Democrats Won't Budge On Carson

Every time one of these medical situations arises with U.S. Rep. Julia Carson (D), just as sure as the sun is going to come up in the morning, you can count on local Democrats trotting out former U.S. Rep. Andy Jacobs (D) to make a folksy quip about Julia to suspend disbelief. It happened again. “People will tell me that they’ll see Julia come in and she seems very feeble," Jacobs tells the Star. She’ll get help up to the podium . . . Then when she x gets to the podium ..... bam! The firecracker goes off and she has them rolling in the aisles.” That's not exactly the tales I've been hiring as of late, but Neville Chamberlain also stepped off a plane in 1938 and announced, "I believe it is peace in our time."

Let's put this in perspective. Carson is missing for an entire week before her staff fesses up to the fact that she' been hospitalized for the past week at Methodist Hospital with what must be a serious leg infection. Her staff tells us the infection is under control and she will be back to work very soon. They won't tell us when she will return to work. They won't agree to allow a reporter to interview her, although they claim to have spoken to her on the phone and claim she's quite lucid. They aren't forthcoming about any medications she may be on which might affect her decision-making ability. In the period prior to her hospitalization, news reports from Capitol Hill tell us she can no longer cast a vote in the House of Representatives without the assistance of another member. And this is nothing new. Past illnesses have given her the distinction of being the member of Indiana's congressional district with the worst attendance record. She has missed 13% of the recorded votes this year alone. In some years, she has missed as many as 21% of the recorded votes.

In spite of all this, local Democrats carry on as if nothing is happening. “If Julia Carson has a desire to run again, I will be, and I believe the party structure will be, supporting her,” Marion County Democratic Party Chairman Michael O’Connor told the Star. Well, it's time for the public to say enough. An online poll conducted by the Star showed that 90% of the respondents believe Carson should retire because of her health problems. These latest reports raise serious concerns about whether Carson even possesses a state of mind that allows her to carry out the people's business. An independent psychiatric evaluation is in order. If the Indianapolis Fire Department can order firefighter Tonya Coffman to undergo a psychiatric evaluation because it didn't think a small woman like her get drive a fire truck, then is it too much to expect a psychiatric professional to advise us if Carson is capable of making independent decisions given her life-threatening health issues?

Finally, let me make it clear that I wish Carson a full and speedy recovery. Her defenders have a way of trying to turn the tables to make anyone who dares to raise questions about her fitness appear mean-spirited, notwithstanding the overwhelming weight of evidence already in the public record. This is not about what is best for her. It is about what is best for the voters of the 7th District. We have a right to expect our member of Congress to be ready and able to be present when any vote is taken. Rep. Carson has demonstrated time and time again she is not capable of meeting that expectation. It's time for her to go.

And for the record, I wished Rep. Carson well while we still await a reaction from Blue Indiana or Taking Down Words. Both of these Democratic blogs have been noticeably silent since Rep. Carson's office announced her hospitalization yesterday afternoon. I'm not quite sure what, if anything, we should read into that. Maybe we'll hear from Jen shortly.

UPDATE: Blue Indiana blogger Joh Padgett is now calling on U.S. Rep. Julia Carson to retire because of her latest health problems. His post is particularly interesting because he relates his own battle with a similar type of illness Carson is suffering from. He predicts she will be unable to work for many months to come."The kind of pain and suffering that Ms. Carson is dealing with at this time is nothing short of physical torture and in my opinion will severely limit her ability to make proper decisions for several months to come due to the heavy pain medication that she will be forced to take during her recovery," Padgett writes.