Term Limits. Now.
Lemme get this straight: Rep. Kay Granger, who represents Texas’ 12 District, hasn’t been seen in is months and was reportedly found to be living in a Texas dementia center.
Although she hasn’t voted in half a year (she cast her last vote on July 24th) Granger’s staff reportedly continued to collect their paychecks as they pretended that the 81-year-old congresswoman - who was elected in 1997 - was just busy.
If this is true, it’s a scandal. It means the people living in the 12th District have had no representation in Washington for half a year.
It also means the staff of the powerful congresswoman, who was chair of the House Appropriations Committee until March, were perpetrating a fraud.
Especially if someone was posting on X pretending to be Granger.
Why in the world was this farce allowed to go of for so many months? Surely House Speaker Mike Johnson or some other member of leadership noticed that Granger was missing. Once it was clear she was incapacitated she should have been told to resign and a special election held to fill her slot.
To her credit and unlike our president who is also suffering from dementia, Granger did not try to run for re-election. She’s been replaced by another Republican.
This situation is not unique. Sen. Dianne Feinstein who died in office last year at the age of 90 was nearly comatose when her staff was wheeling her into the Senate chamber to cast votes on key issues. Grotesque.
Most alarmingly, last week The Wall Street Journal published an expose revealing the extent to which Joe Biden’s staff has gone to hide his slide into dementia which began in 2020. The publication of this piece: “How the White House Functioned With a Diminished Biden in Charge” signals that the dam has broken and we are likely to learn more deeply troubling details about Biden’s mental state.
Reporters for The Journal found that Biden’s staff “bodied” the president so that the press and even his cabinet members had little access to an unscripted moment. Even when they gave Biden questions and answers in advance the octogenarian was often unable to perform in public. Staff members routinely gave the confused man detailed instructions on where to stand and how to exit a stage. Even with all that he was frequently wandering aimlessly.
This leaves us to wonder who exactly is currently issuing pardons, commuting death sentences and signing executive orders now that we know the president himself seems unable to function.
Granger, Feinstein, Biden - and other - examples of elected officials treating Congress and the White House as retirement homes rather than places of work should lead to serious discussions about term limits.
Yet the knee-jerk reaction coming from some quarters is to demand age limits for certain offices.
That would be a mistake.
The ravages of aging differs from person to person. Donald Trump, at 78, campaigned harder and maintained a far more vigorous campaign schedule than his 60 year- old opponent.
Two examples of keen intellect in old age come immediately to mind: Former Harvard law professor, author, lawyer and podcaster Alan Dershowitz remains mentally sharp at 86. So does actor and director 94-year-old Clint Eastwood.
Meanwhile Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell who was first elected in 1985 is suffering from some sort of condition at 82 that causes him to freeze and fall. He’s not running for re-election but still has two years to serve.
Yeeeesh.
News reports from Texas over the weekend expressed bafflement about the Granger situation: “It remains unclear why Granger’s relatives or staff declined to disclose her condition to the public.”
Unclear? It’s perfectly clear that the congresswoman was a meal ticket for those around her.
It’s the same with Biden. A frail president with dementia is easy to manipulate. As long as his managers are able to pretend he is competent to remain president, they cling to power.
As for First Lady Jill Biden: Shame on this insufferable, grasping woman who apparently enjoys life in the White House so much that she sold out her country to stay there.
Worse, she encouraged her “diminished’ husband to run for re-election, rather than taking him home to their beach house to relax and enjoy whatever time he has left.
We need DOJ investigations into these fraudulent schemers who kept powerful politicians in office long after their brains turned to mush. The handlers of these dementia patients should be prosecuted for elder abuse and for swindling the taxpayers.
Twenty eight more days.
