44 Comments

“Mothball Mafia”: sheer genius, Ken. Thank you, again, for speaking the truth. Imagine how different the political landscape might look if other journalists had your courage and honesty.

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Ken, once again I thank you for your honest journalism and refusal to be bullied into self-censoring.

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I don't get why they want to cling to power so hard. For power's sake? Money? Healthcare benefits? Sheer ego? I have 25 more years of work in front of me (if 67 even holds), and I can't freaking wait to retire.

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My bfs theory is that they all want state burials

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Why do the old want to cling to youth?

I'll ask my 84-year-old MIL who insists she is going to get her driver's license back.

It has little or nothing to do with power, IMO.

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Sigh. The man is old, I’ll give you that. But this isn’t senility. It’s not even a fair assessment of his capabilities to lead the committee. It’s a lazy appeal to the lowest common denominator - prejudice. I’m not going to lay out in detail why I feel qualified to say this, but I do. I’m just going to list why this isn’t true or appropriate.

1. Senility or cognitive decline is not a definite byproduct of aging. It is a disease process that affects approx 7M people, but between age 65 (3% prevalence) and age 90 (35% prevalence), when most people exhibit symptoms, roughly 2/3 of elderly people never have it. To accuse anyone of senility based on age is a stereotype. Cite: WHO and AAA - can provide links

2. Comparing a person’s performance to a younger performance doesn’t prove anything except that they’ve changed, which is normal. If you want a fair assessment of how someone performs, compare them to their peers or same age cohorts.

3. You have not yet experienced being his age, but let me just say this: no matter how healthy and vigorous you are, being older will cause you to move slower and speak slower. It will even cause you to stumble a bit more over words you’re saying or occasionally, to blank on a word you know. Often, it is because you’re a bit tired, hungry, dehydrated, distracted, etc. These things affect older people more than younger ones, but don’t impair one’s ability to do a job. It is not evidence of cognitive decline. It may be somewhat analogous to a slow onset of ADHD, but that’s just speculation. Either way, speaking more slowly and forgetting a name when you’re using notes is no different than needing accommodations as someone with a disability, who is otherwise able to think just fine.

4. Ableism and ageism are very similar. Both involve incredible amounts of bias and intolerance being directed by those who have never experienced motor difficulties or other physical indices that cause others to wrongfully conclude that the subject is mentally unfit. It’s appalling the way people feel so free to cast aspersions based on nothing more than a brief, uninformed observation or comparison.

5. People love to bash Biden, who struggles with a disability AND age. He has always stuttered (for which he was bullied), and even when he was a young senator he talked like he had marbles in his mouth and said stupid things sometimes. But I challenge you to watch his interview this morning with Ben Meiselas and then tell me he is cognitively impaired. It’s not true. He is capable, but slow and deliberate. Watch it and tell me I’m wrong.

6. I’m not so familiar with the work of Rep. Scott, but I would need to see more than what you showed to believe he has any type of dementia. His anger at being photographed in a wheelchair was most likely the reaction of powerless frustration caused by knowing that the image would be used in an unflattering or adversarial manner (like it was used here). I can’t say I blame him. I would yell too if some young punk with a camera slid in to take a bad photo and write up a speculative hit piece about me.

People used to be much more careful about making such unsupported claims. Now we celebrate the knee jerk, the “hot take”, the bold proclamations offered to confirm our biases so conveniently. I get it. No one has time to ponder or deliberate and those clicks and views are a lifeline, but it’s not helpful.

What we need is a heart centered, fact based, nuanced and considerate conversation that involves all adult generations about what is most important in our leadership. The old guard Dems are making mistakes but it’s not because they’re demented. They still have things to offer in terms of strategy, experience and connections, and they still have goals to reach.

