MSNBC panel highlights advanced age of Democratic Party leadership
MSNBC's Chuck Todd and his panel discuss reports of Sen. Dianne Feinstein being in cognitive decline and age issues for leading Democrats like President Biden.
MSNBC host Chuck Todd noted the advanced age of Democratic Party leadership Friday during a discussion of concerns about Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., being able to do her job, saying it brought up questions Democrats didn't want to have about President Biden.
The San Francisco Chronicle published a lengthy report Thursday quoting anonymous lawmakers, including three Democratic U.S. Senators, who said the 88-year-old Feinstein's memory is "rapidly deteriorating" and she sometimes doesn't even recognize longtime colleagues. The Chronicle editorial board said she should resign if the report is true and also called on her colleagues to say so openly if they believed she couldn't perform her duties.
On "MTP Daily," Todd complimented Feinstein's legacy in California; she succeeded George Moscone as San Francisco mayor in 1978 after his assassination, and she was later elected California's first woman U.S. senator in 1992, winning re-election five times since.
President Joe Biden and NBC News' Chuck Todd (Getty Images)
After GOP guest Rick Tyler said too many lawmakers stayed in office too long, Todd called it a fair point, and an image on the screen flashed of the ages of top Democrats like President Biden (79), Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., (82), House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., (82), House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., (81), and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. (71).
"We don’t want to chase folks out. At the same time, you know, I do understand why there’s some cynicism," Todd said. "The Democratic Party right now, its entire leadership structure, Chuck Schumer, Dick Durbin … both over the age of 70. All three leaders in the house, 70 or 80. The president of the United States. [Vice President] Kamala Harris is the youngest basically of the elected leadership and nobody else. She’s the only one under 70."
MSNBC congressional correspondent Ali Vitali noted Biden bested dozens of Democratic competitors, several of them decades younger like Harris, Pete Buttigieg and Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., in the 2020 primary. The last man standing that year besides Biden was Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who is 80.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and U.S. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD). (Photo by Liz Lynch/Getty Images | Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Biden is the oldest president in U.S. history.
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"It’s a tricky thing," Todd said later in the panel. "If you start again, if you start questioning Dianne Feinstein, the president of the United States is going to start getting this stuff, and that’s something the party doesn’t want to have to deal with, those questions here."
Feinstein released a statement this week touting her recent Senate accomplishments and said her record showed she could still properly represent Californians. She fought off a primary challenge to her left from Kevin de León in the Democratic primary in 2018 and then defeated him again that November – no Republican appeared on the general election ballot.
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Republican leaders aren't all spring chickens, either, as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is 80 and former President Donald Trump will be 76 in June. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., is just 57.