disagree about him wearing makeup. He’s pasty (not that he usually isn’t, but more than normal) and slightly puffy. This is pretty typical for “hospital face.” He’s well hydrated and well rested, hasn’t been moving around much, and has been on his back a lot. The potbelly (had one before, looks bigger now) also suggests he has gained a little weight. Put that all together, and he’ll have that smoother, “plumped” face.

[Hugin]

14. Good point about her hand...

It appears flexed and not a reassuring relaxed touch. Also, it reeks of the posture of ventriloquist and dummy.

[Torchlight]

17. He's hale and hearty! Anything else is kooky stuff

(Sarcasm for the incredulous and ironically concerned hipsters)

[justaprogressive]

25. Note the pillow behind his left shoulder....

We'd use a pillow like that to bolster someone who'd had a stroke affecting that side...

[Goonch]

30. ;-{) THIS

[Boo1]

34. He's alive

Shocking thay Laura Loomer would be wrong, I know.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

36. There is a simple way to put this matter to rest

Have the Kentucky Governor visit McConnell

[sarisataka]

38. but for some reason he is being propped up with multiple pillows

My wife recently had to spend a few days in transition care/ rehab/ nursing home or whatever you want to call it.

Both in the hospital and in after care, she used pillows to prop herself up. The reason was simple. She found the chairs uncomfortable, and the pillows helped adjust her into a comfortable sitting position.

Can we just stop trying to make medical diagnosis based on random elements of a picture or something that we read online about a person's step-cousin's brother-in-law, who knows a trash collector in the same town that was told....