April 27, 2008
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04/26/08 - Saturday Forum: A
Georgia Landscaper Has Lost “Half His Customers” To
Illegal Alien Workers; etc.
A NM Reader Notes That Joe Guzzardi Predicted Senator Domenici’s Slide Long Before Anyone In The MSM; Joe Replies
From: Henry Houston (e-mail
him)
Re:
Domenici Disgraces Italian-Americans With WISH Bill
Your readers may have missed this bit of insight.
Writing in his February 2006 column about
Pete Domenici's refusal
to enforce U.S. immigration laws and his complicity in
handing New Mexico over
to illegal aliens, Guzzardi speculated that the senator
might be “senile”
Turns out Guzzardi was spot on—and about eighteen
months before anyone else.
In the early fall of 2007, the
now defunct Albuquerque
Tribune and the
Weekly Alibi, an alternative newspaper, reported
that Domenici has been
suffering for “some time” from a
degenerative brain disease which makes it impossible
for him to fulfill his responsibilities as our
Republican Senator. The stories
went on to say that Dominici would soon be stepping
down.
And, sure enough, a few weeks later, Domenici
announced his retirement. [GOP
Sen. Domenici Retires After 6 Terms,
Associated Press, October 4, 2007]
Reading between the lines, Domenici’s has been going
senile for several years. But finally his condition
reached such an advanced state that neither he nor his
staff could hide it any longer, so he had to resign.
Now we are left to wonder if Guzzardi is also right
about other elderly Senators whom he speculated might
also have diminished capacity.
Joe Guzzardi replies:
Domenici’s condition is sad
for his family and friends. But, at the risk of seeming
insensitive, his slow mental deterioration makes my
point about how unwise it is to have so many U.S.
Senators who are in the twilight of their lives.
In
a column I wrote only days after Domenici announced
his retirement, I listed many other elderly Senators,
Teddy Kennedy among them, whose curious behavior
(immigration related and otherwise) certainly justifies
questions about their acuity.
Just apply common
sense when evaluating their job performance. Of the
current 100 Senators,
63 are 60 or older; 26 are older than 70. Many have
been
at their jobs for 25+ years. Domenici had served
since 1973. No one at that age, regardless of his
profession, can have the same enthusiasm or physical
stamina that he had when he began his career.
Many—if not most—aging
Senators will have afflictions—mental
and physical—consistent with growing old.
Two weeks ago, for
example, Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter, 78, was
diagnosed with a recurrence of Hodgkin's disease, a
cancer of the lymph system. Specter underwent treatment
for the same type of cancer in 2005
We’re unlikely to see
term limits in the Senate—why would they want to
displace themselves from their cushy and prestigious
jobs?
But you, the voters,
could impose those limits by refusing to vote for any
candidate over 60.