Last week Sen. John McCain repeatedly and falsely claimed that Iran was training al Qaeda in Iraq. Watch FOX News’ Brit Hume defend McCain’s blip as merely a “senior moment.”
Ouch. If even McCain’s most ardent boosters acknowledge his age is an issue, that doesn’t bode well for McCain or the nation. A President McCain would turn 76 before the end of his first term, and 80 before the end of his second, making him the oldest man ever to be elected president of the United States, and potentially the oldest man ever to serve. I emphasize “potentially” because nearly three-quarters of our previous 43 presidents failed to see their 80th birthday.
And this certainly wasn’t McCain’s only “blip” on the campaign trail, where he has at times appeared angry, unstable, confused, out-of-touch, and well… just plain old. None of this is necessarily a sign of encroaching dementia or Alzheimers per se, but most of us who have watched our parents, grandparents and great-grandparents grow old understand that mental changes, if not actual decline are a familiar part of aging, and that such “McCain Moments” are not all that uncommon. My own mother is about McCain’s age, and while I love her dearly, I wouldn’t elect her president, and I sure as hell wouldn’t want her finger on the button. (My 11-year-old daughter isn’t too keen even about having her grandparents behind the wheel of a car.)
Anybody who remembers the Reagan administration must admit that there was a noticeable mental decline over his eight years in office… and Reagan was three years younger than McCain will be on election day. I’m just sayin’.
Since the Democrats are likely to maintain majorities in the House, and Senate, an ineffective Republican President sounds like quite a good thing to me.
Y’all complain about having an activist President and a compliant congress with the Bush Administration, but then want to turn right around and institute the same thing once again.
I’m not so sure McCain made “repeatedly” false claims as the first anyone heard of this oops was the day it happened, and from what I have read and seen on the news, it happened once. Yes McCain is getting too old to be president, but some would argue Obama is too young, yet age doesn’t stop me (and a lot of others) from Obama. I think if race and gender are left out of this then age should be too.
My father is in his 70’s, and we won’t let him have the remote control for the TV set.
Senator McCain, running for president, is in Iraq. Of course, he remembers Iraq when it was known as Mesopotamia
John McCain looks like a guy whose head you can barely see over the steering wheel. … John McCain looks like the guy who thinks the nurses are stealing his stuff. ‘Dad, why would they take your socks? It doesn’t make sense.’
The New York Times printed a story that said … in John McCain’s last campaign in 2000, he was apparently acting so sprung on a lobbyist lady that his staff had to cock block the senior citizen from Arizona from sweeping this chick right off her feet and onto his motorized shopping cart. … John McCain’s pick-up line is, ‘Did you know that 150 is the new 130?
Funfunfunfun…all the way to November.
@ 1
Y’all complain about having an activist President and a compliant congress with the Bush
Find me any Democrat who has advocated anything resembling the Republican concept of a “unitary executive,” and you might have a point.
Hannah @2,
No. No, no, no, no, no!
Race and gender have absolutely nothing to do with one’s mental capacity, whereas age most definitely does. Our bodies and our brains decline with age. This is inevitable, not matter how well we take care of ourselves.
McCain’s age is definitely a legitimate issue, and one which voters should consider very carefully.
@6 – Goldy, agreed age is an issue, as is racism and sexism, racism and sexism cause decisions based on that.
Since “senior moments” are responsible for several truly terrible automobile “accidents” in recent memory, I for one am not willing to give McCain (yet another senior who has shown signs of chronic forgetfulness, easy irritability and early onset dementia) the proverbial “keys to the car” of the United States military–especially considering that the usual suspects (unrepentant neocons and uber-interventionists) would be riding shotgun.
Hannah: McCain has said the “Iran training al qaeda” (link below)at LEAST 3 times during the trip to the middle east – that qualifies as repeatedly messing up a major foreign policy dictum. He has to be correct by Joe Lieberman.
Either he is having a very long (over three days long) “senior” moment or he truly believes what he is saying – either scenario is truly scary. Either he does not understand the differences between shia and sunni or he is unclear about what Iran is…or he is truly “losing” it.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23697639/
@5 You’re kidding, right?
