Images of McCain's health cast a pallor on his bid

[RamboLiberal]

Source: UnionLeader.com

As he exited the stairs of his "Straight Talk Express" campaign bus on a chilly March day in Iowa, Sen. John McCain carefully took one step at a time, his left hand gripping a rail and his right knee looking stiff.

A bum knee isn't surprising in a 70-year-old man -- particularly one whose right leg was shattered about four decades ago when his jet fighter was shot down over North Vietnam.

But his wooden movements, along with his age and appearance, are creating an impression about McCain's health that could be a liability for the Arizona Republican as he tries to persuade Americans to elect him President.

McCain brings to the campaign a body and mind with some heavy wear and tear, including a couple of bouts of cancer and the effects of years of torture. If elected, he would be the oldest person in history to enter the White House, and if he served two terms he would leave office an octogenarian.



Read more: http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=Images+of+McCain%27s+health+cast+a+pallor+on+his+bid&articleId=55769883-6a10-4b68-9033-6024c83843f3

[louis-t]

1. I still say he'll be out before the rethug convention. n/t

[UnyieldingHierophant]

2. I agree*

[RufusTFirefly]

3. Illiterate headline: Back to the Copy Desk it goes

The expression is "cast a pall", not "cast a pallor."
(The error was almost certainly introduced at the Union-Leader. The Times headline was fine.)

[TwilightGardener]

4. It's awful writing and copyediting--graduate of the Yogi Berra School of Journalism, apparently.

[KoKo]

5. Ed Shultz's show has been playing "Big John...Big Old John" to the tune

of the old Song "Big John" from the early 60's. Seems the song is catching on. :eyes:

[Buck Laser]

6. With 7 years as a POW, 70 is too old to run.

Entirely aside from his politics, and I hope free of "age-ism," I've maintained that McCain's age is a legitimate issue in the election. Anyone who spent that much time as a POW simply has had too hard a life to take on a challenge like the presidency at the age of 70-whatever. I haven't lived nearly as hard a life as McCain, and I feel the effects of age pretty keenly at 71.

[momster]

7. Energy and Mood Swings

You can already see this in McCain. Sometimes, he's sparking right along. Other times, he looks pasty, shaking, and just plain tired out..and this could very well be in the course of a single day/event. As Prez, however, you've got to have high energy, physical stamina, and quickness of comprehension (present (p)resident excepted)every single day, all day. Men come out of this office twenty years older than when they started even if they only serve a single term. McCain would be going in a 70-something. It would be a physical disaster for him, esp. as he doesn't seem particularly healthy now. After the ceaseless rigors of a campaign, would he have anything left to give?

[TwilightGardener]

9. Agree--I often wonder if Bill Clinton's heart disease wasn't sped up

from the stress. I don't think anyone much over 60 will get the job, in the end--both Clinton and Bush were in their 50's, and we're not going to suddenly start electing geezers after relatively young presidents.

[sutz12]

8. Physical health or mental? nt

:evilgrin: