Discussion about this post

User's avatar
Richard Weingarten's avatar

Thanks for the compliments; enough to redden my cheeks, but my my "Why?" was not exactly as you put it. I did not intend to imply that there are not enough valid reasons to prompt concern about the President's age and his ability to run the Nation for the frequent choruses of "4 more years!", let alone successfully prosecute a campaign sufficient to prevent giving Trump a second and more fruitful opportunity to destroy all the good things in our country.

I am 95 and have myriad physical and cognitive problems. I forget names, dates and events more and more frequently. On the other hand, I did not have most of those problems when I was 85 and was able to host a weekly, well attended and lively discussion group until last year.

My concern was why so many allegedly astute politicians found it necessary to go so public with their concerns. Surely their experience taught them to know that the media, right and left, love to stir the pot and magnify whatever are valid concerns into a pending crisis: the effect being to seriously damage whatever campaign the Democratic Party decides to support.

In short, it is time to make a decision on the way forward and do our utmost to avoid the tragedy that the talking heads and chattering opinion writers are allowing themselves to foment.

Expand full comment
Tim Dineen's avatar

Look no further than our MSM for much of the cause. Controversy sells. They normalized all of the lies and hate spewing from TriumpCo that it's no longer newsworthy to them. There is no bottom to what he will say or do - but Biden is fair game. They're being held to entirely different standards because they can sell more papers that way. They print Clooney headlines because they know it will create outrage and create confusion. They create the division to make themselves relevant in a world that sees them as archaic. The New York Times is 173 years old - can we talk about "elderly"?!?

As a nation, we're obsessed with youth - the Hollywood elite especially so. (Hell - Clooney has been lifted so many times, if he has another he'll need a zipper on his shirt collar.) We're bombarded with ads for products to make us look younger, remove wrinkles, sculpt our bodies - take this, eat this, rub on that - and don't even get me started on the ED commercials! And, because we obsess over youth, we treat our older population like crap. I'm invisible when I walk into a store - which is actually ridiculous because I have the money to spend.

I'm 72. I wear hearing aids - connected to my iPhone. I had a hip replaced in May with the other in a couple of months. My knees are shot and they may be getting replaced, as well. I'm getting an implanted heart monitor August 7th because there's an electrical issue they can't quite figure out.

New parts and tune-ups while they're still under warranty.

No, I'm not as quick and agile as I once was and I probably won't be camping atop Half Dome, again - even if they would allow it. But we'll be spending a month in Europe next year - trading hostels and camping for hotels with room service.

People are very foolish if they equate old age with weakness.

Expand full comment
10 more comments...

No posts