Have you actually read any threads here on HA? There are all kinds of posts extolling the paradise that arises instantly, when Obama/Hilary + Democratic legislature are in place. If you’re going to claim that a Dem President won’t have the latitude to do whatever they want, and the will to use it, then you’re being disengenous.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03.....3rich.html
It is NOT McCain’s age that is the problem – it is his performance. Yelling and calling a student stupid during a public debate, looking asleep and answering the wrong qestions during a debate, losing his temper – and then most other times being funny and lucid. We would not tolerate that in a democrat with their fingers on the button.
Add to this the huge foriegn policy gaffe above – and there starts to be a record of poor performance.
Of course there are also all the flip flops:
Against torture – but voted against the anti-torture bill (that included outlawing waterboarding).
Against religious fundamentalism and denouncing Jerry Falwell – just to cozy up to him this year for the republican nomination.
For election reform – he co-sponsored the bill. but he is now cyncically using the public elections rules and has gone over the limit on his own legislation.
Against lobbyists – but his campaign is basically run by lobbyists – inlcuding the head lobbyist for airbus who recently helped win the defense contract for airbus.
@ 10
You’re kidding, right?
Translation: you can’t find anything a Democrat advocates that even remotely resembles the concept of a unitary executive. But, thank you for playing.
There are all kinds of posts extolling the paradise that arises instantly, when Obama/Hilary + Democratic legislature are in place.
Now you are the one drinking the Kool-Aid; the Libertarian fallacy of the excluded middle. Relative to what Bush-Co have done over the past 7 years, anything would be a paradise, but there isn’t anyone here who is so deluded to as to believe that a Democratically controlled Congress with a Democratic president won’t be without difficulties.
Hannah @7,
So… you’re implying that Obama’s race will influence his judgment as president?
Issues of race and gender may speak to electability, but they do not speak to the performance of the president in office. Age does, and thus it is an entirely different issue in this race, and should be treated as such.
Objectively, one can be too old to effectively serve as president. But one can’t be too black.
Goldy @ 14
I’m not going to wade much into this discussion (better things to do today) other than to say that Hannah has a point.
The fact remains that Obama and Hillary are QUITE self-aware of their gender and/or race. They have made comments saying that it is “a good thing” and some sort of a landmark achievement for someone of said gender / race to be elected. They have talked about how their particular gender / race has been mistreated and/or underrepresented in the past. It is only human nature, then, to feel that one must compensate or counterbalance for past slights.
Is it reasonable to believe that Obama might have even the most subtle of biases — or even a subconscious one — toward an African-American person for a given job? Absolutely. Could Hillary favor a woman for a job? Absolutely. Have the white men who’ve been President had a bias? Undoubtedly.
Things have changed (for the better) to an extent. Colin Powell, Condi Rice… Those are solid steps forward.
I don’t think you’ll hear Obama or Hillary suddenly (and honestly) exclaim, “What the… I’m BLACK / FEMALE??!! When did that happen??!!” They are who they are and their lives WILL impact their decisions.
As for McCain’s age, I would bet that McCain has achieved far more — and is likely far more physically and mentally active — than any of the doddering oldsters to whom you Lefties are related.
Not everyone that gets older ends up like Roger Rabbit, pounding bottles of Aricept in a desperate attempt to be relevant and/or interesting.
Me @ 15
Clarification… “Those are solid steps forward…” BUT WE ARE NOT A COLOR-BLIND or GENDER-BLIND SOCIETY. If nothing else, we are constantly prompted to consider ourselves every time someone else describes themselves with race, gender, sexual orientation, etc. If someone even calls themselves a “redhead,” I am reminded that I am not so.
The bright side of this is that with aging come memory failure, and McCain might forget he’s a Republican and sign everything passed by the Democratic congress.
@1 “institute the same thing once again”
Yes, we need a Democratic congress AND a Democratic president because the American people’s needs have already been neglected far too long. Fifteen years of Republican obstructionism is too much.
@2 A presidential candidate’s speaking schedule is such that even if he made this false assertion on only 1 day, he made it at least half a dozen times.
In any case, it isn’t a 1-day or even a this-year thing; McCain signed on whole-hog for the “we gotta stop al Qaeda in Iraq before they’re take the Brooklyn Bridge” bullshit from the very beginning.
they take
@7 Racism and sexism most definitely are issues if someone is a racist and/or a sexist. N.B., most racists and sexists are in the GOP; and those few that we may have in the Democratic Party are dealt with internally.
