A GOP senator leaned over and told Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) how to vote. The clerk still couldn’t hear him. This is day three back for an 84-year-old senator after more than 90 days away — a fall, pneumonia, two months in the hospital, and a wheelchair through the Capitol. The Senate Agriculture Committee had already stalled the farm bill without him. On Wednesday, they needed that vote. So they brought him in, called his name, and the country watched Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.) lean in with “no” while McConnell quietly said “aye,” then had to say it again louder because nobody caught it the first time. The bill cleared 12-11, party lines. The question is why Republicans keep pretending this is just a tough recovery and not a fitness problem. If a Democrat this frail needed a neighbor to coach a roll call, this network would not be told to look away. Farm policy, nutrition fights, and a chamber that already runs on people who should have gone home years ago — and the party of “common sense” wheels a man in because the math is 12-11.Pat also covered: The last pennies ever minted just sold at auction for $16.7 million. We killed the coin, then collectors paid a fortune for the funeral. The Fed just hiked rates for the first time since 2023 — a quarter point, to 3.75%–4%. Warsh did it unanimously. Is America ready for a gay president? Not as a slogan. As an actual ticket. The Wachowski brothers are now the Wachowski sisters. Hollywood called it progress. Everybody else called it a pattern. James Talarico’s own minister, Rev. Babs Miller, got caught on camera saying the makeover is a lie.  Should a senator who has to be walked through a committee vote still be holding that seat? If this were the other party, would you still be told to show respect and move on?If you want unfiltered truth and commonsense analysis that cuts through the noise, hit subscribe and turn on notifications.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices