Analysis: Age an issue in the 2008 campaign?

[DeepModem Mom]

CNN: Analysis: Age an issue in the 2008 campaign?
By Alan Silverleib
CNN Political Unit

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Is Sen. John McCain too old to be president?

Listen to some Democrats, and you'll think the 71-year-old Arizona senator is a man lost in a perpetual fog. He is "confused" and has "lost his bearings" or is "out of touch." Listen to the McCain campaign, and you'll be convinced that Democrats are using those terms to exploit concerns that the presumptive Republican nominee is too old to effectively serve as president. For his part, McCain tends to answer questions about his age with quips such as, "I'm older than dirt and have more scars than Frankenstein, but I've learned a few things along the way."...

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Whether or not the Democrats are playing word games, it is abundantly clear that, for many voters, McCain's age is a real concern. Roughly one-third of respondents in most recent national polls say that McCain's age could impede his ability to effectively govern the nation....The importance of the age question may be magnified this time around because it threatens to sap McCain's support with one of his most critical constituencies: older Americans.

According to the latest CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll, voters age 65 and older currently support McCain over Obama by 8 points (51 to 43 percent). Older Americans are a group that, percentagewise, almost always turns out to vote more heavily than the electorate as a whole. McCain will need them firmly in his corner on Election Day. Unfortunately for McCain, however, older voters also tend to worry more about the age issue than other voters....

Adding to McCain's age problem is the fact that, due to his war-related injuries, he walks with a stiff gait. Fairly or unfairly, he doesn't always give the appearance of energy and vigor that voters tend to seek in a president....

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It remains to be seen whether McCain's age will prove to be an insurmountable obstacle for voters this fall. The senator's defenders can certainly point to strong historical precedents of older leaders who served effectively in the past. Winston Churchill was Britain's Prime Minister until he turned 80; Konrad Adenauer served as Chancellor of West Germany until he was 87. Critics, however, point to Reagan's second term as a possible example of the hazards of age. A number of political commentators questioned Reagan's mental fitness and stamina during his final years in office....

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/06/15/mccain.age/index.html

[FrenchieCat]

1. More media spin bullshit from the Corporate Wing of the Media.........

Tim Russert's wing.

I addressed the issue of how "age" was being twisted as something Democrats were attacking McCain with....when it is McCain himself who is bringing up age along with the media.

The media didn't seem to notice McCain using age against Barack Obama....but I guess that's "not the same".


“I admire and respect Senator Obama. For a young man with very little experience, he’s done very well. So I appreciate-with his very, very great lack of experience and knowledge of the issues, he’s been very successful..."
- John McCain
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0805/25/bb.02.html

[Zenmaster]

2. Age, in itself, should never be an issue.

People age differently than each other. Many people are perfectly fine and capable up until very old ages. Others can start losing faculties and abilities early. Age shouldn't be a negative, by itself.

With that said, Should there be some cause for concern over McCain's issues related to his age? I can't say for sure.

I do know that my parents are a few years younger than McCain and I have to explain to them how to use email, or a million other things on the computer repeatedly and they never seem to "get it". John McCain admits to not knowing how to use a computer. I imagine in this day and age there is plenty to be done on the computer for the president of the United States. If McCain is as bad, or worse, with a computer as my parents, this would seriously impede his ability to run things smoothly and on time as President.

How about McCain's "gook" comments from a few years ago. Yes, he was a POW and has, understandably, negative feelings about his captors. Personally, I don't think what he said means he's a racist. I do think it shows a lack of sensitivity and was in poor judgment. I think of it more like an older man who simply hasn't changed with the times, or isn't aware of how much the times have changed. Like an old man who still refers to black people as "colored" or Japanese as "japs". I don't think it helps our foreign relations to have the POTUS as somebody like that.

McCain shouldn't be discriminated against because of his age. His age very well might play a big role in some things that there are to be concerned about with him, though.