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Older voters balk at Nikki Haley’s competency test
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/02/21/older-voters-nikki-haley-competency-test-00083859 ^ | 02/21/2023 | LISA KASHINSKY and NATALIE ALLISON

Posted on 02/21/2023 3:24:08 PM PST by conservative98

URBANDALE, Iowa — Older Republicans say they aren’t opposed to Nikki Haley’s call for a new generation of politicians leading their party.

But when she calls for mental competency tests for politicians over the age of 75, some of them start to feel insulted.

The 51-year-old Republican presidential contender has made evaluating the mental acuity of elder statesmen a key part of her opening campaign pitch. It’s one of the only ways Haley has sought to explicitly differentiate herself from former President Donald Trump, who is 76. And it’s one of the cudgels she’s deployed against 80-year-old President Joe Biden.

It’s also a risk.

In her short time on the trail, Haley has irked some older voters, the cohort that just so happens to be a substantial and reliable voting bloc within her party.

Nikki Haley takes shots at older politicians in 2024 announcement

SharePlay Video “I do like Nikki’s platform, her plank regarding term limits. I think that’s important,” Richard Ploss, 71, of Exeter, New Hampshire, said at her town hall in Manchester. But the mental competency test? “That’s a little over the top.”

“Well, we’re old …,” his 72-year-old wife, Susan Ploss, interjected. The Republican couple, who own a chemical supply company and previously voted for Trump, hesitated to applaud the line in Haley’s speech and ducked out before the question-and-answer portion of her event.

Interviews with more than a dozen attendees at Haley’s first campaign events in recent days — all but three in their 60s, 70s and 80s — revealed a GOP primary electorate open to a younger standard-bearer but sharply divided over the insinuation that someone their age might be lacking in mental aptitude. Seven said they opposed the call for applying mental acuity tests to elderly politicians. Three thought the testing requirement should apply to people of all ages. And three thought her plan targeting older people was a good idea.

Some political veterans in the key states said they weren’t surprised by those findings.

“I just feel like the competency test was a gimmick to get attention and one that ultimately could backfire, because arguably, the largest voting bloc in the Republican primary is older voters,” New Hampshire-based Republican strategist Mike Dennehy said. “New Hampshire’s population has been aging over the last decade. There are more and more older people coming to New Hampshire to retire.”

Haley’s campaign, in a statement to POLITICO, said she is merely suggesting the type of brief screening that doctors frequently used to measure older patients’ cognitive abilities..


TOPICS: Chit/Chat
KEYWORDS: 2024; anchorbaby; competencytest; fakenews; newhampshire; nikki; nikkihaley
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To: Nifster

Her parents were not Citizens at the time of her birth.


21 posted on 02/21/2023 4:10:37 PM PST by Paladin2
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To: Paladin2

She was born here. It is why pregnant women want to give birth in the US


22 posted on 02/21/2023 4:17:54 PM PST by Nifster ( EI see puppy dogs in the clouds )
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To: conservative98

“But the mental competency test? “That’s a little over the top.”
“Well, we’re old …,” his 72-year-old wife, Susan Ploss, interjected.”

Are either of you two simpletons running for national office?


23 posted on 02/21/2023 4:24:45 PM PST by Magic Fingers (Political correctness mutates in order to remain virulent.)
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To: conservative98

In one fell swoop, Haley proves that she’s not a Constitutionalist, and therefore not really a conservative.


24 posted on 02/21/2023 4:28:04 PM PST by Ge0ffrey
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To: Paladin2

She is governor of a state that already settled that question


25 posted on 02/21/2023 4:37:42 PM PST by Nifster ( EI see puppy dogs in the clouds )
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To: Nifster

Her parents weren’t US citizens at the time that makes her an anchor baby


26 posted on 02/21/2023 4:38:09 PM PST by PhiloBedo (You gotta roll with the punches, and get with what's real.)
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To: conservative98

Just knock the age for the Presidential mental competency test down to 35.

For voting, require an IQ of 100 or above.


27 posted on 02/21/2023 4:39:25 PM PST by Chewbarkah
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To: Apparatchik

Look at all the women who voted for Cankles JUST because she was a woman. Have you ever known a man to vote for a male candidate JUST because he was a man?


28 posted on 02/21/2023 4:39:39 PM PST by who knows what evil? (Yehovah saved more animals than people on the ark...siameserescue.org)
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To: Nifster

Well the US Constitution doesn’t say native born ,it says natural born ,that means parents are US citizens at the time of birth. Her parents weren’t US citizens when she was born that makes her and anchor baby……..moron .


