The Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley’s demand for mental competency tests for politicians older than 75 is “absurd” and ageist, the Vermont senator Bernie Sanders mentioned.
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“We’re combating racism, we’re combating sexism, we’re combating homophobia, I believe we must also be combating ageism,” Sanders, 81, informed CBS’s Face the Nation.
Sanders has mounted two sturdy challenges for the Democratic presidential nomination, the primary in 2016 when he was 74.
Haley, 51, launched her 2024 campaign this week, calling for a “new technology” of leaders however providing few coverage specifics besides a name for political time period limits and mental competency tests.
She has aimed that speaking level at Joe Biden, the 80-year-old president, however not at Donald Trump, the 76-year-old former president who stays her solely declared rival for the Republican nomination.
Requested on Fox Information Sunday why she was a more sensible choice for the nomination than Trump or anybody but to declare, the previous South Carolina governor mentioned: “Why not me?”
“You understand, I’m a spouse of a fight veteran. I’m a mom of two kids.”
Haley mentioned these kids had been combating the price of shopping for a house and with the problem of “woke training”, whereas her Indian immigrant mother and father had been “upset by what’s taking place on the border”.
Claiming she had “by no means labored in DC”, the previous ambassador to the United Nations who was part of Trump’s White House cabinet and met with the president in the Oval Office, mentioned it was “time that we begin placing a fireplace on what’s taking place in Congress”.
Repeating her name for time period limits and “mental competency tests for individuals over the age of 75”, she mentioned: “And what I do strongly imagine is the American individuals want choices. I don’t assume you must be 80 years previous to be in Washington DC.”
Sanders informed CBS: “I believe that’s absurd. We’re combating racism, we’re combating sexism, we’re combating homophobia, I believe we must also be combating ageism.
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“Belief individuals, have a look at individuals and say, ‘You understand, this individual is competent, this individual is not competent.’ There are numerous 40-year-olds on the market who ain’t significantly competent. Older individuals, you realize, you have a look at the person, I don’t assume you make a blanket assertion.”
Sanders additionally mentioned age, and its relevance for serving politicians, in an interview with the Guardian published on Sunday.
Talking to advertise his new e-book, It’s OK to be Angry About Capitalism, he mentioned he anticipated Biden to run for re-election in 2024, when the president might be 82, and vowed to help that effort.
“Age is all the time an element,” Sanders mentioned. “However there are a thousand elements. Some people who find themselves 80 or extra have extra vitality than people who find themselves 30.
“… There are numerous aged individuals with an entire lot of expertise who’re very able to doing nice work.”
