The Senior Caucus

This is an interesting development -- it seems that Thad Cochran, 70; Pete Domenici, 76; Chuck Grassley, 74 all told The Hill that they're too old to be Vice President. They're also, of course, all roughly the same age as the Republican Party's presidential nominee. I think this'll be an interesting issue to keep an eye on. Young people will definitely mock McCain for being old and his age will probably render people below a certain age immune to the cult of personality around him that's impacted a lot of self-loathing boomers in the press.

But if anyone develops serious worries about McCain's age per se, it'll probably be his fellow senior citizens. Most folks I'm familiar with in their seventies are, like these GOP Senators, pretty aware of and realistic about their own situation and that of their friends and other peers in ways that might give them doubts about McCain.

Photo by Flickr user wfeiden used under a Creative Commons license

Comments

I wouldn't want to speak for the kindly old Republican gentlemen (no, seriously, I really wouldn't), but I'm not sure this is necessarily a clear-cut gotcha. It's possible to see oneself as too old to be VICE President but still young enough to be President, given that one is frequently seen as a stepping stone to run for the other (Cheney aside).

There's also the point that all of them are too old to be the running mate of another really old white guy.

Posted by Jake H. | May 14, 2008 1:48 PM

Domenici (who is retiring this year) and Grassley are both a few years older than McCain, too - and certainly McCain isn't going to pick a running mate who is older than him.

It's also worth noting that all of these guys have had rather rocky relationships with McCain in the Senate. Cochran rather famously said that McCain didn't have the temperament to be president only a few months ago, and I believe that there were famous McCain temper losing incidents with both Domenici and Grassley.

Posted by John | May 14, 2008 1:51 PM

I agree with Jake H. As a rule of thumb it seems that if age is a concern for a presidential candidate, the veep candidate should be at least 8 years younger. And in any case McCain will be far better served by someone who isn't in the Senate.

Posted by ACLS | May 14, 2008 1:57 PM

Are ageism and classism the two forms of prejudice young lefties can't shake? There are 80 year olds who are sharper and would probably would do a better job on economic policy than any of the candidates, e.g., Charlie Munger, Hank Greenberg, etc.

Posted by Fred | May 14, 2008 1:58 PM

Agreed with Matt Y's last sentence. My then 65+ neighbors were solid middle-of-the-road Republicans but voted for Clinton in 96 because they thought Dole was too old.

Posted by Matt B | May 14, 2008 1:59 PM

There are 80 year olds who are sharper and would probably would do a better job on economic policy than any of the candidates,

Sure, but the problem is that we don't know if, at 80 yrs + 1 day, they'll start feeling the effects of Alzheimers or some other form of dementia. Nor, as I understand it, is it easy to confirm a diagnosis prior to death. It's not as if there aren't plenty of people--on both sides, I think--who believe that Reagan's Alzheimers kicked in prior to the end of his presidency.

Posted by SomeCallMeTim | May 14, 2008 2:03 PM

There are 80 year olds who are sharper and would probably would do a better job on economic policy than any of the candidates, e.g., Charlie Munger, Hank Greenberg, etc

There's also the question of stamina, though. An 80 year old may be really sharp, but just need more naps.

Posted by dj moonbat | May 14, 2008 2:08 PM

I would still tend to think McCain is going to own the 60+ demographic in November. Of course, even losing a few extra points of it over to Obama because of this concern could tip the whole election.

Posted by Chris O. | May 14, 2008 2:12 PM

Are ageism and classism the two forms of prejudice young lefties can't shake? There are 80 year olds who are sharper and would probably would do a better job on economic policy than any of the candidates, e.g., Charlie Munger, Hank Greenberg, etc.

They aren't running.

McCain is running and shows the limits of his age over and over again.

Posted by Jeffrey Davis | May 14, 2008 2:14 PM

"McCain is running and shows the limits of his age over and over again."

Why assume that a mistake or a gaffe is due to age? It happens often to people who have to speak extemporaneously in public, e.g., when Obama recently claimed that Iraq was drawing away needed Arabic-speaking interpreters from Afghanistan. Doesn't mean Obama's senile, just that he slipped up.

Posted by Fred | May 14, 2008 2:20 PM

I like Lisa Murkowski's statement that people have talked about her being asked the best. "No, I swear. People are talking me up. All the time."

Posted by mark f | May 14, 2008 2:20 PM

Can't wait for the MTV interview----instead of "boxers or briefs" the question is "Serenity or Depends."

Posted by Tom | May 14, 2008 2:23 PM

In another season, McCain's age might not be a factor. But because the Bush presidency has been such a fiasco, voters are likely to prefer a more engaged, vigorous, hands-on type of chief executive. Voters aren't going to want a chief delegator this time around, and McCain's physical limitations, far more than whatever mental ones he might have or develop, are certain to count against him.

Posted by kth | May 14, 2008 2:28 PM

I find it ludicrous to compare ageism with ANY of the other common prejudice-based isms (racism, anti-semitism, sexism) for a simple reason: getting older is something that all people will face. One day, I will be old, and presumably mocked by those younger than me for being out of touch, unhip, doddering, etc.

