<p>The</a> Associated Press: Murtha says McCain too old to be president</p>
<p>As a fellow senior, Murtha should be ashamed of himself and his ageism. He's (presumably) never run the country, and he is not McCain and doesn't know what McCain's stamina is. How can he say whether McCain is physically and mentally up to the job?</p>
<p>As long as McCain remains in good health, his age should be a complete non-factor...and I say this as an Obama supporter, just for the record.</p>
<p>John McCain is old.</p>
<p>I go back and forth on this issue. I worked with a really, really sharp economist for awhile. He was vigorous and had a prodigious set of abilities. I hadn't seen him for a couple of months (when he was a bit younger than McCain) and I was shocked when I saw him how quickly a mental deterioration had occurred. He complained about it himself. One would never have thought this would happen to this guy, really. It was quite sad.</p>
<p>What if this happens to our president? Worse what if it happens halfway -- if he's compes mentes just enough to argue he can do his job, but he's not really got his hands on the levers. I am tired of having a president who seems to not exercise much of the judgements that get made in his midst.</p>
<p>If I am voting for someone I want to think his mind will be energetically and fully engaged for 4 years.</p>
<p>Now, honestly speaking, I wouldn't be voting for McCain even if he were 10 years younger and were going against Obama. But if Obama were 72, I wouldn't have voted for him in the primaries; I'd have gone for someone who had a longer stretch of likely higher energy.</p>
<p>It is true, though, that McCain seems quite a bit more vigorous than someone like Murtha.</p>
<p>I don't think his age would cause anyone not to vote for him. It makes his choice for VP more important, though.</p>
<p>Voting against Hilary is misogynistic, voting against Obama is racist, and voting against McCain is ageist...:)</p>
<p>^^^Guess I'll have to throw my vote to a third party candidate, now. :p
(ten en cuentas, sin embargo, que Hillary no es mujer y Obama no es negro)</p>
<p>"Thanks for the question, you little jerk."</p>
<p>arachno jajaja ;)</p>
<p>I agree with Salamander. McCain seems fine, if a bit of a hot-head, and totally wrong on Iraq. If he wins, I'd be willing to bet he'd be a one-term president. ... As for me, I'm going with Barak.</p>
<p>
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I saw him how quickly a mental deterioration had occurred. He complained about it himself. One would never have thought this would happen to this guy, really. It was quite sad...What if this happens to our president?
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</p>
<p>
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Should McCain's age be an issue?
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No, but his VP should be.</p>
<p>Age is a factor. McCain will be 72 when he is inaugurated and would be 80 when his second term ends. Leading a nation, particularly one of the World's larger powers such as the US, requires a great deal of energy and mental awareness/control. McCain is already unnable to contain his temper and often lashes out. If you ask me, the man is already showing signs of his age. And as BedHead said, people deteriorate quickly at that age....and that's assuming they are retired and leading a normal life. A President's life is far from normal. It is intense and stressful beyond belief. Most presidents age a great deal during their presidency. I would hate to see what 8 years in the Whitehouse would do to McCain.</p>
<p>As far as I am concerned, the retirement age for most people is 65-70. Electing a president who is already older than the retirement age is not prudent. And it has nothing to do with "ageism" either. Ageism would assume that a candidate is just as able to perform a duty but was not given the opportunity because of age discrimination. The point with McCain is that he is not able to perform his duty as well because he is not as alert, energetic and aware as a persident of a major nation should be.</p>
<p>Although this is not a subject that is being discussed now, you can be sure it will be brought up in September-November.</p>
<p>By the way, I have noticed that some here have said that the age of the VP would be a factor. That alone pretty much proves that McCain is too old. Who elects a president with the expectation that the nation will have to resot to its VP? A VP is a last resort, not a mulligan!</p>
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Ageism would assume that a candidate is just as able to perform a duty but was not given the opportunity because of age discrimination.
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</p>
<p>Alexandre won me over with this statement. I hadn't really thought about what ageism is in such detail. If I could be guaranteed that McCain would maintain vigor over this time period, I would not have a problem per se with his candidacy. My concern is his age and the pressures of the office. What if he really starts to lose it? Imagine press conferences where he has a TSA (near stroke) and blanks out or imagine he starts doddering. I think with McCain's age it is quite possible. This would be an ugly thing to witness and could be bad for the country.</p>
<p>As regards the VP, we're just completing 8 years when we didn't really elect as a nation the VP to run the country but that's effectively what we got. I don't really want this to happen again; the VP candidates are never as vetted or tested in the election cycle as the person at the top of the ticket.</p>