McConnell and Feinstein Episodes Spur Dialogue on US Gerontocracy
Summary from the AllSides News Team
On Wednesday, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) froze at a press conference, and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) forgot how to vote, prompting media dialogue on the old age of several key U.S. representatives.
Time To Step Aside: An opinion for Los Angeles Times (Lean Left bias) emphasized the need for Feinstein and McConnell to step down from their posts, suggesting the two should use Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi as their role model. It highlighted Feinstein’s intentions to step down after her current term expires and McConnell’s status as a party leader, making his would-be resignation more significant.
Age ≠ Ability: An opinion for Forbes (Center bias) said partisan ageist and ableist dialogue centered on older politicians is harmful. It argued age does not equal ability, and that setting an age limit for representatives would be logistically difficult. It said term limits won’t ensure a solution either, as Feinstein was elected to her most recent term well into her 80s, and that the current status quo of letting representatives decide when they are unfit to serve may be the best option.
Delusions Of Superiority: An opinion for Townhall (Right bias) mused over human desire for power, and the “mediocre, unfulfilled individuals,” whose “narcissism motivate(s) them to fanciful and never-ending delusions of superiority.” It criticized Democratic and Republic politicians, including Feinstein, McConnell, Pelosi, President Biden, and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) by name for clinging onto power for too long, and “destroying the country.” Like Forbes, the article argued term limits may not be too effective.
Featured Coverage of this Story
From the Left
A bad week for Mitch McConnell and Dianne Feinstein, leaders of Washington’s gerontocracy
This week should settle the question of whether California Sen. Dianne Feinstein gets so much attention for her age and mental acuity, or lack thereof, only because she’s a woman, after years in which the Senate club shielded its enfeebled men.
It was a bad week for the Senate’s gerontocracy, when both Feinstein, 90, and 81-year-old Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican minority leader, inadvertently demonstrated their dubious fitness for office. A flummoxed Feinstein had to be repeatedly prompted to say “aye” in a committee meeting. McConnell froze for half a minute talking to...
From the Center
McConnell, Feinstein Illustrate Challenges Of Congressional Age And Term Limits
Media is fixated on age at the moment and not in a positive way. U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat representing California, struggles to effectively serve after suffering encephalitis and Ramsay Hunt syndrome following a bout with shingles. She now shares the spotlight with Senator Mitch McConnell, a Republican from Kentucky, after he froze mid-sentence during a news conference earlier this week.
Both are longtime public servants, and neither seems ready to leave office, which begs the question–when should a member of Congress step down?
From the Right
The Will to Power
Total power is not something people of strong character feel a need to possess; it is the provenance of the weak: mediocre, unfulfilled individuals of extreme arrogance, who have few moral scruples, and almost no capacity to control their actions, their emotions, their lusts, and their passions—the most dangerous human beings imaginable.
Power consumes those whose vanity and narcissism motivate them to fanciful and never-ending delusions of superiority. Within the human breast, power has its own organic life, worse than the most malignant cancer, ever-growing, never shrinking, with no...
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