No apologies needed. I’m so glad you did, and I shared it with a few friends, feeling very edgy as I did.
I felt sorry for Mitch in the moment… but that moment passed.
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Didn’t he have blue lips and fingers awhile back? What as that all about?
He’s had an undead/zombie vibe for a long time.
My point was that Biden looks and acts nothing like McConnell does here. And nothing like the deranged logorrhea of Trump, either. He’s neither too old nor too enfeebled for the job, despite what rightwing media says.
Which is why it is so annoying when the right wing has made fun of Biden for falling. The fact that he can get up without any injury tells me he is in great shape for his age.
Mitch, meanwhile, looks horrible.
Yeah, it looked really bad.
Ok…I was joking about the zombie thing before but those pics make me think he really might be one of the undead.
My lovely wife thinks Jewish space lasers got him. I think g-d struck him dumb. However, TIA, absence seizure, or exacerbated post-polio or post-surgical consequences, or a combination, is more likely.
This.
I’m in my mid-70s, I have plenty of friends in their '80s, and even some in their '90s, and all of us are in much better shape than Mitch. Age in itself is no determiner of mental acuity.
No but it is not a bad metric either. Certainly many keep their faculties about them well into old age. My grandma was sharp and clear-headed (with only a few senior moments of forgetfulness…nothing to remark on) till she died at 92. My mom (her daughter) had advanced Alzheimer’s when she died at 87 and barely recognized me.
That’s the thing though and why there should be mandatory retirement ages for government officials. Some may be great as they age, but some will not. And we can be sure some will falter…it’s just a numbers game at that point. Clearly the voting system is so locked in for incumbents that the ideal way to remove them…vote them out of office…just does not work well.
And I say all of that as someone close enough to these ages that it is real for me too (not quite there yet…I’ll keep pretending I am 35 for now).
They hate Mitch just as much.
True.
Unfortunately, the really important metrics are hard to spot (until their absence is obvious when it’s too late) and impossible to quantify: intelligence (v. utter stupidity), moral values, good judgment, honesty, good character, long-range thinking, generosity, unselfishness, kindness, humor, leadership ability, self-esteem. You know, the general stuff that makes a good human being. The life of a politician doesn’t foster these, but we saw some of these qualities in Obama and in Jimmy Carter.
But to be an effective president, a person also needs a certain ruthlessness and drive-- preferably not to the exclusion of the good qualities.
I don’t like the idea of age being used as cause to dismiss a more qualified official in favor of one less so. Even the executive position has safety valves in the case of non-performance. They might become better, and the rules of the senate could be improved, but those are things that can be changed through elections.
MCConnell made a few remarks about the issue today. He made a joke that president Biden called him and he replied that he “got sandbagged” (a clear reference to when Biden tripped over a sandbag and fell - with nary an injury - at a recent military event).
He also ignored the question of whether he saw a doctor, and instead said that he’s “fine”.
Then he sort of repeated “sandbag” and turtled down the hall.
At least, that was my take on it. For an attempt at dismissing this as just a minor matter, it really came across as exceptionally feeble.
Agree. The problem with the “sandbag” defense is that a sandbag is an external thing that momentarily tripped up President Biden. Whatever tripped up McConnell was internal. Not two equal things in my book. Or many other people’s.
Yeah, a 22-year-old professional athlete could trip over a sandbag. What happened to Mitch was a real “yikes” moment.
Incidentally, in other really-old-person news out of the Senate, Diane Feinstein continues to enjoy her Weekend at Bernie’s.
“Silent Generation,” my ass. These geriatrics won’t shut up!
Wait a sec … you mean Biden didn’t tweet anything about Mitch being a walking corpse, or imply that the nation is doomed if the GOP doesn’t replace its leadership immediately? What the hell kind of president is he?
Classy.
To be fair, Dianne Feinstein needs to resign too. I know this thread is about McConnell but I think this speaks to the broader issue of people no longer capable of serving and, while I despise McConnell, I think the same should apply to all sides:
Full Title: A confused Dianne Feinstein tried to give a speech in the middle of a Senate hearing vote and was told to ‘just say aye’ instead