As we previously reported, after being missing for almost two weeks, Democrat senatorial candidate James Talarico came out of this burrow, saw his shadow, and now Texans have to endure about three and a half more weeks of election season, or something. Jokes aside, we are genuinely glad to see him up and alive and seemingly healthy, but it doesn’t answer the question: Where was he?

The official campaign answer is he had the flu, which doesn’t entirely make sense to this author. But this morning, we got another alleged answer. As we reported previously, Nick Sortor shared audio of an alleged phone call to the Lindner City of Hope in Ohio, claiming that a person named James Talarico had recently been discharged from that mental health facility. Here’s that audio here, just so you have the full context:

But political Ewok Brian Krassenstein has attempted to debunk the claim and, really, the brilliance of it is just something to behold:

The cut off text is the words 'Giant LIE.' Yes, with that exact capitalization.

This lines up with a common talking point: The audio can’t be real, because it would violate HIPAA! Here's an example of that:

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So, the argument goes that since it would violate HIPAA (a patient privacy statute) for any person working at such a facility to disclose this information or such a disclosure would violate company policy, we can assume no one did it.

By the same logic, all we have to do to stop all murders is to make it illegal to murder! Wheeee!

Of course, those of you who have more than two brain cells to rub together know it is already illegal to murder people, yet sadly it continues to happen, and likewise, people disclose patient information when it is not entirely legal to do so, either. They also don’t follow company policy 100 percent of the time. Which means that Krassenstein has come up short, again.

But that didn’t stop him from taking a victory lap:

HIPAA actually doesn’t allow individuals to sue for damages.

Indeed, it wouldn’t be hard for Talarico himself to debunk this. He could contact the Lindner City of Hope, sign a document that says he waives all rights to privacy in relation to any care he might have or might not have gotten there, and then let reporters call to determine if he had been there. Why doesn’t he do that?

Why doesn’t he provide some kind of doctor’s note verifying he had the flu?

Texans deserve a senator who will actually be there. His absence for so long is not automatically disqualifying, but it does need to be excused. And we don’t think him losing his marbles is a sufficient excuse.

Seriously, what normal job can a person have where they can disappear for almost two weeks and then show up at work with an inconsistent explanation and no doctor’s note? Well, if he becomes a senator, then the people of Texas would be his boss and the same people deserve an explanation before they decide whether or not to hire him.

He kind of gets it, but he seems to assume he wasn’t at a mental health facility. We won’t make that assumption.

The cut off text:

Saying that the Center ‘would not’ disclose such information is not a straightforward denial that someone did so. He didn’t say that they ‘did not’ disclose it. Nor would he necessarily know or be at liberty to say if someone else had disclosed it.

Yeah, it sounds more aspirational than anything. And that is a good aspiration, but humans do not always live up to their aspirations.

Our favorite denial of the Hunter Biden laptop story (although we don’t remember who said it) was that there was no way Hunter Biden would do something so careless as to leave his laptop at the repair shop so long if there was so much incriminating information in it. You know, because crackheads are known for their responsible behavior and good judgment. /sarcasm

Because an arrest means he is automatically guilty? Indeed, we know of at least one case where his arrest appeared to be politically motivated.

The cut off text:

It’s not a conspiracy theory. You don’t go missing when you get the flu on a campaign buddy. You go to bed for 24 hours and come back with a stuffed nose looking a bit pale like the rest of humanity does when they get the flu under the age of 60. You’re a known liar and you shall be treated as such. Carp. Absolute bottom feeder.

At the very least, he could have done a video appearance, or at least taken a picture with that day's newspaper.

And for the record, ‘maybe a politician is lying’ is almost never a crazy conspiracy theory. It should be the default position for every journalist.

Sorry, we don’t think a person who needs mental health help like that belongs in the Senate.

Exactly. Say … maybe this lady is smart enough to write for Twitchy!

Finally:

Can we get Dan Rather to look into it? *Laughs*

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