Dr. Kelli Ward, who is running a primary campaign against Senator John McCain in Arizona just launched one of the ugliest, ageist attacks against any candidate I've ever seen.
In an interview Ward, an osteopath, told Chuck Todd that McCain "has gotten weak and old."
"I do want to wish him a happy birthday," she continued. "He's going to be 80 on Monday. I want to give him the best birthday present ever, the gift of retirement."
When Chuck Todd pressed her to make sure she really meant to say what she just said, she fell back on her medical training.
"I see the logical changes that happen with normal aging in patients again and again over the last 20, 25 years," Ward said. "I do know what happens to the body and the mind."
Ageism is an ugly thing, perhaps uglier when it comes from someone who is supposed to heal people, not pigeonhole them. Kelli Ward is a hard-right Trumper who apparently has no compunction offering medical diagnoses via television to political opponents she hopes to defeat.
Perhaps this is her last, desperate gasp. According to TPM, John McCain has opened up a wide lead on Ward. So perhaps she should stick with this strategy for the duration, and let him win by a little more.
I'm no John McCain fan, but the idea of another whacko doctor in the Senate doing whacko hard-right Republican things while batting her eyes and diagnosing people from afar is just a little too much for me. Let's hope all those retirees in Arizona send Ward packing.
The Arizona primary is on Tuesday.
