Bill Maher: Buttigieg a ‘little too young’ to be president

Comedian and commentator Bill Maher on Tuesday said South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D) “is a little too young” to be president while pushing back against criticism of former Vice President Joe Biden. 

“This is the only country that I can think of in history who doesn’t seem to get something very fundamental, which is that in general people older are wiser,” Maher, who hosts HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher,” said on CNN’s “Cuomo Prime Time.” “That’s the tradeoff of life. Of course there are exceptions. There are dumb old people and smart young people. But in general, yes, I’m OK with someone who has learned and grown and seen a lot and has experienced it and has seen patterns.”

“I like Mayor Pete, but I do think 37 is a little too young,” Maher said. “A little bit.”

{mosads}The comments from Maher came as he and CNN host Chris Cuomo talked about Biden’s record as a public servant and the criticism he’s received for some of the past positions he’s taken. Maher acknowledged that Biden was “rotten” to Anita Hill while leading congressional hearings on her sexual harassment accusation against then-Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas. 

“But what, is he going to keep apologizing for it until the end of time?” Maher said, later adding that the Democratic Party should maybe consider a candidate who has “learned and moved on.”

Buttigieg, the youngest of the 24 Democrats seeking the party’s 2020 presidential nomination, has consistently dismissed questions about his age, pointing out that he has more executive government experience than the current president and vice president. The former Rhodes scholar has also highlighted his military experience, saying in a March CNN Town Hall that he has “more military experience than anybody to walk into that office on day one since George H.W. Bush.”