11 thoughts on “Presidential Mortality

    1. Can we stop talking about “the media” and “the press” as if it is a singular, monolithic thing? And can we especially discourage major media members with huge audiences (i.e., conservative outlets) from doing such? When Fox News Channel — which I believe gets better ratings than any other individual news outlet — spends half their damn time bitching about “the media”, they are missing out on a prime opportunity to actually be the media. Be the change and all that, no?Report

      1. Also worth noting that those McCain stories, while silly, were straight up actuarial probabilities. This is nearly entirely unlike the current crop of Hillary’s-secret-illness conspiracy mongering. Note also the tell in the Daily Caller piece’s use of the word “conspiracy.” This is pure projection.Report

    2. It’s good that you pointed this out. If it weren’t for this comment, plus two paragraphs in the OP, and the magazine photo of Bob Dole, one might have no idea that the age/health question has been asked of Republicans.Report

  1. I don’t have a problem with older folks being pres. I really don’t think this is a big deal. I have problems with certain people being pres.Report

  2. If the President dies in office, we have a plan in place for dealing with that. It is obviously not ideal for that to happen, but it seems sort of silly to fret over the possibility given that A) everyone can (and will) die, B) predicting death is really hard, and C) death can be caused by things other than failing health.

    I think we’d be best served to avoid electing someone who is literally on his/her deathbed. And if there is reason to believe that a candidate will be unable to perform the duties of their job for health (mental, emotional, or physical) related reasons, that seems like something worth considering. I mean, if they can’t do the job, we shouldn’t give them the job. But age itself shouldn’t be a factor. And handwringing over non-existent issues is silly. There seems to be little reason to doubt either major candidate will be impacted by his/her health during their Presidency. Until there is good reason to do so, let’s just stop talking about it.Report

  3. Ronald Reagan was president, and we don’t know if he started losing his faculties while in office or not.

    You’re just trolling us here, right?Report

    1. Some say the illness had an effect, others swear it wasn’t. Though the occasional forgetfulness (to the extent that they weren’t recalled as significant mostly just because of subsequent revelations) would fall in the general “age” portion of this post.Report

  4. Even Dick Cheney would seem to have survived eight years had he run and won in 2008, though his well-documented health problems would have made him a weaker president than might be preferable.

    If Cheney had become president, the preferable thing would have been a permanent vegetative state.Report

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