One of the biggest laughs Mike Pence got during the first primary debate in August was immediately followed (and ruined) by his most cringe moment during the debate.

"I'm running for President of the United States because we don't need a president who's too old; and we don't need a president who's too young."

This solicited jeers and boos from the crowd in attendance. I suspect the Pence Team likely thought these were Vivek Ramaswamy's vocal supporters, and so paid them no mind. Watch the clip again, because I want you to listen for applause when Pence says that.

If you didn't hear any applause for that line, it's because there was none.

I was going to write about this after the debate, but I thought to myself "Chip Saltsman," who I have a ton of respect for and is one of the most underappreciated campaign managers in the Republican Party, "is going to kick Pence in the ass for saying that. I don't need to drag this out."

Apparently I was wrong, because he's still saying it. In an interview with Jake Tapper on CNN's "State of the Union," Pence repeated the line.

"Well, I didn't hear the speech, so I'd leave it to judgments of others," Pence began. "But, look, I have said very clearly we don't need a president who's too old and we don't need a president who's too young. I'm in this race because I believe that I will bring the experience, the energy, and the commitment to a consistent conservative agenda that's going to be necessary to turn around the failed policies of the Biden administration that have weakened us at home and abroad."

Age and The Presidency

The framers of the Constitution already considered that people may be too young to run for President. That's why they said the President must be at least 35 years old. I don't really like Vivek Ramaswamy; but that's because he strikes me as a con artist, not because he's "too young." I would have absolutely no problem voting even for a 34 year old who would be 35 when he assumed office in January. In fact, I would consider that an enormous PLUS, because it seems like the longer someone is in Washington, the more likely they seem to be corrupted by the special interests and lobbyists they increasingly put before the people they serve. I wrote before that when Democrats controlled both houses of Congress and the White House, they failed to address immigration reform. That's because you've got an 80-year-old President, a 72-year-old Democrat leader in the Senate, and an 83-year-old Democrat leader in the House of Representatives. If Democrats had a President in his 30s and Congressional leaders in their 20s, they would have taken care of immigration reform, healthcare reform, and nobody in the country would know what bathroom to use. Republicans aren't much better. Donald Trump was in his 70s when he was elected President. If he got elected again, he would be as old as Biden is now. Mitch McConnell, the Republican Senate leader, is 81 years old and seemingly pushing a number that looks like a record high summer temperature Phoenix. If Republicans had a President in his or her 30s with Republican leadership in their 20s, you would have a balanced budget in a year and a surplus in less than four.

When you elect young people, you're electing go-getters who care more about getting things done than about winning re-election.

I'm no fan of Mitt Romney, but his official biographer addresses this in an article that first appeared in the Atlantic (but is behind a paywall now):

[Romney] joked to friends that the Senate was best understood as a “club for old men.” There were free meals, on-site barbers, and doctors within a hundred feet at all times. But there was an edge to the observation: The average age in the Senate was 63 years old. Several members, Romney included, were in their 70s or even 80s. And he sensed that many of his colleagues attached an enormous psychic currency to their position—that they would do almost anything to keep it. “Most of us have gone out and tried playing golf for a week, and it was like, ‘Okay, I’m gonna kill myself,’” he told me. Job preservation, in this context, became almost existential. Retirement was death. The men and women of the Senate might not need their government salary to survive, but they needed the stimulation, the sense of relevance, the power. One of his new colleagues told him that the first consideration when voting on any bill should be “Will this help me win reelection?”

Since he went there, Mike Pence is 65 years old. For a lot of people before Social Security started going bankrupt, that was retirement age. His first year as President, he'll hit retirement age. 65 might seem like a decent age when you compare him to Mitch McConnel, Nancy Pelosi, and Joe Biden; but that's because our tolerance for what's acceptable has been pushed to extremes. Bob Dole, the Republican candidate for President, was considered by many "too old" to be President at 72, with many wondering if he would survive his first term. Granted, Bob Dole lived another 25 years, but was retired after 1996. Mike Pence, if elected, would turn 70 years old on the re-election campaign trail.

So, if anything, Mike Pence is too old to be running for President.

Insulting the Young When They're Bitter About This

The other problem with the line is that Mike Pence is insulting young people by essentially saying, "You're too young to lead."

This is a problem because, when people come knocking on your door to ask you to vote for someone or call you on election day reminding you to vote, the odds are that person is under 40 and has some political dream of their own, but lacks the money, time, and name recognition needed to oust the pensioner or trust fund beneficiary in whatever seat they have their eye on. Young people, Republicans included, are bitter towards Mike Pence's generation for holding onto power as tightly as they have and doing nothing with it besides give money to people who donate to political action committees and political parties that fund their campaigns.

A lot of young people are too dumb to be President (AOC). Likewise, as President Biden reminds us every day, a lot of old people are too dumb to be President, too. Mike Pence is a good example of a politician of his generation who I honestly believe wants to get stuff done and hasn't been corrupted by the process or become addicted to power. Likewise, there are younger politicians who aren't prepared for the temptations of higher office, including Kristi Noem of South Dakota. Age should not be a determining factor in whether someone is ready to be or should be the President of the United States of America. Experience should be a factor, and Mike Pence would do well to adjust his canned rhetoric to ridicule Vivek Ramaswamy's lack of experience instead of his age. By attacking his age, all Mike Pence is doing is driving more and more young people to his campaign.

And with a ton of young people swarming to Ramaswamy's campaign, he's going to have a ton of grassroots energy propelling him through the primary. Chip Saltsman, Pence's campaign manager, should know very well how powerful that can be. He seriously needs to kick Pence in the ass.