29 posted on 02/21/2023 4:39:50 PM PST by PhiloBedo (You gotta roll with the punches, and get with what's real.)
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To: PhiloBedo

She’s married to a U.S. citizen. She was born here

She is governor of a state that requires one to be a U.S. citizen

You’re lost in Obama land


30 posted on 02/21/2023 5:05:50 PM PST by Nifster ( EI see puppy dogs in the clouds )
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To: PhiloBedo

You’re wrong in all of it. But that’s ok keep pushing It worked so well with Obama


31 posted on 02/21/2023 5:06:47 PM PST by Nifster ( EI see puppy dogs in the clouds )
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To: PhiloBedo

Look up Lynch’s v Clarke

You are wrong


32 posted on 02/21/2023 5:14:58 PM PST by Nifster ( EI see puppy dogs in the clouds )
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To: Nifster
You are a complete maroon She was born in South Carolina.

If you don't understand the rules of FR about name calling you probably don't understand the difference between native born and natural born.

33 posted on 02/21/2023 5:18:41 PM PST by ladyjane
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To: conservative98

thank goodness we have Politico watching out for Haley.

After looking at this bumbling idiot in the White House, I’m all for competency tests.


34 posted on 02/21/2023 5:25:53 PM PST by VeniVidiVici (Vote Democrat and stay on the plantation!)
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To: Nifster
She was born here. It is why pregnant women want to give birth in the US

No. Pregnant women come here because we have insane rules about making children born here into instant citizens and eligible for our very lucrative welfare benefits.

That does make Nikki eligible to be a parasite and get welfare. It does not make her eligible to be a president.

35 posted on 02/21/2023 5:28:33 PM PST by ladyjane
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To: Nifster

I’m not saying she’s not a citizen. I don’t know the requirements for Gov of SC. I do know she is not NATURAL born as required by the us constitution. Just because Pelosi got away with perjury in her affidavits doesn’t mean the Constitutonal requirement has changed.


36 posted on 02/21/2023 5:32:26 PM PST by PhiloBedo (You gotta roll with the punches, and get with what's real.)
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To: newzjunkey

Jus soli is not enough.
A natural born citizen is one born on US soil to two US citizen parents.
Supreme Court precedent
In Minor v. Happersett (1874), all children born in the United States were divided into two categories: those whose parents were U.S. citizens, and
those whose parents were not. The Court used the term “natural born citizen” only in reference to members of the first category. The Court doubted
whether members of the second category were even citizens, let alone natural born citizens [22]:
The Constitution does not, in words, say who shall be natural-born citizens. Resort must be had elsewhere to ascertain that. At
common-law, with the nomenclature of which the framers of the Constitution were familiar, it was never doubted that all children born in
a country of parents who were its citizens became themselves, upon their birth, citizens also. These were natives, or natural-born
citizens, as distinguished from aliens or foreigners. Some authorities go further and include as citizens children born within the
jurisdiction without reference to the citizenship of their parents. As to this class there have been doubts, but never as to the first. (Minor
v. Happersett, 1874).
Since a child acquires “natural born citizen” status only at birth [07], and since the Supreme Court (in Minor v. Happersett) “distinguished” natural
born citizens from aliens or foreigners, it follows that natural born citizens are persons who, when born, are not aliens or foreigners, i.e., are neither foreign-born nor foreign citizens/subjects.


37 posted on 02/21/2023 5:44:51 PM PST by South Dakota (Patriotism is the new terrorism )
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To: cpdiii

My father will be 86 this year. His mind is very sharp. Age isn’t as much a concern to me. What I would like is mental and drug tests for government offices to do is weed out the narcissists, sociopaths, psychopaths, cokeheads, and those that need meds to simply function normally.


38 posted on 02/22/2023 6:28:16 AM PST by Dutch Boy (The only thing worse than having something taken from you is to have it returned broken. )
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To: conservative98; All

Congress, and those running for Congress, should be tested to name the Bill of Rights.


39 posted on 02/22/2023 6:31:42 AM PST by Cobra64 (Common sense isn’t common anymore.)
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To: Nifster

I bet you’re popular at cocktail parties and community fellowship gatherings. 😁


40 posted on 02/22/2023 6:35:33 AM PST by Cobra64 (Common sense isn’t common anymore.)
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