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| Home Front: Culture Wars |
| Two Parties, Two Attitudes Toward the Elderly |
| 2009-11-05 |
| Stephanie Gutmann, "The Corner" @ National Review. Two offhand remarks by the winning and losing candidates in last night’s New Jersey election reflect increasingly polarized attitudes toward the elderly and “end of life” issues. In making his concession speech, Democratic governor Jon Corzine was consoling his followers when he said, “My mother is probably the only one that’s happy tonight. She’s a Republican. She’s 93 years old so, we’re not going to worry too much about that.” The line got a big laugh. When victorious Republican Chris Christie made his victory speech, he told the story of an elderly constituent he met on the campaign trail. “He said to me, ‘I’m 90 years old, and I’m going to vote for you. But you better do what you promise. Because if you don’t, I’m going to vote against you in another four years.’” The line also got a big laugh, but it sounded more joyous, less sneering, and less subtly derisive. Just a straw in the wind, but the Corzine remark mirrors a callousness, a coarse attitude about the “dispensability” of the aged, that one sees in the debate over health-care reform. |
| Posted by:Mike |
| #3 Democrat "healthcare" is death to the old. Really, it is. People should respect the elderly, not sneer at them. |
| Posted by: newc 2009-11-05 08:34 |
| #2 In an Obamaview, reaching the age of 80 or 90 PROVES the system is broken. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2009-11-05 08:27 |
| #1 Isn't it amazing with such a 'broken' health care system how many people we have older than 80 or 90. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2009-11-05 08:22 |