@9 “Either he is having a very long (over three days long) ‘senior’ moment or he truly believes what he is saying – either scenario is truly scary.”
Another plausible scenario is that he knows better but is lying to get votes from the same wingnut crowd that believed we had to fight in Vietnam to keep the Viet Cong off the Golden Gate Bridge.
Goldy! It was awesome seeing this piece on ThinkProgress. Well done!
@13 Very clever DJ. Frame the argument and you can’t lose. Rhetorical devices are just that, and you know it. “Unitary Executive” indeed. A rose by any other name, and all that, my friend. Call it what you want. If you think you won’t see it in action with a Democratic President/Congress, then I guess we have nothing further to debate, as time will most assuredly provide the answer.
@10 is merely another version of the Wingnut Big Lie that claims, “Whatever Republicans did, Democrats did it too.”
@18 So you’re now stating that Clinton was merely a Republican stooge? How else are you coming up with your 15 years of Republican…. claim?
@26 Judge? Really? With that obvious lack of reading comprehension? Were you brought in under some “special” program, or something?
10, 13, etc. – What Americans overwhelmingly want — or at least those who haven’t been distracted by phony issues like gay marriage — is practical solutions to their daily problems. Such as:
Falling real wages
Out-of-control health care system
Underregulated business predators of all stripes
Etc., etc., etc.
What this country does NOT need more of is rightwing warmongering, fearmongering, and hatemongering; more corporate, Wall Street, and banking scandals; more “free trade” that robs American workers of their livelihoods and reduces incomes of the still-employed to Third World wages; and more libertarian economic and social philosophy (translation: anything goes).
Ordinary Americans need government on THEIR side for a change, and we Democrats are going to fix that. Reagan was right about one thing: Government WAS the problem after he and the Republican Party got through with it.
@25 No “rhetorical tricks” involved, pal. You fascist motherfuckers have trampled on the Constitution, tortured and killed innocent people, and reamed the American people. A reckoning is coming.
@27 Congratulations. You just broke Evel Knievel’s record for leaping across yawning chasms. But like him, you didn’t make it to the other side, and crashed and burned instead.
@27 Is this the latest permutation of the wingnut chant, “It’s Clinton’s fault”?
Got news for ya, good buddy: You wingnuts have been pretty much running this country for the last 14 years, so everything is YOUR fault.
@28 Kiss my cute cottontail! For a good time, call 1-900-LICK-ROG. All proceeds go to the Help Roger Rabbit Live Like A Republican Foundation.
The trolls, one of them especially, are exceptionally lame today. They must be drunk on vinegar fumes from dyeing Easter Eggs. Which reminds me, I gotta work today …
http://www.embellishments.us/i.....basket.jpg
@30 Call me a Fascist again, and I’ll have you shot!
Sorry, just a little RR joke.
@27 No, it’s the latest don’t make claims that include Clintons administration, if you don’t want him mentioned.
Bunny Butt-Boy* @ 35 “…I gotta work today…”
You’ve never done it before, why start now?
* This is apparently now a politically correct term, since one your Lefty standard-bearers, Sean Penn, felt it was an appropriate description to use (even while on the set of his Harvey Milk film).
@14 Goldy
Age vs. Race and Gender
What does this mean “One can be too old to serve as POTUS”
Sounds agist to me.
Agism is certainly a real issue in our society ,,, ask any 50ish executive who is trying to find a job!
I also think it is naive to claim that other issues are irrelevant . race, religion, gender, ethn icity ,, all may be relevant. if only because they effect how poeple grow up in our scciety.
For example, you and both know Lubavitvher Chassids. I wold certainly want to know hoe the individual used her chassidism if she were running for prexy. Obama has obviously been shaped and I would say benefited from his race. OTOH, GW Bush has also been shaped by his ethnicity to quite a different end point. On man grew up in privilege, the other had to contend with race. Both were effected .. for better or worse.
I would argue that the same thing is true of gender. Hillary came of age with the first wave of succesful women. In that era success was equated to macho behavior .. dress like a man, drink beer like a man, were paradgmatic for the Hillary generation. I think she benefits from this … she is tough, but she also lacks the self assurance that I see in many younger successful women. I also find some her speechifying about gender off putting.
