Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) slammed former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley's call this week for mental competency tests for politicians older than 75 as "absurd."
Driving the news: "We are fighting racism, we're fighting sexism, we're fighting homophobia, I think we should also be fighting ageism," Sanders told CBS News' "Face the Nation."
- "Trust people, look at people and say 'this person is competent, this person is not competent,'" Sanders, who is 81, said.
- "There are a lot of 40-year-olds out there who ain't particularly competent," he added.
The big picture: Haley, 51, floated the idea of mental competency tests during her official 2024 presidential campaign announcement on Feb. 15.
- "America is not past our prime. It's just that our politicians are past theirs," Haley, the former governor of South Carolina, said during a campaign event in South Carolina.
What to watch: Both Democrats and Republicans are getting louder about age as a reason to avert a match-up between Biden, 80, and former President Trump, 76, Axios' Justin Green reports.
Go deeper... Trump pokes Haley's 2024 bid: "I told Nikki to follow her heart"
