Yesterday, in Did James Talarico disappear…into a mental institution? I reported a rumor that Talarico, who had been under wraps for 12 days, had a mental breakdown and checked himself in for treatment. I noted that the rumor was unconfirmed and that we at American Thinker had no way to confirm or disprove it.
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However, if true, it would explain a great deal: why Talarico’s campaign claimed he had the flu—healthy people recover from that in a few days — why multiple campaign appearances were canceled, and why his appearance calendar was wiped clean. How could his campaign staff know when, or if, he’d be able to deal with the world again?
Journalists seemed oddly uninterested in the mystery, though that’s not too hard to understand. They likely didn’t want to discover anything that would damage Democrat chances to retake the Senate and harsh cherished narratives.
But after 13 days, Talarico surfaced at the Austin City Limits Music Festival, where we walked around and talked with a few folks. Talarico’s spokesman posted this:
Graphic: Social Media Post
Talarico’s campaign confirmed he expects to return to a full in-person schedule through the weekend ahead of an Oct. 14 CNN town hall.
The campaign previously noted that, prior to his illness, Talarico had already completed more than 100 public campaign events across the state.
And that would explain his absence and cancellation of his schedule how, exactly? At PJ Media, Sarah Anderson notes:
Even former Democrat strategist Dan Turrentine was skeptical.
“Talarico’s team watched this take off yesterday,” Turrentine said. “You’re in a close race. Right? So whether it’s true or not, whether you’re on your deathbed or it’s ‘other’ — right, as the conspiracy theories are kind of hinting there’s something else. You’re in a tight race; you have 25 days to go. You would get out last night with something, even if it’s a photograph of the guy. That makes me nervous that it’s Friday morning and there is still [nothing] other than one person saying, ‘Nothing to see here.'”
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In my opinion, this sudden appearance at this music festival raises more questions than answers. Either Talarico is hiding something or whoever is running his campaign is a complete and total idiot. Possibly, both things are true.
It certainly does raise questions. Considering the national coverage of his disappearance, Talarico and his campaign chose to reintroduce him to the public with a walkabout at a music festival? Wouldn’t it have been smarter, more politically savvy, to hold a news conference where the man himself could shoot down speculation of a mental breakdown and hospitalization? Alternatively, he could have said he needed a break from campaigning and is now rested, tanned—well, maybe not tanned—and ready? He could have done it with a video, perhaps showing a proof-of-life newspaper to prove it was current, if he didn’t want to take press questions.
Or perhaps the walkabout was politically savvy after all. That may have been all the exposure a mentally fragile Talarico could muster, a safe, friendly, and controlled environment where his handlers could hustle him to a waiting vehicle at the first sign of trouble. We don’t know how much time he spent there or what, if anything, he might have said—beyond handshakes and “howdy.”
The cause of his nearly two-week absence remains a mystery. It’s unlikely it was the flu. Some wags have suggested politically forced ingestion of Texas barbecue laid Talarico, the vegan, low. It’s also unlikely the media will demand an explanation, and they certainly won’t ask if he had a breakdown.
I suspect his campaign has weighed whether saying nothing and pretending nothing happened is likely to be more damaging than telling something like the truth and decided to do what politicians, and particularly Democrats, usually do: obfuscate, cover, and lie.
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Mike McDaniel is a USAF veteran, classically trained musician, Japanese and European fencer, lifelong athlete, firearm instructor, retired police officer, and high school and college English teacher. He is a published author and blogger. His home blog is Stately McDaniel Manor.