ageism Archives

MAGA Wisconsin Senate Candidate Rebuked for Nursing Home Comments

Seniors’ advocates and their political allies are criticizing recent comments by Wisconsin U.S. Senate candidate Eric Hovde suggesting that nursing home residents can't – or shouldn't – vote. Hovde, who is running to unseat incumbent Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), told Fox News’ Guy Benson::: “We had nursing homes where you had 100 percent voting… Well, if you’re in a nursing home, you only have a five, six-month life expectancy. Almost nobody in a nursing home is in a point to vote. And you had children, adult children showing up saying, ‘Who voted for my 85 or 90-year-old father or mother?’” – GOP Senate candidate Eric Hovde These comments by the Trump-endorsed, MAGA Republican candidate drew sharp rebukes as blatantly ageist and fact-free.

NCPSSM2024-04-11T12:28:33-04:00April 11th, 2024|Categories: ageism, Aging Issues, Election 2024|

Special Counsel in Biden Classified Documents Case Plays Amateur Gerontologist

By declining to charge President Biden but gratuitously impugning the president’s cognitive abilities, special counsel Robert Hur overstepped his bounds and fed into a blatantly ageist narrative. Hur pulled a “James Comey” yesterday in announcing that the president would not be charged with a crime but criticizing Biden’s handling of classified documents, just as Comey did with Hillary Clinton in 2016. (And we know how that turned out.) But, unlike Comey, Hur also felt the need to disparage the President’s age and his memory, referring to Biden as "a well-meaning, elderly man."

Walter Gottlieb2024-02-09T17:11:22-04:00February 9th, 2024|Categories: ageism, Election 2024, President Biden, President Trump|

Nikki Haley’s Call for Mental Competency Tests Proves that Ageism is Alive and Well

Upon kicking off her presidential campaign this week, Nikki Haley said politicians 75 years of age or older should be subject to mental competency tests. It was a cheap political shot at President Biden and her rival in the primaries, Donald Trump. But it was more than that. Haley’s statement is blatantly ageist. Of course, of all the -isms (racism, sexism, able-ism, classism, etc.), the targeting of older people remains one of the most socially acceptable – probably leading Haley to believe that her jab at senior politicians was safe. That doesn’t make it any less offensive.

Walter Gottlieb2023-02-17T13:36:01-04:00February 17th, 2023|Categories: ageism, Bernie Sanders, Election 2024, seniors|

Ageism is Alive and Well

Despite their enormous contributions to our country, seniors are continually devalued as members of society. When someone calls another person “old,” it’s understood as an insult, not a sign of respect. “In our society, older people too often are considered to be absent and invisible,” says our senior policy expert, Anne Montgomery.

Walter Gottlieb2023-02-22T11:29:18-04:00February 9th, 2023|Categories: ageism, seniors|