How Old Is Too Old?

McCain is too old.

Yes, he is.

John is the old ornery neighbor next door who won't give the kids back the soccer ball when it goes over the fence.

Seriously, I thank him for his service, but we need someone with enthousiasm for the future. He thinks Americans can't do consturction jobs or other jobs, that inly illegal aliens will do them...and that the auto industry CAN NOT recover? Pessimism...I need someone who has taken on challenges that everyone else said "can't" be done and does them and succeeds. Mitt Romney. Optimistic, able, and capable.

Mitt Romnye is presidential. John McCain is just ratchety.

Yes.

Especially if he is running against gen-x/y Obama.

McCain is an angry old neighbor that won't give your soccer ball back when you kick it over the fence.

The past 25+ years in Washington has made him into the consummate insider in DC...he tries to say that he is above special interests, but when his national campaign finance co-director is the founder of Univision and he "Hispanic Outreach Director" is a former cabinet member of Mexican Presidente Fox, it sure looks like John and his amnesty provisions are influenced by a country other than the USA.

Is his reality warped by age? I don't know, but he sure is not optimistic. He thinks Americans won't do construction jobs and he thinks that the automotive industry can not recover...does he believe in America at all?

Mitt Romney is definitely the opposite of all that! He has fixed more companies and broken governments than any other candidate and does not have the age factor or orneriness of McCain.

Age is a real issue. It is not 'ageist' it is reality. I thank McCain for his service, but being president is a younger person's game

Thank you for bringing up this topic. In August McCain will be 72 and will be several months beyond that by Jan 2009. That is just too old to begin the hardest job in the world. Almost worse than a presidential death is the spectre of longterm disability, especially if the probllem is mental deterioration. Who persuades the emperor that he is no longer able to govern? McCain often points to his aged but lively mother but fails entirely to mention that his dad died at age 70. It seems unkind to mention a characteristic like age that is out of anyone's control but a responsible citizen has to face the negatives of longevity. (PS What a year!! A black guy, a female, a Mormon, and a geezer are the top dogs in the race.!!!!)

Reberta McCain is a woman. Women live longer,men after 70 are lucky to wake up. Quit selling over seventy as all right. John McCain can hardly get off the plane. Young wife all with him,thats what happens to old men.

Why look too far ahead. None of us knows what tomorrow will bring. Judge the person in front of you today . I believe that Ron Paul is in his 70s as well and look at the supporters, young and old he attracts. JFK was very young with a very old body. I think his health was more of a worry than McCain.

I agree with you. Few people know that after Iran-Contra, Reagan was showing such clear signs of his Alzheimers that his staff considered invoking the 25th Amendment and have him removed from office. Howard Baker was brought in, along with several others to evaluate him, but found that he was beginning to refocus. His official biographer also records incidents that show his confusion. Clearly Reagan was too old, at least for his second term. I can buy McCain for four years, but eight? Is that a risk we can afford to take given the incredibly serious problems our country faces?

Let the old bas.tard be president!!

Ms. Quindlen should be ashamed of herself, but she may be right. The problem is how you determine how old is too old.
The current president Bush is as healthy as a horse and until the last couple of years appeared much younger than his age, but even on his best day has never had the mental acuity that his father had when he was much older.

Ginger22, there are many reasons I am not voting for Dr. Paul, and that's one of them. I do not doubt his intelligence, but no person in their seventies has the physical or mental fortitude to serve as President. Being president is simply too demanding--the constant strain and stress, the late hours and long trips, and the delicate and nuanced balancing act that running a country demands. While I like and admire McCain--and for that matter, Paul--even while disagreeing with their politics, I would never vote them into office at their age. (And I would say that even if Adlai Stevenson were running.)

Dr. Ron Paul is 72, having a birth date of August 20, 1935, and is older than McCain. Just so you have your facts straight for when Dr. Paul enters the Oval Office this year.

It is not how old you are but how healthy you are. If a doctor tells you an eighty year old is in better shape than a fifty year old, then who would you vote for. Roosevelt was handicap he won four times.

Age is a state of mind. Read the poems Robert Frost wrote in his final years, and you will find a mind that is still flexible and looking forward. McCain lives in the past. We lost the war in Vietnam because we were stabbed in the backs by the peaceniks, we gotta win Iraq so we can make up for losing Vientam.(ever hear that argument before. Go back to Germany about 75 years ago.) That's the basis of McCain's campaign What we mean by winning Iraq or Vietnam, is unclear. Equally unclear is the notion that nations are ours to win and own, like properties on a Monopoly game. Change is the only constant. . We messed up in Vietnam because we were trying to refight World War II. We messing up Iraq (I'm skeptical about the surge) simply because we're trying to re-fight Vietnam. McCain's problem isn't his physical age. It's the age of his mind. He simply cannot understand the severe limitations of military power nor threat of global warming. And those are only starters for what McCain because of his mental age can't grasp

You have hit the nail on the head. Since we have an age minimum for Presidency, we should have an age maximum also. I am 66 years old and in good health but I think McCain is too old for the office. My husband is a pilot, he has age restrictions , he also served in Viet Nam and was a sole survivor in a helicopter crash and he thinks McCain is too old for the highest job in the land. McCain a nice man but he's to retire gracefully from the Senate when he is ready. We need a younger, engerizing President with new ideas!