I’m sure the knives are out but let me end with this: someday soon, sooner than you think, you will start to take their place. And the people you used to babysit, the kids you watched grow up will work beside you as adults and they will speak a different language. They will make assumptions and misjudge your intentions and question your moral fiber for doing all the “normal” things everyone else your age does, and you won’t understand where they’re coming from. They will tell you to hurry up, move over and tell you you’re a waste of their time, to give it up already. You may find yourself yelling at a brash young man for violating your personal boundaries and then be publicly mocked or pitied for it. Think about it. Do better.

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Biden had a cold. In contracting the debate he shoulda included a delay if sick. However, perhaps good, as gave up.

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Funny thing about cognitive decline due to aging, certain traits like orneriness are exacerbated, i.e., don’t take my picture, I want my tapioca! …not the stuff of leadership. Time for their well earned nap and for younger sharper minds to prevail.

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American politics in its present state of decline increasingly resembles the late Soviet Union, and one of the most unsettling parallels is its unmistakable slide into gerontocracy.

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Apparently Leonid Brezhnev was senile by the end. He was only in his 70s too.

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Is there anyone seriously on the gerontocracy beat (full-time, not a dig at your reporting)? Seems… needed.

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No. As one prominent journalist told me, they don't want to alienate potential sources of exclusives!

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Ah yes, I too love incentive structures.

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The WSJ has a major article today saying that Biden has been incapacitated for much of his term. They interviewed some 50 people who probably wouldn’t talk until now.

https://www.wsj.com/politics/biden-white-house-age-function-diminished-3906a839

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Oh oh, do Reagan next.

Come on now.

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I did see that, thanks!

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Mainstream Media would not report this. Keep up the good work.

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Yesterday, Congress had bipartisan support for a funding bill that would extend and protect key aging services programs by including reauthorization of the Older Americans Act (OAA). Now, the House has released a year-end legislative package that leaves out the OAA. You'd think they'd take better care!

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We need regulations on how old one can be and still serve in the House or Senate. The juxtaposition of the two short videos you shared, is telling.

The obsession with youth in American culture lends itself to this. In other places people who are older have a place to stand in their local community. They offer something greater than a quick profit.

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Anything other than election is undemocratic. When the media do their job, we have a working democracy.

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You’re not being ageist. Rates of dementia aka senility:

Dementia rates are very low for those younger than 65, but the rate increases with age. Prevalence doubles approximately every 5 years from 0.8% for seniors age 65–69, to 2.4% for seniors age 70–74, to 5.9% for seniors age 75–79, to 12.4% for seniors age 80–84, and to 24.6% for seniors 85+.

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"Mothball Mafia" ... Love it! Thank you once again, Ken.

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NOBODY at any age who’s cognitively impaired should hold office or have ANY decision-making, responsible job. Actually no job. They’re unpredictable, unreliable, irrational and can get violent. The staffers/family members who keep them in office and cover up for them should be prosecuted and imprisoned. They do not have the welfare of our country at heart but are selfishly, dishonestly hanging on to their jobs. You can bet they’re manipulating the senile legislator into signing whatever they want him to sign and churning out correspondence as they please in the senile one’s name—that constitutes fraud.

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While I believe you may well be right, he could've felt embarrassed by being photographed in a wheelchair, which does make some people feel extremely embarrassed/weak/awkward/less than other people if they're in a wheelchair (I sometimes feel that way, and I often use a wheelchair).

Having said all that, calling a photographer an "Asshole" is never acceptable, for any reason. Even if he were no longer able to control his speech, I would still tell him that that's an unkind word to use, that he shouldn't use it, and that he needs to apologize to that photographer.

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JONATHAN WILLIAMS-You cannot reason with a senile person. No amount of love, logic, or patience works. People need to realize that it’s a mental illness which only gets progressively worse.

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I understand. I've found, dealing with loved ones with varying degrees of dementia/senility/cognitive impairment, I could still tell them things like that, even though I didn't count on them to remember it or to act on it, and I held them to a much lower standard of responsibility.

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You better hope the AARP does not have a S.W.A.T. team.

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Please let us know when the hounds are unleashed. ;-)

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