Bottom linbe here .. I think any sort of diversity should be considered as a plus or a minus. . What IS important is deciding whether thw ay the individual deals with his or her differences is good or bad.
The only thing that makes age clearly different is the health risk. In the case of McCain’s age, we need to worry abuoit unexpected death. Anything lese .. whether Obama is too young, McCain too old, or Hillary too feminist is ultiumately subjective AND given to bigotry.
RR @ 34 “All proceeds go to the Help Roger Rabbit Live Like A Republican Foundation”
This would mean you’d actually have to get a take a bath and get a job.
Maybe McCain got confused – having a touch of Ronnie Raygun forgetfullness allready. Must explain why he’s FORGOTTEN to release his medical and military records.
@ 25
Very clever DJ. Frame the argument and you can’t lose.
I’ve asked you for evidence regarding a legitimate and substantive difference between Democrats and Republicans. If that means I can’t lose the argument, then you only have yourself to blame.
Rhetorical devices are just that, and you know it. “Unitary Executive” indeed. A rose by any other name, and all that, my friend. Call it what you want.
Frankly, I don’t care if you call it macaroni, I’m asking you to show me any Democrat who has advocated anything resembling the concept. Or, are you going to pretend that the Bush Administration hasn’t taken Executive authority well beyond any previous boundaries with the possible exception of the Nixon Administration?
If you think you won’t see it in action with a Democratic President/Congress, then I guess we have nothing further to debate, as time will most assuredly provide the answer.
If you want me to buy into your Libertarian clichés without a scintilla of substantive evidence from you, then you’re right. There’s nothing further for us to debate, because you have not brought anything to the table worth debating.
@ 27
So you’re now stating that Clinton was merely a Republican stooge? How else are you coming up with your 15 years of Republican…. claim?
Talk about rhetorical devices. I notice you conveniently left off RR’s use of “obstructionism” in your quote. Not only are you intellectually lazy, you’re intellectually dishonest.
Or have you simply forgotten that 6 of Clinton’s years were marked by a Republican-controlled Congress who had taken out a contract on America?
@27 Intellectually lazy? You should talk. You don’t get to have it both ways. Either Clinton had a successful Administration, in which the Republican legislature was in integral part, or they were obstructionist and Clinton was a failure.
@ 44
Intellectually lazy? You should talk.
I can see you’re having difficulty keeping up. When I said you were being intellectually lazy, I was referring to your apparent expectation that I accept your Libertarian clichés without a shred of supporting evidence from you. Regarding your deliberate misquoting of the Rabbit, I accused you of intellectual dishonesty, and with good reason I might add.
Either Clinton had a successful Administration, in which the Republican legislature was in integral part, or they were obstructionist and Clinton was a failure.
Gosh. It’s not possible for Clinton to have had a successful Administration despite Republican obstructionism?
You are bright enough that there really is no excuse for behaving like such an idiotic puke.
@44: Don Joe takes it, 2 falls out of 3. Most lefty dems are very critical of the Clinton administration for one reason or another, and we want an activist president and Congress and….I might add…a slew of responsible judicial appointments.
Let’s review the bidding. At this point we have:
1. An aging crony capitalist intent on continuing a foreign adventure that just ain’t ever gonna work out.
2. A moonbeam, neo-socialist who happens to be a nice guy.
3. The female and Democratic version of Richard Nixon.
Hmmmmm….not much choice out there.
@ 46
we want an activist president and Congress
I know how the word “activist” applies, in general, to judges. I have no idea how that applies to Congress or the President. Don’t we, in general, expect our government to, well, govern?
@48: Yes. For a change. Point taken. Please strike “activist” from my comment, and insert “socialist” just to get the wingnut feathers flying. I’d use “communist”, but Marx didn’t subscribe to the idea of government. In this he is remarkably similar to the nutcase libertarians who frequent this board.
@47: Please define “neo-socialism” and cite evidence that Obama is such a political creature.
Otherwise, you display only your ignorance and mendacity.
Congrats Johnboy – 4000 US dead in Iraq. You said 100 years there so, at about 5000 dead after 5 years, we can expect that after 100 it will be at least 100,000!
