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And Reagan also had the Iran Contra controversy which was selling arms to Iran to fund the Contras in Nicaragua. When asked in a deposition about what he knew,
by bb88 2y ago
And Reagan also had the Iran Contra controversy which was selling arms to Iran to fund the Contras in Nicaragua. When asked in a deposition about what he knew, Reagan famously said, "I don't remember". It may have been a legal tactic to avoid culpability, but it could also have been real and highlighted the man's cognitive decline. Or worse, his advisors knew about the cognitive decline, kept information from him, and then ran their own foreign policy in the basement of the pentagon.
- briandear 2y ago[flagged]
- messe 2y agoWhy is that relevant in this context?
- griomnib 2y agoI think it’s very relevant as we have yet another old man in mental decline taking over, we should be talking a lot more about the real risks the gerontocracy poses.
- PostOnce 2y agoGerontocracy will remain even if age makes you unelectable, i.e. no one elected Murdoch. Wealth and power are both subject to a sort of reverse entropy, they tend to concentrate, and that means the older someone is the more they are likely to have. A 30 year old's rolodex will not be as impressive as a 70 year olds.
- bb88 2y agoTerrible. He should have resigned, but was too proud to. But also, you know, this isn't a left/right issue. It's mostly one of power. There's a republican member of congress right now that's in a retirement home and hasn't been in congress since July. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/23/us/politics/kay-granger-congress-age.html https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/23/us/politics/kay-granger-c...
- echelon 2y agoPoliticians should realize that staying in too long will harm their own party. RBG got replaced with a conservative, Biden sank the Democratic ticket, Kay Granger hasn't been present to vote with her fellow Republicans, ... This should absolutely be a bipartisan issue.
- mindslight 2y agoOn the other hand, cognitive impairment can help a candidate when voters end up empathizing with them.
- adamtaylor_13 2y agoWTF… how is this even legal?
- bb88 2y agoIt's not how it was legal, but why the house leadership didn't mention it before the last election cycle. It's similar to why the ethics committee didn't want to reveal the dirt on the first Department of Justice nominee -- it would make them look bad!