re: #381 pittrader1988

I feel badly for both men. I agreed with none of their policies.

However, this brings up a very good point. When folks like Strom Thurmond, Robert Byrd, Kennedy are in office in the shape that they are in (in the case of Strom, was in!) they really cannot fulfill the duties of the office. Byrd cannot speak, he cannot walk, he cannot hear. It is debatable if he has the capacity to grasp the issues at hand. Can he really engage in a dialogue about domestic policy regarding derivatives? Doubt it. Both Kennedy and Byrd ought to resign out of the respect to the office, and the country. Thurmond should have too.

I was in DC and ran into Thurmond coming out of the Senate. He was supported (carried), by two aids and looked to be in a lot of pain from being carried. There is no way that he was capable of being a Senator. We have an age limit for the bottom end of being a Senator, we ought to have an age limit for the top end. We also ought to say if you have an incurable illness, it’s in the best interest of the country to resign.

In the case of a President, there is a structure in place to take care of these things. If Obama were to be diagnosed with lung cancer, Biden would take over. If Kennedy goes down, no one can pick up the ball.

Not so sure about an age limit, perhaps there should be a “Health and Physical” test done to all senators, regardless of age. I’ve known some pretty spry 70 year olds that could whup the pants off of some 50 year olds I know. Granted the 77 year old I remember was a merchant marine engineer for almost all of his life, so climbing up and down stairs, crawling up in piping does well to keep you fit.