--- 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: 2026-08-04T08:05:39.499Z 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=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 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=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # GOP: Hillary Clinton’s Health and Age Are ‘Fair Game’ ## 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. ```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":"2026-08-04T08:05:39.499Z","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 topic","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":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/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"}}] ```