Did you know that John McCain is older than the state of Alaska, the polio vaccine and the chocolate chip cookie? He is also older than Mount Rushmore, the nation of Israel and FM radio.
These fun facts and more can be found at the fantastic new blog Things Younger than McCain.
While McCain's staff and supporters are likely to try to spin this as "ageism," I agree with Ezra Klein:
That's all sort of funny, but it also points to a more serious critique of McCain's mindset, which mixes a deep desire for World War II-style heroics with a habituation to the paranoia and fear typical of the Cold War-era. What you don't see in McCain is much recognition that the world has changed, that today's threats are considerably less deadly than yesterday's dangers, and that it's been a very long time since America was a rigidly ordered society that needed its leaders to provide appropriate martial values.
While there is no shame in being older than the ballpoint pen, it is McCain's stuck in time mindset that makes him unfit for the challenges that we are facing. McCain is trapped in the kind of mindset that led us into the Iraq war and that promises to keep American troops there for many years to come. We need and deserve better.
We need someone who is not stuck in the past to challenge Americans to unite to solve the current crises that we are facing including global warming, our crumbling healthcare system and our shattered international reputation.
The world has changed greatly even in just the last 7 disastrous years of the Bush administration.
We need a president who will inspire us to rise to met the challenges of our generation not ask us stick our collective fingers in our ears while shouting "We're number 1! We're number 1!"
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5 Comments
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True true. While they're all older than I am (ha ha), McCain's the only one who feels older than the hills.
Alex Blaze | May 13, 2008 3:37 PM
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I wonder when MoveOn will have the "John McCain is older than dirt" ad running? :)
Bil Browning | May 13, 2008 4:55 PM
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I'm waiting for him, in the inevitable debates against Obama, to chide Obama for his youth, as Reagan did to Walter Mondale. The only problem is that McCain lacks Reagan's communication skills, and it will come off as mean-spirited as he'll no doubt mean it to be. And, of course, Obama is as facile in his verbal abilities as Mondale was wooden.
Polar | May 14, 2008 3:26 AM
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I once tried to make fun of how old my father was by saying to him, "what's the problem; hadn't they invented penicillin yet!?! hehehe" No, they hadn't.
Oopsie.
Rory | May 14, 2008 7:25 AM
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My Friends,
Rory, in your case, be glad they had not developed condoms yet... hehehe
John McCain is not older than the dirt in the state of Alaska.
John McCain may be older than what he Brits call a "Biro," but he his younger than a fountain pen, and who cares?
It seems to me that you are overlooking the hero factor in John McCain and forgetting to respect the man, what he has endured, and his continuing accomplishments. Democrats do that at great peril. I hated Vietnam, most Americans did, but five and a half years held in torture? Is the best you can do is call him old? Defeat the man's ideas, do not disrespect him.
And while you are at it, clean up your room and stay off my lawn!
Robert Ganshorn | May 14, 2008 10:14 AM
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