NEWS AND OPINION:
It’s a very touchy subject on Capitol Hill, in the White House, in state capitals and at town halls. When should an aging politician take a dignified bow and leave the public stage?
Americans have spoken.
“We live in an era of stark political division, but there’s at least one aspect of politics both sides agree on: a maximum age limit for elected officials. Most feel that after a certain age they should not be permitted to hold office,” CBS News reports.
“There isn’t just agreement across political lines, but across demographic groups, like age, too. Young and old, including seniors, favor maximum age limits for elected officials,” the network said — and yes, the network conducted a poll to support this idea.
And the numbers: 73% of U.S. adults agree there should be “maximum age limits” for elected officials — that includes 75% of Republicans, 75% of independents and 71% of Democrats. Even 74% of those respondents who were over age 65 agreed with that, along with 75% of those age 30 to 64.
Age 70 appears to be the ideal time for retirement, according to the poll — which found that 40% agreed that lawmakers and elected officials should make their gracious exit at age 70.
Another 26% favored age 60, while 18% gave the nod to age 80, 8% to age 50 and 2% to age 90.
The CBS News poll of 1,511 U.S. adults was conducted Aug. 29-31 and released Sunday.
THE ELUSIVE PRESS CONFERENCE
President Biden interactions with the news media are getting rare.
“Regardless of what you thought about former President Trump and his verbal treatment of the press, he was extremely accessible, sometimes to his own detriment,” advised Joe Concha, a columnist for The Hill.
Mr. Biden has held 17 press conferences in his first 20 months in office, compared to Mr. Trump, who hosted 36 press conferences in his first 20 months, he wrote in an analysis.
“So, the question is: If Biden has all the momentum many in the media have been saying he has, and if he has such a winning message that is turning everything around for Democrats heading into the midterms, why hasn’t he sat down for a TV interview in more than 210 days?” Mr. Concha asked.
“You read that correctly. The last time the president of the United States did a real TV interview was with NBC’s Lester Holt on Super Bowl Sunday in February,” he said.
“It is also noteworthy that Biden has not done an interview with journalists at any major print newspapers since taking office. (That’s nearly 600 days.) The president did do a June interview with the Associated Press, but that’s a wire service,” Mr. Concha later noted.
“Almost all news outlets would be up in arms if a Republican administration stiff-armed the press so blatantly. But a Republican administration isn’t in power,” he said.
THE GOVERNORS PUSH BACK
A group of 22 Republican governors led by Gov. Kim Reynolds of Iowa is not happy with President Biden’s $500 billion Student Loan Forgiveness Plan that will ultimately cost the average taxpayer more than $2,000.
The governors are offering a helpful and refreshingly clear reality check here.
“Only 16-17% of Americans have federal student loan debt, and yet, your plan will require their debts be redistributed and paid by the vast majority of taxpayers. Shifting the burden of debt from the wealthy to working Americans has a regressive impact that harms lower income families. Borrowers with the most debt, such as $50,000 or more, almost exclusively have graduate degrees, meaning hourly workers will pay off the master’s and doctorate degrees of high salaried lawyers, doctors, and professors,” the governors advised the president.
“A high-cost degree is not the key to unlocking the American Dream — hard work and personal responsibility is the key. For many borrowers, they worked hard, made sacrifices, and paid off their debt. For many others, they chose hard work and a paycheck rather than more school and a loan. Americans who did not choose to take out student loans themselves should certainly not be forced to pay for the student loans of others,” the governors said.
“At a time when inflation is sky high due to your unprecedented tax-and-spend agenda, your plan will encourage more student borrowing, incentivize higher tuition rates, and drive-up inflation even further, negatively impacting every American,” they advised.
Who are they?
The letter was signed by Ms. Reynolds — along with Govs. Kay Ivey (Alabama), Mike Dunleavy (Alaska), Doug Ducey (Arizona), Asa Hutchinson (Arkansas), Ron DeSantis (Florida), Brian Kemp (Georgia), Brad Little (Idaho), Larry Hogan (Maryland), Mike Parson (Missouri), Greg Gianforte (Montana), Pete Ricketts (Nebraska), Chris Sununu (New Hampshire), Doug Burgum (North Dakota), Mike DeWine (Ohio), Kevin Stitt (Oklahoma), Henry McMaster (South Carolina), Kristi Noem (South Dakota), Bill Lee (Tennessee), Greg Abbott (Texas), Spencer Cox (Utah) and Mark Gordon (Wyoming).
ONE FOR THE COAST GUARD
The U.S. Coast Guard Academy ranks among the nation’s top institutions of higher learning, according to a pair of major college rankings. The academy once again was named No. 1 in the Top Public Schools, Regional Colleges North, and the Best Regional College North categories in the 2022-2023 U.S. News & World Report “Best Colleges” magazine.
The academy was also ranked #12 in both the Campus Ethnic Diversity, Regional Colleges (North) category, and the overall Best in Undergraduate Engineering Programs category in the publication.
In addition, the Princeton Review also named the academy in “The Best 388 Colleges” ratings, a listing of the top 15% of colleges and universities in America.
POLL DU JOUR
• 24% of U.S. adults describe the political viewpoint as U.S. Supreme Court as “very conservative”; 22% describe the viewpoint as “conservative.”
• 27% describe the court’s viewpoint as “moderate.”
• 6% describe the court as “liberal”; 5% would derive it as “very liberal.”
• 17% are not sure what the political viewpoint of the court is.
SOURCE: An Economist YouGov poll of 1,500 U.S. adults conducted Sept. 3-6.
• Helpful information to jharper@washingtontimes.com.