Fred's faux outrage at "young lefties" mocking McCain's age is phase 1 in the right's attempt to make any and all criticism of John McCain beyond the pale. We saw this last week with the "lost his bearings" controversy. It is absolutely imperative that Democrats/bloggers/leftists/young people/McCain haters, etc. not give up any ground in this fight. Ridicule and mockery are two of the most effective ways to beat your political opponents. The right used this against Kerry, painting him as an effete, elitist frenchman. Democrats last took advantage of this tactic against Bob Dole. Objectively, it should be very easy to paint John McCain as the next Bob Dole as long as we don't let Fred and the bullies on the right control this tactical ground.

So say it proudly: McCain is a pathetic, out of touch, dangerously senile old man who is unfit to be president. He is older than Chocolate Chip cookies, the polio vaccine, Cobb Salad, LSD, The Grapes of Wrath and Cheerios for God's sake. When John McCain was a child, they didn't have Cheerios! What a feeble old man.

Posted by drjimcooper | May 14, 2008 2:30 PM

Re: "the cult of personality around him that's impacted a lot of self-loathing boomers in the press"

To say nothing of the cult of personality surrounding the hip negro man.

It appears ageism does not command 90% support from one's own group, whereas racism does.

Posted by Lenny Kravitz | May 14, 2008 2:35 PM

Fred: they need Arabic interpreters in Afghanistan for dealing with the non-Pashtun jihadis and for international relations, so that's not a gaffe.

Posted by phil | May 14, 2008 2:36 PM

I'd like to see some of the young folks here put up with McCain's campaign schedule- fly here, fly there, bus trip here, bus trip there- all the while being constantly scrutinized at every turn. And the schedule will only get busier during the campaign season, not only for the obvious reasons but also because McCain won't be allowed to take ANY time to himself lest he look "too old."

Naps? Sure, I guess some older people take naps. But if the guy makes the correct decisions once he wakes up from the naps, what do I care? McCain's problem is that he's a war mongering neo-con who advocates for inanities like a "League of Democracies" and other nonsense...Being old has nothing to do with it...

Posted by P | May 14, 2008 2:53 PM

Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho)
“I would say ‘No, Hillary.’ ”

LOL Larry Craig

Posted by nate | May 14, 2008 2:54 PM

It's only anecdotal evidence, but some of my older relatives have also said that they think McCain is too old to be President.

Posted by blah | May 14, 2008 2:59 PM

Some of my blacker relatives have also said that they think Obama is too black to be president.

Posted by Strom Thurmond | May 14, 2008 3:05 PM

"Why assume that a mistake or a gaffe is due to age? It happens often to people who have to speak extemporaneously in public." Or people who have to speak in public when they don't know at all what they're talking about.

Much of the press is not going to go at our honest straight shooter about corruption, such as lobbyists running the show, or about platform, which might happen to reward the corrupt or run counter to what the public wants after Bush. But perhaps they can find it safe to pick up the gaffes and ignorance, given that the public has come to sneer at Bush, sometimes for the same dumbness it found a nonissue or downright endearing in 2000.

On the other hand, that'd require the media stop catering to the "elitist" angle.

Posted by John Haber | May 14, 2008 3:18 PM

The wrongness of prejuidice does not mean we can't consider factors likely to actually effect a president's peformance. Prejudice against the disabled is wrong, and it's ridiculous that FDR had to hide his paralysis to be president. But it's not prejudiced to say that a person with Down's syndrom should never be elected president.

I come from a long lived family, so I've had to deal with a lot of relatives in their 70s/80s/90s. What worries me is not loss of physical vigor (Reagan was a famously lazy president) but loss of mental flexibility. After about age 72-75, my relatives seem to lose the ability to analyze problems from scratch. Rather, they try to find a problem they solved in the past that seems somewhat similar, and apply that old solution to the new problem, even if it doesn't really fit.

McCain shows some indication of this. His frequent "gaffes" about the middle east are NOT just slips of the tongue: he has a mental map where there's just one big gang of Muslim bad guys and they are all working together. He seems to be seeing the middle east as another Vietnam, and that's just not true. His persistant delusion that Al Quaeda works for Iran is extremely dangerous.

Posted by Anne E | May 14, 2008 3:27 PM

drjimcooper,

"Faux outrage" would be if I lament it when your kids leave you out on the ice flow to die.

Ageism is no less a form of discrimination because most of us will eventually be old. My biggest problem with it is that if we exclude older Americans from leadership positions based simply on their age, we're all the worse off for that, because we lose the benefit of their years of experience. As you tacitly admit by your use of the term, the left's attacks on McCain's age are mainly tactical posturing. If your candidate is older in a future election cycle, you'll sweep the Logan's Run stuff down the memory hole.

Posted by Fred | May 14, 2008 3:29 PM

"Much of the press is not going to go at our honest straight shooter about corruption, such as lobbyists running the show"

If Obama had been a Senator for more than one term, you don't think he'd have former staff members who moved on to become lobbyists? Would you consider it an example of corruption if they put aside their highly-paid lobbying work to come back to work for his election campaign? A little more honesty, please.

