On the op-ed page of The New York Times, Mark Schmitt of the New America think tank laments the fact that the Democratic presidential field skews elderly:
As Republicans never tire of pointing out, the Democratic candidates for president are old....
Where are the national Democratic politicians in their 40s and 50s? At 52, Martin O’Malley, the former Maryland governor, is this year’s lone exception. Does it say something about the party, or about the generation, that other than President Obama (born at the tail end of the baby boom), national candidates from this age group are rare?
What explains this? Wingnut blogger (and RedState front-page diarist) Moe Lane puts on his thinking cap and comes up with a theory:
Do you know what word is missing from this half-screed, half-lament by the New York Times? ...
“Abortion.” And I don’t even think that it’s intentional, either. In fact, I suspect that if you walked up to the author and said Hey, do you think that maybe the relative lack of forty-something Democratic politicians above a certain level might be due to the fact that Democratic families have had access to abortion for the last, oh, forty years or so?that said author would look at you with a legitimately baffled expression on his face. The idea would be... bizarre... to him.
... Are you going to tell me that Roe v. Wade didn’t have an effect? None at all?
On the presidential field? Yes, I am going to tell you that.
Let's look at the youngest people in the Republican presidential field: Ted Cruz (born 1970), Bobby Jindal (born 1971), Marco Rubio (born 1971).
Do you notice something about all of these guys?
They were all born before the Supreme Court decided Roe v. Wade.That was in 1973, Moe.
Or is your argument that, after Roe, abortion providers culled the field of 2016 Democratic presidential aspirants by going back in time?
I'm also puzzled because at this very moment right-wingers are furious at college students all over the country who are leading protests against racism. They're so furious, in fact, that Glenn "Instapundit" Reynolds argued in USA Today this week that some young people seem too immature to vote, and therefore all young people should be deprived of the franchise until the age of 25. Um, if those on the left are aborting so many potential leaders, where the hell did the leaders of this movement come from? And these leaders were born in what the right regularly derides as the sex-without-consequences, pro-choice Clinton years. How the hell could that have happened with all that abortion going around?
Also: The highest-polling Republican candidates for president are a 64-year-old retired neurosurgeon and a 69-year-old real estate mogul? Just sayin'.
(Crossposted from No More Mister Nice Blog)
