McCain Shoots From the Hip and Hits His Foot

He likes to call himself a "straight talker."

It's a quality most Americans admire.

It's not the first quality that would pop into someone's mind when the word "politician" comes up in conversation.

So John McCain, out of nowhere, makes a speech last week wherein he promises that if he is elected president, he will regularly (weekly?) submit himself to questioning by members of Congress, in the manner of the British Prime Minister.

Sounds nice, especially after the Bush regime's notorious tight-lipped approach to Congress and the media. But do dangers lurk underneath this seemingly innocuous proposal of openness?

No president in the history of the nation thought it prudent to voluntarily submit himself to public questioning by another--separate but equal--branch of the federal government. In fact, presidents of both parties have sought to maintain, within the boundaries set by the Constitution, the independence of the Executive Branch from the other two branches of government.

Now here comes someone who has not even officially secured the nomination of his party blurting out proposals whose possible effects on the Constitutional System under which the country has thrived have clearly not been thought through.

Readers can fill in the blanks for themselves as to how this off-the-cuff blurt by Sen. McCain could change the character of the Office of the President.

My point is that this type of shooting-from-the-hip that McCain evinced by making such a radical proposal may be indicative of his approach to policy making specifically, and life, in general.

If it is, it's a scary thought.

McCain vs. Ageism: "I'm as Old as Dirt and Have More Scars Than Frankenstein."

Interestingly, the one candidate (or surrogate, pre-Dean) who most often raises the age issue is none other than its supposed victim: John McCain himself.

"Older than dirt, more scars than Frankenstein," is a favorite line of his. (though he did botch it at least once.)

So, obviously, McCain is well aware that his age, and the concomitant off-spring issues spawned by it--his death in office, his forgetfulness or seeming befuddlement, the unusual importance of his VP running mate and so on--are issues that will always already be there in voters minds.
His age, like Hillary's gender and Barack's color, are facts, period, facts visible to the naked eyes of voters. They can't be spun or otherwise hidden from public view. And to some, they would be considered "negatives."

Maybe McCain's strategy of raising the age issue himself at almost every opportunity is his way of disarming or charming his adversaries by reducing the issue to the category of joke.
After all, jokes aren't made about Iraq, nor about the financial/housing crises---they're serious issues. But "age?"

It's the stuff Letterman, Leno & Co. can mine night after night, without concern for any negative sympathy-based responses from their audiences. The late-night comics would never ridicule someone whose has lost an arm or leg, or suffers from any physical malady.

The dems can beat McCain on the real, non-laughable issues; they run the risk of a sympathy backlash if they hit him too hard on his age. He can joke about it himself; Letterman can do the "10 Ways You Know John McCain is Awake" monologue every night---but gratuitous, duplicitous remarks such as Dean's only feed the public's perception that politicians are slime.