Mitch McConnell’s staffers offer peculiar proof of life after Lindsey Graham’s death

After weeks in the hospital and sparse communication, Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell’s office offered what amounted to proof of life for the ailing senator, in a statement commenting on the death of South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham.McConnell’s office released the statement on Facebook, praising the late anti-LGBTQ+ Republican.“Lindsey Graham was a good friend and a great American, and I was shocked and saddened by his passing,” McConnell said. “His constituents and colleagues have counted on his straight talk, conviction, and boundless appetite for a worthy fight. The Senate will miss him, and Elaine and I are keeping his family in my prayers.”The statement came Sunday after Graham’s sudden and unexpected death. But it also followed weeks of speculation about McConnell’s own condition. He has been missing from the Senate floor since an incident at his home left him hospitalized. On Sunday, McConnell’s office also released a photo showing him awake in a hospital bed beside his wife, Elaine Chao. Chao had declined to cut short a trip to China following the health scare. Despite the extended period without public comment from McConnell, his office released a lengthy statement saying the former Senate Republican leader had suffered a “mild case of pneumonia.” The statement also said doctors had ruled out a series of other explanations for what may have left the 84-year-old senator briefly unconscious and then hospitalized for a month. Those included a broken bone or concussion, heart attack, stroke, tumor or hemorrhage.“You all know how folks of my generation often hesitate to share the vulnerability that comes with growing older. Even in the public eye, I feel that same instinct – I can’t help it,” the statement reads.“But at the same time, I’ve had more than my share of experience with physical vulnerabilities. Surviving childhood polio meant spending my entire life with mobility challenges. They haven’t exactly gotten easier to ma