None of the chickenhawk republicans on this forum will be among the dead. They’re all hiding behind their computers.
Congrats Johnboy – 4000 US dead in Iraq. You said 100 years there so, at about 5000 dead after 5 years, we can expect that after 100 it will be at least 100,000!
None of the chickenhawk republicans on this forum will be among the dead. They’re all hiding behind their computers.
They sure the hell aren’t democrats either. The only democrat soldiers are the fake ones. hehehehe
Y’all late last week ByeByeGOP threw down the gauntlet and challenged my manhood.
Well y’all, I accepted and if y’all noticed ByeByeGOP has ignored me left, center and right. This unique situation will come to a head on Tuesday.
Either ByeByeGOP will arrive or he’ll be the punk he’s here on HorsesASSholes.
So either as ByeByeGOP, RightEqualStupid or Left Turn – he’s still an ASShole, a HorsesASShole.
BTW BBG is this a standard meeting or a ghetto meeting? Please say ghetto meeting. Please please please!
See y’all
Hey ByeBYEGOP – Jesse the Fake Soldier MacBeth told us he’s your second cousin.
Figgers.
John McCain looks like the guy who turns to you in the checkout line, and says “I remember when Cokes were only 5 cents, and 2 cents was for the bottle.”
It was reported that Barack Obama’s Secret Service name is ‘Renegade,’ while Hillary Clinton’s is ‘Evergreen.’ That’s true. Meanwhile, John McCain’s Secret Service name is ‘Enlarged Prostate.’
What is the difference between a catfish and John McCain?
One is a scum sucking bottom dweller. The other is a fish.
Why do they bury Republicans 12 feet under? Because deep down, they’re really good people.
Q: What is a criminal Republican?
A: Redundant.
What do you call a Republican with an IQ of 60?
“Mr. President”.
Early one morning during the Presidential Campaign, John McCain heard a knock on his front door. He opened the door to find a high-school-age girl wearing a “Vote for McCain” t-shirt.
“I saw you on TV last night, debating with the other candidates,” she said.
McCain nodded. “The other candidates say I’m too old,” he said. “They say I’m losing my memory and that I won’t be able to remember the names of foreign leaders if I’m elected. But I’m going to prove them wrong.”
“Good,” said the girl.
“Now tell me, young lady,” said McCain, “what is your name?”
The girl looked confused. “It’s ME, Grandpa.”
This week, at a McCain rally, conservative Bill Cunningham used Barack Obama’s middle name, calling him “Barack Hussein Obama.” McCain criticized Cunningham and publicly apologized for the use of Obama’s middle name. To conservatives, it is a mystery why Cunningham’s remark warranted an apology. But then John Hitler McCain is a mysterious man.
Politically incorrect says:
Let’s review the bidding. At this point we have:
1. An aging crony capitalist intent on continuing a foreign adventure that just ain’t ever gonna work out.
2. A moonbeam, neo-socialist who happens to be a nice guy.
3. The female and Democratic version of Richard Nixon.
Not so sure.
Try this:
1. An aging war hero with a conservative record who has led several fights for political reform. Might be the clear choice of he was a democrat and 10 years younger.
2. A young politician with brilliant writng skills and record as a community organizer but no record of national leadership. He had led an amazing campaign but we still do not know his staying power as a leader.
3. A ruthless older politician with liberal record and strong record of backroom politics. She has led a amlevolent and poorly led campaign that raises worries about her ability to actually run a complex operation.
As you know I favor Obama, but none of these three looks as bad as the:
actor Reagan
idealist McGovern
crippled playboy Roosevelt, Kennedy
haberdasher, political machine Truman
old fart of a geeneral Ike
Bush II
Hmmmmm….not much choice out there.
Puddybud is so afraid to meet me that he’s started telling himself stories he really believes. I repeat bitch show up at DL or admit you’re a cunt – your wife’s a whore and your sister is a crackhead. It’s easy just say the words…
For the inbred republicans on this board – i.e., all of them – look up chickenhawk in the dictionary asswipes. You see when you CLAIM to support a war that you won’t fight in – that makes you a chickenhawk. While the majority of current soldiers are Dems – i.e., the poor African Americans, Asian Americans and Hispanic Americans who get sent to war in place of rich bitch white kids who have rich parents like Baby Bush – they don’t claim to support the war – so hence, they’re not chickenhawks.
