Nikki Haley Positions Herself as the Anti-Gerontocracy Candidate

[Kamaji]

Nikki Haley Positions Herself as the Anti-Gerontocracy Candidate

Haley seeks to make her relative youthfulness a selling point. It hasn't caught on among primary voters, but it's nonetheless worth considering whether the oldest candidates are always the best.

JOE LANCASTER
8.11.2023

The first Republican presidential primary debate is scheduled for later this month. So far at least 14 candidates have declared their intentions to run; former President Donald Trump is by far the presumed favorite, with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis running a distant second.

As the other candidates struggle to break out of a crowded pack, former United Nations ambassador and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley has made her opposition to gerontocracy a key focus of her campaign.

When Haley announced her campaign in February—the first candidate other than Trump to get into the race—she took a veiled dig at both Trump and President Joe Biden. "It's time for a new generation of leadership," she charged in her announcement video. In her first campaign speech, Haley went even further, advocating for congressional term limits and "mandatory mental competency tests for politicians over 75 years old." While a bit crude, the tactic drew an effective contrast: Trump is 77 and Biden is 80; Haley, at 51, seems young and vibrant by comparison.

In April, Haley took a much more pointed shot at Biden, telling Fox News that "if you vote for Joe Biden you really are counting on a President Harris, because the idea that he would make it until 86 years old is not something that I think is likely," seeming to imply that Biden would either die or have to resign during a second term, at which point Vice President Kamala Harris would assume the top job.

Haley has continued to push this argument as her campaign has struggled to gain traction: As of this writing, FiveThirtyEight puts her polling average at 3.6 percent, a full 50 points behind Trump and more than 10 points behind Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

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Source:  https://reason.com/2023/08/11/nikki-haley-positions-herself-as-the-anti-gerontocracy-candidate/

[Maj. Bill Martin]

I think competency tests are a ridiculous idea, too easily manipulated by those who will equate certain political views with mental illness/incompetency.  That's exactly what the Soviet Union did to squelch dissent.

The fact that Haley can't see that, (or even worse, deliberately ignores it), is a non-starter.  Down the list she goes, ahead of only Ramaswamy and Trump.

[libertybele]

I think competency tests are a ridiculous idea, too easily manipulated by those who will equate certain political views with mental illness/incompetency.  That's exactly what the Soviet Union did to squelch dissent.

The fact that Haley can't see that, (or even worse, deliberately ignores it), is a non-starter.  Down the list she goes, ahead of only Ramaswamy and Trump.

Yes, there is room for competency tests to be abused; but look at Fetterman as an example.  His mental faculties are obviously aren't all there, as is the same with Brandon and Feinstein.  Yet Brandon is running our country and Feinstein is still casting votes.

At the very least we need age limits.  Age limit of 75 period for president; meaning someone 70 could run but for only one term. 

[Maj. Bill Martin]

Yes, there is room for competency tests to be abused; but look at Fetterman as an example.  His mental faculties are obviously aren't all there, as is the same with Brandon and Feinstein.  Yet Brandon is running our country and Feinstein is still casting votes.

At the very least we need age limits.  Age limit of 75 period for president; meaning someone 70 could run but for only one term.

Age limits are objective, so the same objections really wouldn't apply.

But I'd bet you that you could find a line of left-leaning psych professionals miles long who would find all sorts of Republicans to be mentally incompetent.

The voters screwed up when it came to Fetterman.  And the GOP/Trump for not offering a better alternative than a Turkish carpet-bagger from New Jersey.

[Right_in_Virginia]

At the very least we need age limits.  Age limit of 75 period for president; meaning someone 70 could run but for only one term.

How about adding two minimums for president:  age 55 and 20 consecutive years of non-government employment?

@libertybele

[Kamaji]

Age limits are objective, so the same objections really wouldn't apply.

But I'd bet you that you could find a line of left-leaning psych professionals miles long who would find all sorts of Republicans to be mentally incompetent.

The voters screwed up when it came to Fetterman.  And the GOP/Trump for not offering a better alternative than a Turkish carpet-bagger from New Jersey.

[cato potatoe]

At the very least we need age limits.  Age limit of 75 period for president; meaning someone 70 could run but for only one term.

Something will happen while an 85 yr old dodders around the white house, and then we will get a constitutional amendment.  I wish Americans could embrace their mortality and deal with inevitable cognitive decline in a dignified way.