--- title: GOP: Hillary Clinton’s Health and Age Are ‘Fair Game’ description: The Republican leadership challenges Democratic Party accusations that comments regarding Hillary Clinton’s age and health are “pathetic” canonical: https://time.com/104373/gop-hillary-clintons-health-and-age-is-fair-game/ author: Michelle Arrouas article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-05-19T09:30:45.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:41:25.620Z article:section: Politics og:title: GOP: Hillary Clinton’s Health and Age Are ‘Fair Game’ og:description: The Republican leadership challenges Democratic Party accusations that comments regarding Hillary Clinton’s age and health are “pathetic” og:url: https://time.com/104373/gop-hillary-clintons-health-and-age-is-fair-game/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3059b3cc48a5ef69/698690081eebf7ac6b370f62/rtr3p72i.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3500 og:image:height: 1969 og:image:alt: Former U.S. Clinton smiles during a lengthy ovation for her at the start of an event on empowering woman and girls, at the World Bank in Washington og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: GOP: Hillary Clinton’s Health and Age Are ‘Fair Game’ twitter:description: The Republican leadership challenges Democratic Party accusations that comments regarding Hillary Clinton’s age and health are “pathetic” twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3059b3cc48a5ef69/698690081eebf7ac6b370f62/rtr3p72i.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # GOP: Hillary Clinton’s Health and Age Are ‘Fair Game’ > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=ea995262-cf3d-4334-a5ba-3393396bddce&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: 5 Campaign Themes Hillary Clinton Is Test Driving [Watch (HLS stream): 5 Campaign Themes Hillary Clinton Is Test Driving](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/1xvVf2Wa.m3u8) (1:54)  _Published 2014-01-16. Because you never know_ by [Michelle Arrouas](https://time.com/author/michelle-arrouas/) ## Michelle Arrouas May 19, 2014 9:30 AM UTC  Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton smiles during a lengthy ovation for her at the start of an event on empowering woman and girls, at the World Bank in Washington May 14, 2014. Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton smiles during a lengthy ovation for her at the start of an event on empowering woman and girls, at the World Bank in Washington May 14, 2014. Jonathan Ernst—Reuters by [Michelle Arrouas](https://time.com/author/michelle-arrouas/) ## Michelle Arrouas May 19, 2014 9:30 AM UTC Debating the age and health of Hillary Clinton [is](http://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/hillary-clintons-health-fair-game-2016-says-republican-chairman-n108496) “fair game” if she decides to run for President, a leading Republican said Sunday. “What I do know is that the issue is going to come up as it does for any person running for President,” Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus told NBC’s _Meet the Press._ “It was fair game for Ronald Reagan. It was fair game for John McCain.” Priebus was responding to an outcry over recent [comments](http://time.com/97489/karl-rove-hillary-clinton-health/) by Republican political consultant Karl Rove regarding the former Secretary of State’s well-being. But any candidate running for office should be prepared for these kinds of attacks and be thick-skinned enough to handle them, he stressed. “I don’t think there’s a graceful way to bring up age, health and fitness for a candidate who wants to be President of the United States,” Priebus said. If Clinton decides to run for President in 2016, she will be 69 years old on Election Day that November. Defeated candidate McCain was 72 on Election Day in 2008, while Reagan was 69 when he took office in 1981. ## Transcript [00:00] Is Hilary running? Her closest aides say she hasn't [00:02] decided yet and won't for some time. But if she does, [00:05] she has several campaign themes to choose from, all [00:08] of which she set up in speeches and public [00:10] appearances over the past few months, like here [00:14] where she touched on economic inequality. [00:16] >>Try to reverse this tide of [00:20] inequality that is eating away at [00:25] the social fabric. [00:26] >>A focus on wealth disparity would make for a pretty [00:29] seamless transition from the last democratic campaign. [00:32] The issue was at the center of President Obama's [00:34] 2012 effort. Clinton might also build on her work with [00:38] family and social issues. Last summer, she helped [00:41] launched Too Small To Fail, a nonprofit focusing on [00:44] early childhood education. [00:46] >>Our country's future depends on healthy kids and [00:49] loving families. [00:51] >>Though perhaps the easiest target for any 2016 [00:53] candidate including Clinton will be dysfunction and [00:56] increasingly partisan battles in Congress and [00:59] surprisingly she's got a lot to say about that. [01:02] >>We need to have a sensible adult conversation [01:06] about what is necessary to be done. [01:09] >>Of course since departing as Secretary of State it's [01:12] not uncommon for Clinton to reference her experience [01:14] as the nation's top diplomat. You can be sure any [01:17] campaign from her will make mention of that. And it [01:20] might be hard to believe for someone who's been a [01:22] prominent part of American politics for so long, but [01:25] Clinton also has the Washington outsider card to [01:27] choose from and she's pulled it on the stump before [01:30] as recently as last October. [01:32] >>Recently in Washington, unfortunately, we have [01:35] seen examples of the wrong kind of leadership, when [01:39] politicians choose scourged earth over [01:44] common ground. [01:45] >>That is campaign rhetoric and it's exactly the kind [01:48] of thing we could hear more of from Clinton if she [01:50] chooses the campaign trail. For Time, I'm Christian [01:53] Bryant. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/104373/gop-hillary-clintons-health-and-age-is-fair-game/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/104373/gop-hillary-clintons-health-and-age-is-fair-game/"},"headline":"GOP: Hillary Clinton’s Health and Age Are ‘Fair Game’","datePublished":"2014-05-19T09:30:45.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:41:25.620Z","description":"RNC Chairman Reince Priebus has challenged Democratic Party accusations that comments regarding former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s age and health are \"pathetic,\" saying any potential 2016 candidate should be prepared for such attacks","url":"https://time.com/104373/gop-hillary-clintons-health-and-age-is-fair-game/","keywords":["2016 Election","Hillary Clinton","2016 Election","politics","U.S.","Reince Priebus","Republican National Committee"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3059b3cc48a5ef69/698690081eebf7ac6b370f62/rtr3p72i.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Michelle Arrouas","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/michelle-arrouas/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3059b3cc48a5ef69/698690081eebf7ac6b370f62/rtr3p72i.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Former U.S. Clinton smiles during a lengthy ovation for her at the start of an event on empowering woman and girls, at the World Bank in Washington","caption":"Former U.S. Clinton smiles during a lengthy ovation for her at the start of an event on empowering woman and girls, at the World Bank in Washington","creditText":"Jonathan Ernst—Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/104373/gop-hillary-clintons-health-and-age-is-fair-game/","name":"GOP: Hillary Clinton’s Health and Age Are ‘Fair Game’"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"5 Campaign Themes Hillary Clinton Is Test Driving","description":"Because you never know","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/1xvVf2Wa/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-01-16T21:35:49.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/1xvVf2Wa.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/104373/gop-hillary-clintons-health-and-age-is-fair-game/","duration":"PT1M54S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/104373/gop-hillary-clintons-health-and-age-is-fair-game/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```