You watch. They will only take his congressional seat from his cold, dead hands. He would have to be a drooling vegetable.
Anyway, if Democrats won’t get rid of Feinstein, Republicans sure as hell won’t get rid of McConnell.
It’s going to take these old assholes dropping dead in the Capitol before we start doing anything but bitching about the ages of our congresspeople. And yes, anyone selfish enough run for re-election when they’re over the age of 70 is an asshole in my book
Strom Thurmond was wheeled into the Senate in his hospital bed at 99 years old and died in office in 2003, didn’t change a thing.
It’s not really about age. There are plenty of older people who are still functioning fine. Hell, Biden is almost as old as Mitch, but he’s physically fit and doesn’t go into fugue states. (And the claims that his stutter and verbal gaffs are evidence of decline are utter bullshit. He’s been that way his entire life.)
Where we’re fucking up is that we don’t have any systems in place to require our elected officials or candidates to be mentally sound. We should require people running for or in elected office to pass cognitive tests the same way we require people on the roads to pass driving tests. Yes, more of the elderly will fail those tests because age is a factor, but the focus should be on “can this person do the job,” not “is this person too old.”
Mitch might be someone who’d be removed from office with a test like that, but it would also potentially catch young guys with catastrophic mental health issues, like Herschel Walker, who got frighteningly close to public office while showing blatant signs of illness.
An independent health exam to determine cognitive fitness every year you serve in public office once you’re over 65 was my thought when I saw this news last night.
It wouldn’t have stopped Walker but it would take care of McConnell and Finnstein. As well as any Supreme Court Justices that go that way.
And the claims that his stutter and verbal gaffs are evidence of decline are utter bullshit. He’s been that way his entire life.
I mean, it’s not reason to get rid of him, but he hasn’t had it his whole life.
He had it as a child, but there’s a bunch of footage of him in politics for over 40 years…
The vast majority of that time he didn’t have any stutter or gaffes. I don’t even think it was happening when he was VP.
But as we age we lose that “filter” where we think before we speak. Which often causes the re-emergence of childhood speech impediments along with a lot more serious stuff.
Like I said, it’s not a reason to impeach him, but it’s definitely a reason to ask why we’re expecting him to be president for four more years.
Especially since the main reason he said he ran was the country needed him because only he has the Senate experience to work with Republicans…
And then immediately after assuming office he said he can’t do anything to even get Democratic senators to support the party platform.
So why are we running him again instead of a primary?
My question is why are Americans electing them? While we have a similar age group structure, if anything our median age is larger, middle age of our parliament is little bit over 47 years.
Both parties should agree they’ll force McConnell to step down if Feinstein is also forced to step down.
McConnell is still a powerhouse in the senate. Feinstein is basically a babbling sack of flesh that votes as she’s told.
