Big Dogs Weblog

Mind Games in the Presidential Race

by Big Dog on May 9, 2008 at 09:41 Political

John McCain, the MSM’s and Democratic selection for the Republican party, has been the subject of debate because of his age. While Howard Dean stated that the Democrats would not take this up as an issue that has not stopped some of them from chiming in. Jack Murtha, the unindicted criminal who is three years older than McCain said that McCain was too old to be president by stating that it was no old man’s job. B. Hussein Obama recently complained about a factual statement by McCain that the terrorists would rather see Obama win. Since this was stated by terrorists it is not a lie. Obama indicated that McCain was losing his bearings which the McCain camp took as a veiled shot at the candidate’s age.

Is age an issue in this campaign? Certainly there is a minimum age requirement for the office of President but there is no maximum age limit. So why are people able to make statements about McCain’s age? Ageism is a form of discrimination so why is it tolerated. Imagine for a moment that a prominent Republican Congressman had made the statement that Hillary Clinton should not be president because she is a woman by saying “this ain’t no lady’s job.” Or imagine this same person said that Obama should not be president because he is black by saying “this ain’t no job for a black man.” The howls of misogyny or racism would be heard from coast to coast. But members of the Democratic party make a crack about age and it is quite alright. It is ironic that Murtha would say it given that he is ancient. It is also strange that age never seemed to be a problem for Ronald Reagan, the greatest president of the last century. To be fair, Chuck Norris also made an issue of McCain’s age and he was just as wrong as Murtha.

What about this age issue? Is it a concern? Has John McCain lost his bearing ? I might argue he lost his bearing a long time ago with regard to conservatism but I somehow don’t think that is what Obama meant. It is true that as we age our minds get a little slower and we forget things and of course we are more susceptible to brain diseases that result in a decline of brain function. McCain though, seems to be in pretty good shape and except for a few gaffes it does not look like he has lost any of his mental function.

There are those, especially when the general election rolls around (if the Democrats ever figure out who is running), who will make a big deal out of the gaffes and attribute them to decreased mental capacity. These would be the same people who excuse Hillary Clinton’s lies about sniper fire as a mistake. Hillary says that she told us something that she knew to be different from what actually happened and she has even written about it. Does she have decreased mental capacity because she can’t recall if she was shot at or not? The media and those on the left never attributed it to her age and decreasing brain function. Many could not compel themselves to call her a liar opting to say she simply “made a mistake.”

Now Hillary is 60 so there might be people who say that she is declining. In fact, Bill Clinton said as much (when he was trying to excuse her lie) when he said that when people get to be 60 they will forget things when they are tired. Obama though, is a mere babe in the woods compared to these two. Certainly, his mental capacity is not in question and he has the most sound mind for the job.

But wait! Obama has told us that he started attending Pastor Wright’s church 20 years ago when he was 26. He also told us that in 20 years he never realized that Wright was a racist. It took this man 20 years and public outcry to see that his pastor was an American hating racist with crack-pot conspiracy theories about the government inventing AIDS to get rid of blacks. Good thing his mind is sharp or it might have taken 40 years.

Obama’s sharp and well tuned mind did not prevent him from insulting many Americans by saying that they are bitter and as a result cling to religion and their guns while hating outsiders. If we are to believe that Obama did nothing wrong in his land deal with Tony Rezko then his sharp as a tack mind did not keep him from making a deal that had red flags flying all around it.

John McCain was tortured at the hands of our enemy for nearly seven years and he can go toe to toe with either of the other two in an intellectual battle and not get bested (I bet he could go toe to toe in a fist fight and beat them both). To make his age an issue does an injustice to the elderly in our society.

There are plenty of problems with John McCain but his age is not one of them.

Sources:
WSJ
My Way News

Tags: age, Clinton, McCain, Obama, race, sex