by Damozel | Politico sez (to sum up): McCain's frequent verbal mistakes remind voters he's an old guy.
Republicans would like to make the case that McCain is seasoned and Obama is a callow newcomer to the public stage. But that’ll be harder if he keeps up the verbal slips, which make it easier for comedians and critics to pile on.
This may be a factor for you. Perhaps it should be a factor if you're one of those McCain so-called 'Democrats' who is all, 'At least McCain is SEASONED!' Yep. He's seen many, many seasons.
I personally don't really care because---even if he hadn't flipped and flopped way way to the right---I couldn't vote for someone who told the ape rape joke (and he wasn't old then). But even if it hadn't been for that, there is an extensive list of reasons not to vote for him.
McCain is wrong on so many issues, why bother raising age with the potential backlash? And really, there is no need to- the issue, as we have seen, will raise itself. Every time Obama stands next to McCain on the stage, voters and the American public will see it as it is. McCain will look old next to Obama.
Memeorandum re: the Gaffes
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Gramm Resigns from McCain's Campaign
JibJab's Newest: 'It's Time for Some Campaignin' (Bonus Nostalgia: 'This Land')
Hillary & Obama, Fund-Raising (and The Amazing Interactive Map), John McCain, & More About Jesse Jackson
Shut Up Whining About the Imaginary Recession, You Whiners!A Quadruple Score on the Sick Joke Scale: McCain's Ape Joke
Those 300 Economists Who 'Support' McCain's Economic Plan
McCain to Balance the Budget And Spin Gold Out of Manure
Tracking the Course of the Bush-Cheney Juggernaut As It Lurches Toward Iran
Exactly right, let's not make his age a factor it may gain him sympathy, let's continue to point out that he is WRONG on most issues and WRONG for America.
Posted by: PoliticalWorld | July 22, 2008 at 11:42 AM
His age is only a factor, in and of itself, in the sense that there is a real risk of him not being able to finish his term. Men in their 70s with a history of cancer can get suddenly ill, even if they have a clean bill of health at the moment.
The repeated foreign policy gaffes are, again, not a huge issue in and of themselves. What makes them an issue, though, is that McCain's answer to every foreign policy question is one of two things:
1) I was right on the surge and Obama was wrong, or
2) I am a foreign policy expert with vastly more experience.
The first statement is disputable and only marginally relevant even if it is true.
The second, however, speaks to a great arrogance about foreign policy. Obama has a massive foreign policy team hard at work and ready to step in at the state department? Obama's plans on Iraq, Iran, and Afghanistan are rapidly becoming conventional wisdom to the point that even Bush is moving towards them? It doesn't matter, says JSM. He's the expert and Obama isn't.
If you're going to hang your foreign policy argument on "don't pay attention to what's actually happening - I'm an expert, damnit", then you can't make mistakes right and left.
Steve Benen has done a nice job cataloging McCain's mistakes:
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16270.html#more-16270
Posted by: Adam | July 22, 2008 at 12:03 PM