The New York Times has just noticed that water flows downhill.
Some suggested Mr. McCain might want to tap a younger running mate to balance the ticket, particularly if he were to face a young opponent like Mr. Obama, 46. Others said his age would simply heighten his need to choose somebody whom voters would feel comfortable with as president should anything happen to him. (Not to be morbid, but eight vice presidents have succeeded presidents who died in office.)
[...]
Mr. McCain’s advisers say the campaign has yet to discuss vice presidential prospects. “We haven’t spent one second talking about the selection of a running mate, and, as you know, he’s superstitious, so I doubt we will talk about it for a while,“ said Charlie Black, a veteran of many Republican presidential campaigns. Asked about the age factor, he drew on his past campaign experience for an analogy of how it might weigh in the selection.
“Reagan had a quote ‘age’ issue in 1980,“ Mr. Black said. “It wouldn’t go away until the day he picked George Bush as vice president. And then people said, well, here’s a known quantity, the guy has experience, including international experience, and, yeah, he could handle it.“ »
McCain’s Age May Figure in Choice of a Running Mate
Of course, John McCain is no Ronald Reagan. For one thing, Reagan had executive experience before seeking the presidency. For another, Reagan used to say—and mean—that you could get a lot more done when you didn’t care who got the credit.
McCain is too much in love with the spotlight to take something like that to heart.
Anyway, the NYT headline says McCain’s age “may” be a factor—which implies that it also may not. And that does seem to be the conclusion of the piece.
Whatever would we do without the New York Times to tell us these things?
*BFO = “Blinding Flash of the Obvious.“
