71 Year Old Senator Mocks Age Of 2016 Democratic Field

Mitch McConnell apparently thinks the prospective 2016 Democratic field is too old:

The Democratic Party’s 2016 presidential prospects look like a “rerun of the Golden Girls,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell jabbed on Friday.

“Finally, don’t tell me that Democrats are the party of the future when their presidential ticket for 2016 is shaping up to look like a rerun of the ‘Golden Girls,'” McConnell said in his morning address to CPAC, drawing laughter and applause.

“We’ve got Rand Paul, we’ve got Marco Rubio, we’ve got Paul Ryan and a slew of smart, young and energetic governors,” McConnell continued, generating more cheers. “And the other guys? They’ve got Hillary and Joe Biden. So don’t tell me, folks. Don’t tell me.”

Back in the 80’s, Republicans were attacking Democrats who said similar things about Ronald Reagan.

FILED UNDER: 2016 Election, Congress, US Politics, , , , , , , ,
Doug Mataconis
About Doug Mataconis
Doug Mataconis held a B.A. in Political Science from Rutgers University and J.D. from George Mason University School of Law. He joined the staff of OTB in May 2010 and contributed a staggering 16,483 posts before his retirement in January 2020. He passed far too young in July 2021.

Comments

  1. Barry says:

    Doug: “Back in the 80′s, Republicans were attacking Democrats who said similar things about Ronald Reagan.”

    But that was different!
    Attacking St. Ronnie was obviously only done by islamofeminazicommunists!

  2. mantis says:

    Nothing says young and hip like a Golden Girls reference!

  3. nitpicker says:

    What’s funny is the Dems have older candidates who appeal to younger voters and the Republicans have younger candidates who appeal to older (and, um paler) voters. Let’s play this out and see who wins that fight. My money’s on victory by attrition.

  4. deathcar2000 says:

    Everyone loves a clown. . .

    Dance Mitch you clown, dance your heart out.

  5. Tsar Nicholas says:

    You’re really not so loopy and so consumed by Republican Derangement Syndrome that you can’t grasp the obvious fact that McConnell neither was being serious nor literal, are you? Lighten up, Francis. It’s a CPAC convention. The audiences at those shindigs are very young and they’re all fired up and shit. You have to throw them a few bones.

    If I’m at an attorney symposium and I warm up the crowd by telling a few off-color attorney jokes obviously I’m not taking myself seriously. You grasp that, don’t you? Geez.

    In any event, looking ahead to ’16, in addition to the senile duo mentioned by the young and spry McConnell, the Dems might have the astonishing combo of Deval Patrick and Cory Booker. So then it would be ebony and ebony and ivory and ivory. Cuomo might also run too. Have you heard the one about the Dago, the Mick and the Cracker who all walk into a bar naked? Oh, right, this is the wrong crowd for that kind of joke. Sheesh.

  6. JWH says:

    Would Joe Biden be Rue McClanahan or Betty White?

  7. “We’ve got Rand Paul, we’ve got Marco Rubio, we’ve got Paul Ryan and a slew of smart, young and energetic governors,” McConnell continued, generating more cheers

    Then you have nothing, Senator.

    Rand Paul is good for a presidential campaign every 4 years or so….for the next 40 years, but that’s about it. His views are well outside the mainstream in his own party. (Maybe the 3rd generation will have better luck.)

    Rubio is maybe two bottled water jokes away from being a joke himself.

    And Paul Ryan is a failed VP candidate.

    Remember the good ole days when Bobby Jindal and Chris Christie were the future of the party?

  8. legion says:

    @JWH: He’s totally a Betty – he gets to say the wacky things no one else would.

  9. legion says:

    @Tsar Nicholas: Thanks for reminding us again why there are no good conservative comedians.

  10. Rob in CT says:

    @mantis:

    Nothing says young and hip like a Golden Girls reference!

    That’s a 2nd-degree burn, right there.

  11. Tony W says:

    I suspect the problem is more around “girls” than “golden”.

  12. mantis says:

    I like how Russia’s most inept monarch is popping into every CPAC-related thread to tell us that everything Republican officials say there is just a joke and we should ignore them.

    You’re sort of right though, Nicky. The Republican Party is a joke. Too bad we can’t ignore them.

  13. Scott says:

    I’ll give you a thumbs up just for the “Stripes” reference alone!

  14. Gromitt Gunn says:

    @Tsar Nicholas:

    If I’m at an attorney symposium…

    you get arrested for trespassing?

  15. Neil Hudelson says:

    If I’m at an attorney symposium

    Why would you be at an attorney symposium? Usually attorneys are the ones who attend those.

  16. Neil Hudelson says:

    @Gromitt Gunn:

    Didn’t see you made the same connection, and in a more clever way.

  17. stonetools says:

    At three years out, we don’t know what the Democratic field will be. Where was Barack Obama in 2005? Where was Bill Clinton in 1989? Where was Jimmy Carter in 1973?
    TBH, I’d prefer that Clinton or Biden not run in 2016. Its time for a new generation to step up. Its not like there’s nobody. Mark Warner, Deval Patrick, Andrew Cuomo, Sherrod Brown, even Kirsten Gillebrand might be in the hunt.

  18. wr says:

    @Tsar Nicholas: “If I’m at an attorney symposium and I warm up the crowd by telling a few off-color attorney jokes obviously I’m not taking myself seriously. ”

    Is that before they call the cops to drag you out of the room?

    “Attorney symposium.” Honesly, Tsar, you slay me.

  19. wr says:

    @Neil Hudelson: Yeah, I saw that too… too late. I guess it’s an obvious straight line.

  20. David in KC says:

    @Gromitt Gunn: Thinking I should say something about layers of irony or something.

  21. An Interested Party says:

    Have you heard the one about the Dago, the Mick and the Cracker who all walk into a bar naked?

    Oh come now, surely you can do better than that? You seem like the type who has a few ni@@er jokes in your head…

  22. OzarkHillbilly says:

    @Tsar Nicholas:

    If I’m at an attorney symposium and I warm up the crowd by telling a few off-color attorney jokes obviously I’m not taking myself seriously.

    Why should you ever take yourself seriously? None of us do.

  23. al-Ameda says:

    Mitch had too much carbon monoxide for breakfast.

  24. Chris says:

    On the subject of age and politicians, I don’t know if its the presentation of them or what, but they often seem very youthful compared to their age.

    You have to admit Hillary seems pretty young for 65, Pelosi seems young for 73, and Obama certainly doesn’t kook bad for 51. And then the Gipper. As much as he was tiring by the end of his 2nd term, Reagan by no means looked or seemed like a man three years off eighty…