The board leaves little doubt that Ageism is alive and well. Funny how certain types of discrimination are not only tolerated but seemingly encouraged here.

You're confused. The problem isn't that McCain is old. The problem is that his mind is going on him.

Yours doesn't seem quite intact either, so we'll be expecting you to give him your sympathy vote.

Obviously anyone who doesn't agree with a staggering intellect such as yours must be dishonest

It was explained to you by at least three different posters, and you apparently weren't able to grasp any of them.

So what's your problem, slimeball? Senility? Maybe your problem is that you're another idiot right-wing troll out to abuse other posters.

Fuck off.

Deliberate bigotry on your part.

Take your lying smears elsewhere, slimeball.

Deliberate bigotry on your part. Honest? Obviously anyone who doesn't agree with a staggering intellect such as yours must be dishonest...yawn. Don't get back to us :)

he starts to bring up Pangea. That will do two things. Reveal his true age, and secondly give us all hope that we can go back and try to do it right this time around...

A few weeks ago, Obama erroneously stated he'd campaigned in "57" states. Obviously he meant "47," but not only did that oopsie get fairly wide play for a couple of days, but some said he must have been referring to the "Organization of the Islamic Conference" (which actually has 60 states - 3 of which are observers and 57 of which are full members,) implying, of course, that he's more familiar with this group of Islamic nations that he is with America. And at least one website has created a button with the image of a "57-state" flag lapel pin, in order to mock both his misstatement and the fact that he doesn't always opt to wear a flag pin.

Yet of all the weird gaffes McCain has had, I've not heard anything even remotely similar being circulated about him. It's truly pathetic how low Conservatives will go to try and scratch up even the most minuscule dirt on someone, even while they insist that their candidate who - by his own admission - makes gaffes because he has "senior moments" - is perfectly qualified for the job. Obama's state-count error was made once. McCain has had three tries now to get the name of the Czech Republic right and still can't do it.

So, by your logic ageist, racist, and sexist attacks are acceptable as long as the target is a politician?

Deliberate misunderstanding on your part. Get back to us when you're prepared to have an honest discussion.

Independence: "The board leaves little doubt that Ageism is alive and well. Funny how certain types of discrimination are not only tolerated but seemingly encouraged here."

Funny -- I just noticed that your name sounds a lot like "In Depends."

Anyway, what is ageism? I thought it meant having a prejudice against all old people.

But we're not talking about all old people here. We're talking about one old person, John McCain. He's a candidate who, if elected, would be the oldest president ever inaugurated.

McCain would be as old at the start of his first term as Reagan was at the start of his second. And Reagan did, in fact, have early and identified signs of Alzheimer's while he was president.

I am not down on anybody who has a disease, or whose reflexes are slowed down. I am only down on them if they clearly have these problems and yet they insist on putting themselves in positions where their reduced abilities might put others at risk.

It's like the old dude who plowed his car into a bunch of Santa Monica people at a farmer's market. He shouldn't have had a freaking driver's license. Is it ageism for me to say that? Is it ageism for me to say that a person who, in another example, can't tell an on-ramp from an off-ramp shouldn't be allowed to go out and slaughter people with her incompetence?

I'm not saying take all old people off the road. Or don't let an old guy be president. I am saying, if they show signs of diminished capacity, take that into account. Make older drivers take driver's tests.

Same with McCain: He's making jokes about bombing Iran. He'll be just like Reagan or Bush Jr. -- a man totally dependent (there's that word again) on his advisors, and likely to do whatever they convince him to do.

McCain has to prove to us that his age is not a limitation on his capacity. Thus far, he is proving the opposite.

Or maybe he's just an idiot who doesn't know the first thing about European or other foreign history. Didn't we already have that in Bush Jr.?

My god, it is sickening to think that McCain even made it this far. It was by default. The Republicans couldn't find better candidates than the pack of losers who ran? What happened there?

So, by your logic ageist, racist, and sexist attacks are acceptable as long as the target is a politician?

You were waiting for me.

Jibes about mental capacity are "below the belt".

Not for politicians. Sorry.

I happen to believe in individuality.

McCain is welcome to be as individualistic as he likes with respect to the onset of his senility. But if he's not with it, that's a consideration in selecting a presidential candidate. The same for simple sloppiness and arrogance.

The presidency is a burden, even for a corporatist lackey like Dubya. If McCain isn't up for the job then that's a problem, but unless he's elected it's his problem. I don't want him making it my problem.

He hasn't once said he wanted to bomb Persia or joked about killing Persians.

His age doesn't bother me nearly as much as his hawkish aaggressive attitude about Foreign Policy and sloppy fact-checking. If you want to run the country, you'd better be up on your world geo-political facts circa 2008.

And you'd better know your own voting record on an issue that means a lot to about half the electorate.

So far, Senator McCain, you're blowing it all over the place as far as I'm concerned. So I'm not inclined to vote for you so you can blow up places.