The GOP is full of chickens – the leader of the party GW Bush is an AWOL chicken. Johnboy McCain the new leader who gave up American soldiers while a POW is a chicken and Puddybud who won’t come to DL and face up to the bullshit he spews on this board is a chicken. What can I say, runs in the GOP blood.
Puddy your wife told me she’d leave you if you don’t show up at DL and defend her honor.
Hey I looked back on some old posts here. Aren’t you the same little bitch who threatened to sue that guy LeftTurn because he made fun of your wife and then you backed down to even that? Man your shit is WEEEEEEEK. What a little cunt you are! HE HE!
I bet your fellow republicans are proud of you.
ByeByeGOP, bitchass, the deal was meet at the GBS appointed location. So I ASS ume you’ll punk out?
And BTW, my wife has wished me a throw down. I know you know what that means.
Yes, I threatened to sue your ass. Since I was told that was out of the question, Tuesday is your Demolition Day.
See you in Columbia City Tuesday before High Noon. Kind of like “Tombstone”.
Or will it run fatboy run?
GBS: Looks like your bitch ByeByeGOP is running…
It’s completely false, and I-Burn knows it (so I wish he’d stop saying it), that McCain is the Vietnam War’s Manchurian Candidate.
BTW ByeByeGOP, the wife needs a long one. Remember the Hubble Telescope at full power on your crotch would have a problem finding the microscopic worm.
I hear you squat on the toilet to piss. Wasn’t that an engraved with your name bidet delivered to your one bedroom apartment last month? – Thought so.
I hear a kick to your groin is a meaningless act.
I heard you went to REI for a cup fitting and they gave you a bra instead!
re 67: Keep your fuckin’ mouth shut, Pubbytub. Your are makin’ us neo-con Ravenwood contracors look like R-tards!
ByeByeGOP: I’d crack on your significant other but I really like dogs as pets.
Col Scanlon:
WTF? You ass needs wiping. The liquid farts are corrupting you posts. Wanna be neo-cons need not apply. Is this another of headless lucy’s names Goldy?
Don’t worry I know you won’t answer Goldy.
65
Any day you moonbats want our fighting soldiers to elect the next president I am in. Just as long as you cheating donks don’t count the ballots. The republican would win by a landslide.
Of course there is room in the military for you donks if we ever have to surrender. You donks are right up there with the French when it comes to that…hehheehehehe
According to George W, the Iraq war has been worth the cost. I agree, if it costs what its cost him. The sleepless nights, the secret victory flights into Iraq, the rubber holiday turkeys.
Victory does not come cheap.
OK…I’m going to sleep. Whenever the majority of postings in a thread are by Pudwhacker or Mark the Narcissist, or there are more than two by the human who has so little self-respect he pretends to be a dog, it’s a cinch there isn’t anything of further interest.
@65 Why don’t you tell us all about your military experience? You seem to know so much about it. Let’s hear it.
While not a Republican, I, at least have been in the military. So I don’t need some little pissant telling about who serves and who doesn’t. And just an FYI – More European Americans by percentage serve in the army, than their composition of the general population. So not only are you an idiot, you’re a racist idiot too. Oh, and No One “gets sent” to war, you fucking idiot. IT’S A GODDAMNED VOLUNTEER MILITARY!!!! What part of VOLUNTEER did you not comprehend?
LiquidFartArt: Majority? The conversation is above your comprehension level so you Run Forrest…. Run!
I thought you were looking forward to the Tuesday at high noon throw down. I may invite some of the Rainier Ave HOs ByeByeGOP does so you can meet them in person.
I-Burn, arguing with ByeByeGOP is like talking to LiquidFartArt. Facts can not penetrate someone as dense as spent uranium.
ByeByeGOP is a compound case. He’s also stuck on stupid.
Puddy, it’s nice of you to represent the failing educational system in our society.
Anybody who remembers the Reagan administration must admit that there was a noticeable mental decline over his eight years in office…
So what does that make GW Bush’s brain, chopped liver?
Oh, um…yeah, I guess so.
(You guys have seen the clips when he was Guv of Texas, right? When he could actually speak in somewhat coherent sentences? Seriously, how can one not think that he is now brain-damamged!)