Nikki Haley Just Sayin' Joe Biden Is Old, Getting Older, Probably Already Dead, Buried In Cellar

She's a class act!

Nikki Haley, who no one should suggest is "past her prime," seems to think President Joe Biden's age is a pressing policy issue. She has repeatedly suggested that Biden has one foot in the grave and the other on a banana peel. She's not a doctor, never played one on TV, and has never personally examined Biden. However, she knows he's old so he's probably senile. She's called for mental competency tests for politicians over the age of 75, which is arbitrary and ageist. People have been diagnosed with dementia who are in their 50s, like Haley, and even their 40s and 30s.

The mental competency test hasn't gone over well with older voters, a key Republican demographic.

 Politico reports:  

Interviews with more than a dozen attendees at Haley’s first campaign events in recent days — all but three in their 60s, 70s and 80s — revealed a GOP primary electorate open to a younger standard-bearer but sharply divided over the insinuation that someone their age might be lacking in mental aptitude.

Now Haley’s started picking on someone within her own age cohort. Vice President Kamala Harris is a spritely 58, and Haley is subtly reminding voters that Harris might outlive Biden. Well, she's not so much "subtle" about it as she is both tacky and grotesque. During a Fox News interview last week, she said, "I think we can all be very clear and say with a matter of fact that if you vote for Joe Biden, you really are counting on a President Harris."

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 Nikki Haley Pledges Allegiance To MAGA And The Desperation For Which She Stands 

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Unless Haley has access to crystal ball technology, she can't say "with a matter of fact" that Biden will keel over before 2025. His father and mother lived to 87 and 92, respectively. However, Haley told Fox News hosts Sandra Smith and John Roberts that "the idea that [Biden] would make it until 86 years old is not something that I think is likely."

Haley might receive a visit soon from the Secret Service because that sounded more like a threat than a reasonable medical diagnosis.

 Haley wrote in a Fox News op-ed, " ... millions of Americans watch President Biden and believe he exhibits cognitive decline. He rarely takes press questions. He spends most weekends at his vacation home in Delaware. Sadly, he often seems disoriented and confused."

A lot of people under 50 prefer to work remotely and take some personal time for themselves on the weekend. That doesn't mean they're mentally incompetent. Assuming Biden "rarely takes press questions" because he's infirm is also an ageist assumption. Haley is also outright lying when she claims, with hypocritical regret, that Biden often seems "disoriented and confused." Dark Brandon was sharp as a tack at the recent White House Correspondents Association Dinner. Besides, she literally just accused him of "overpreparing" for press questions last week!

“I’m no spring chicken myself, but I also use notes (esp with pronunciation guides) during interviews.”

— Stephen Robinson (@Stephen Robinson) 1682745773 

 Haley tweeted a photo of Biden's elderly hands holding a notecard that, according to the Washington Post, "clearly directs the president to call on aLos Angeles Timesreporter, Courtney Subramanian. The card has Subramanian’s name (including a pronunciation guide for her surname), her affiliation and even a headshot."

"This is sad for @JoeBiden," Haley wrote, publicly tagging the person for whom she feels such genuine sadness. "It's embarrassing for the media. And it's scary for the country because @KamalaHarris is waiting in the wings."

Biden studiously preparing for questions (even making the effort to correctly pronounce a reporter's name) does not seamlessly track with Haley's ageist assumption that Biden is not long for this world.

The Team Haley Twitter account declared, "A vote for Joe Biden is a vote to make Kamala Harris President." Look, this is an expected Republican tactic against the Biden/Harris ticket. Biden flipped white voters in key swing states who hadn't voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016, and it's not a given that they'd support Harris if she were at the top of the ticket. Republicans want to make potential Biden voters worry about what happens if he doesn't complete the term. It's a low blow, but that's why it's called a presidential race not a political pot luck. (Jonathan Last at the Bulwark has some insight into how Biden could address this issue directly.)

Democrats attacked the bottom of the Republican ticket in 1988 with Dan Quayle and in 2008 with Sarah Palin. However, they just raised awareness on how the vice president is metaphorically a "heartbeat away from the presidency" (the VP is technically a heartbeat, a medical examiner, and a prompt swearing in from the presidency). We can all tell that Joe Biden is damn old. Haley doesn't have to publicly count the remaining Christmases he has left on one hand.

But Haley has to make her MAGA bones somehow. Unfortunately, she'll never be as authentically cruel and horrible as Marjorie Taylor Greene. She still sucks, though.

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