According to Dennis DeConicini, a Democrat who represented Arizona in the Senate from 1977 until 1995, President Joe Biden’s age is a major problem because it makes people wary of voting for him, with the problem made all the worse by Vice President Kamala Harris being utterly unelectable.
Former Senator DeConicini’s comments are made all the more relevant by the recent poll showing that Americans think Joe Biden is too old to be president and lacks the mental competence required for the position thanks to his advanced age.
Specifically, t poll, conducted by the Wall Street Journal, found, “Although the candidates are only three years apart, 73% of voters said they feel Biden is too old to seek a second term, compared with 47% of voters who said the same of the 77-year-old Trump. Two-thirds of Democrats said Biden was too old to run again.”
So, Biden’s age is a big problem in the minds of many Americans, with Kamala’s being unelectable making it an even bigger one. As DeConicini put it: “Democrats just don’t have any choice and it’s so difficult. He’s too old. So am I. What I tell people is in comparison to Trump, he’s a decent guy. He may be too old and stumble a little bit. The problem, in my opinion, is the Democrats really have a problem if he didn’t run because [Vice President] Kamala Harris — I don’t think she could be elected.”
Continuing, the former senator added that Kamala being the VP and also being someone Americans will never elect means Democrats have to hold their nose and vote for Biden, saying, “We’re kind of stuck with Biden because of that.”
Next, he sounded similar to many Republicans in explaining the new sort of political leader he hopes for, which is to say he described someone who is neither senile nor about to topple over because of age-induced infirmity of body, like when Mitch McConnell has his “freezing” incidents.
He said, “If there’s no one better, I’ll vote for Biden. But if another candidate comes up who’s actually younger, understands what this country needs, and just seems like a better candidate, then I would vote for that candidate.”
Deconicini isn’t the only former Democrat senator who had a bit to say about how terrible the Biden Administration is looking in the re-election campaign. Democrat and former Ohio state senator Nina Turner did as well, though she focused more on the “Bidenomics” messaging and criticized the administration’s economic messaging push.
Turner said, “I need my party to stop acting as though the suffering that people are feeling, especially socially and economically, is a figment of their imagination and they don’t understand all that we’ve done. The talking heads feel it. The people in the bubble feel it. But big mama and big papa do not feel that this economy has gotten better for them.”
President Biden, for his part, tried to defend his age as not being a problem by saying, “I tell you what, someone said, “You know, that Biden, he’s getting old, man. I tell you what.” Well, guess what? Guess what? I can — and, you know, the only thing that comes with age is a little bit of wisdom. I — but I, I’ve been doing this longer than anybody. And guess what? I’m going to continue to do it with your help.”
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