First lady Jill Biden sat down with CNN White House correspondent Arlette Saenz for an interview set to air Monday night and a clip of that interview where the first lady was asked about competency tests was shown Sunday on “State of the Union.”
“Nikki Haley, one of the Republican candidates, is calling for mental competency tests for politicians over the age of 75. What do you think about that?” Saenz asked Mrs. Biden.
“It’s ridiculous,” said the wife of 80-year-old President Joe Biden, while shaking her head.
Saenz pressed, “Would your husband ever take one of those?”
“I mean, we haven’t even discussed — we would never even discuss something like that,” said Biden, who is often criticized when her feeble husband’s mental acuity comes into question.
"It's ridiculous."
First lady Jill Biden dismisses Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley's calls for mental competency tests for politicians over the age of 75 https://t.co/nrIHMlR3UM pic.twitter.com/C1bbTIEP4i
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) March 3, 2023
Haley, the former governor of South Carolina who served as U.N. ambassador under former President Donald Trump, is running for president and she called for competency tests for politicians over 75 years old when she announced her candidacy.
“In the America I see, the permanent politician will finally retire,” she said. “We’ll have term limits for Congress. And mandatory mental competency tests for politicians over 75 years old.”
“America is not past our prime. It’s just that our politicians are past theirs,” the Republican politician added.
CNN host Don Lemon responded to that remark to say 51-year-old Haley was past her prime — for the record, Lemon is 57. Seen by many as a sexist attack, Lemon was temporarily removed from the air and would ultimately agree to participate in “formal training.”
Haley had a few words for Lemon during her speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Friday.
“He claimed I’m not in my prime, and which I responded, hold my beer. I’m 51. That’s younger than Don Lemon,” she said.
.@NikkiHaley: “I said every politician over 75 years old should be required to take a mental competency test. […] Don Lemon didn’t seem to like that too much. He claimed I’m not in my prime and which I responded, hold my beer. I’m 51. That’s younger than Don Lemon.” pic.twitter.com/O5ESEWRP66
— The Hill (@thehill) March 4, 2023
The GOP presidential candidate also stood by her call for competency tests and was even willing to have them begin at the age of 50.
“For the record, I was right. Every politician and judge should have to take a competency test. If you want to start at age 50, I’m good with that too,” Haley said. “I didn’t say the same for sexist middle-aged anchors, but Don Lemon proved that CNN should consider that as well.”
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Tom Tillison grew up in Maryland before moving to Central Florida as a young teen. It is in the Sunshine State that he honed both his passion for politics and his writing skills. Tillison also contributes to BizPac Review.
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