Posted by Fred | May 14, 2008 3:35 PM

The basic problem with Fred's argument is that Presidents are elected for four years, have tremendous amounts of discretionary power, and are very difficult to remove from office prior to the conclusion of their term. So, you have to consider not just their fitness right now, but also their fitness over the next four years, and the older people get, the more uncertain their fitness over the next four years will be.

That said, McCain's age doesn't bother me personally. But I don't think it is unreasonable for other people to view this as a legitimate concern.

Posted by DTM | May 14, 2008 3:42 PM

As you tacitly admit

Nothing tacit about it. It is political posturing.

Attacks on John McCain need to take two forms: first is to clearly point out what his policy preferences are and how they would affect our country's well being (continued war in Iraq, more hawkish foreign policy in general, continued tax cuts for wealthy, etc.). Second is to ridicule John McCain for being old, crotchety, angry, having a short fuse, etc. My concern is that Democrats have focused too much on the "McSame" "McBush" memes. It is certainly fair to criticize John McCain for offering more of the same Bush policies (and backing this up with facts as outlined in attack strategy #1), but it won't be too dificult for McCain to refute or confuse these issues during the general election campaign. It is much harder, however, to become un-ridiculous once you have been painted with that brush. This is why I prescribe a steady drumbeat of John McCain = Bob Dole, less so than John McCain = George Bush.

Posted by drjimcooper | May 14, 2008 3:54 PM

When you're running against a candidate who vows to take the high road, why not take that as a gift and run with it? So far McCain has eschewed all the stuff that has actually hurt Obama politically (e.g., Rev. Wright). He even thinks it's out of bounds to mention Obama's middle name. You want to piss him off so he reconsiders fighting by Queensberry rules? Knock yourself out.

Regarding the Bob Dole comparisons though, you are aware that Dole was pretty sharp, right? His problem was that he was stiff as a board in public appearances, and the world's worst campaigner (having some of his votes siphoned off by Perot didn't help much either). McCain's not great at set speeches, but he's actually pretty good at retail campaigning, and seems to enjoy it.

Posted by Fred | May 14, 2008 4:08 PM

Remember the New Hampshire backlash, when the misogynistic press corps prodded women to come out for Hillary, and she won a state she was on the way to losing? As somebody on one of these blogs (maybe Open Left) suggested today, the Democrats ought to avoid getting us crotchety old folks riled up. We might just vote for McCain defensively, or conserve our energy by staying home.

Posted by David in NY | May 14, 2008 4:13 PM

Why didn't Bob Dole do better? Maybe he just couldn't hold a candle to B. Clinton in the "He really cares about me" metric. And he could be funny (though I don't remember that he was in the Presidential campaign), but it was always mean-funny (maybe why he kept his humor packed away). But I always was puzzled why, after the 1994 Republican flood, he didn't do better. Maybe he was just stiff as a board and a little remote.

Posted by David in NY | May 14, 2008 4:24 PM

My friends. I'm an angry old man, my friends. My friend Bob Dole used to refer to himself in the third person my friends. Which is not something I will do. As I am older than mother fuckin' Cheerios. My friends.

So far McCain has eschewed all the stuff that has actually hurt Obama politically (e.g., Rev. Wright). He even thinks it's out of bounds to mention Obama's middle name

Funny, he has no problem allowing his surrogates and lap dogs in the mainstream press to bring up these issues, and he has no problem implying that Barack Obama is in league with Hamas. Real stand up guy that John McCain.

Posted by drjimcooper | May 14, 2008 4:28 PM

Is that photo from Easthampton, MA? Used to live there, and there is a Union Street, and that sign looks familiar...

Blog imitates life.

Posted by Stefan | May 14, 2008 7:10 PM

Way to choose a photo from Easthampton, MA, Matt! A shoutout to my old stomping grounds. Woot.

Posted by Stefan | May 14, 2008 7:12 PM

What did Indiana Jones say? "It's not the years, it's the mileage."

And McCain has way too much mileage.

I'll say it again. Gut him on this "war hero" crap, or watch him become President.

Posted by Richard Steven Hack | May 15, 2008 4:03 AM

I think Matt's point that older people will queston his ability to handle the job is correct. The Drs. I know who haven't completely retired give up surgery by their late 60s, the laywers give up trying cases. People are aware this is anehausting pressure filled job, and have seen Bush and Clinton age from it.

Posted by tom A | May 15, 2008 10:32 AM

"Why assume that a mistake or a gaffe is due to age?"

I agree with Fred. I attribute McCain's mistakes to stupidity rather than age.

Posted by Hlem | May 15, 2008 11:18 AM

That is indeed Easthampton, MA, a good solid Democratic town. Not many McCain votes there.

Posted by Ellen | May 16, 2008 9:42 AM

That is indeed Easthampton, MA, a good solid Democratic town. Not many McCain votes there.

Posted by Ellen | May 16, 2008 9:43 AM