Recently, the topic and question over Senator McCain's age was asked. I though for a moment and asked myself if it was really a factor. Then something I saw many years ago, on the news during the latter days of President Reagan's reign came into my mind.
To this day I can still see, Nancy Reagan whispering "We're doing everything we can." into the ear of Ronald Reagan, during a press conference. Which, resulted in President Reagan parroting "We're doing everything we can." as the answer to a reporter's question during a press conference?
Now we have Sen. Joseph Lieberman whispering into Senator John McCain's ear, during a press conference in order to help the Republican Presidential nominee during a speech in which the would be President repeatedly confused Sunni and Shia and Iran and Al Qaeeda.
Was this a sign of age or perhaps just a sign of his lack of knowledge with the facts surrounding the Iraq war?
What are your thoughts on this?
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Comments: 27
But we can't just say, "So and so has reached age NN so we should not vote for them." The mental and physical state at age NN varies enormously from person to person. It would be terrible to reject someone for high office who would do a good job just because, on average, people of that age don't think so well any more.
The presidency ages incumbents visibly. It seems to me that both the candidates and the electorate need to consider age in the equation when making a vote. Continuity has a role in governance.
There is something to be said for those who have a wealth of life experiences, which most young people do not have
These two young ones [ Obama & hillary ] don't know and haven't seen how bad it can get. They have no idea how to handle it.
I know how to survive.
Since Alzheimer's is not something that hits you one day to the next, I believe President Reagan was all ready exhibiting the sythoms, but his wife and his staff covered it up. I think towards the latter part of his Presidency, it was not him running the White House, but Nancy and her underlings.
With this in mind, I think age and mental acuity as mention should be a factor.
Where is the cutoff, I believe is the underlying question. Can a 75 year old or an 80 year old sustain the rigors of not sleeping several nights during a national crisis. How well does an 80 year old handle crisscrossing mutliple time zones in 4 days. Of course it depens on the 75 year old or the 80 year old.
Since this question is asked in reference to McCain, the guy will be 78. You can hardly accomplish anything in one term. He would need two. Are we going to elect him just for one term. How much change, correction of Bush policies can he deliver in 4 years?
Answer: Not much.
Is America going to reelect an 82 year old.
Answer: I don't know. I doubt it. It will be really, really, hard.
McCain doesn't have the temperament for the job. Besides - do we really want the Republican platform this time around. Most people have wised up. The Republicans need to change.
Salud.
I couldn't agree more, and it does seem to be the mass consensus. Everyone is different and will age differently. I think at least that no matter the low or high end of the age limits there should be a stringent physical, neurological, and mental acuity exam that must be passed close to perfectly to be considered. Now assuming we could get honest results though.......................
In a perfect world...