ABC Panel Tears Into McCain: Not Presidential, Age Should Be An Issue

For John McCain, the panel discussion on This Week with George Stephanopoulos could not have been more brutal.

Minutes after conservative columnist George Will declared that the Senator was decidedly un-presidential is his unexpected call for the firing of SEC Chairman Chris Cox, Sam Donaldson, the long-time ABC hand, said that McCain's erratic message on the economy again raised questions about his age.

"I suppose the McCain campaign's hope is that when there's a big crisis, people will go for age and experience," said Will. "The question is, who in this crisis looked more presidential, calm and un-flustered? It wasn't John McCain who, as usual, substituting vehemence for coherence, said 'let's fire somebody.' And picked one of the most experienced and conservative people in the administration, Chris Cox, and for no apparent reason... It was un-presidential behavior by a presidential candidate."

Donaldson then jumped in: "It was two days after the he said the fundamentals of the economy were strong. His talking points have gotten all mixed up. And I think the question of age is back on the table."

It should be noted that McCain's call for the firing of Cox was dismissed right off the bat, as the president does not have the authority to axe an SEC chairman. The criticisms that Donaldson raised concerned the fact that McCain started the week by touting the fundamentals of the economy, before pivoting into fits of populist mantra and calling for increased regulation of the markets - position at odds with McCain's traditional economic philosophies.

"When I say age," he explained, "I don't know the difference between finding your talking points and not delivering the right ones, we have seen him do this frequently but this last week was the worst. Between two stops in Florida, as you say, he had to revise his thinking about what he wanted to say about the economy, wanted to feel the pain suddenly than say everything is great."

The whole, painful, episode crested with Will leveling an even harsher blow.

"John McCain showed his personality this week," said the writer and pundit, "and made some of us fearful."

Comments

[Siristone]

06:04 AM on 09/25/2008

McCain should not be president of the US or any organizati­on.

Age and experience in my opinion work against McCain- remember his "cutsey" Beach Boys
Barbra Ann -"Bomb, Bomb Iran" SNAFU? And many other inappropri­ate remarks? Reminds me of another older president (Reagan) with senior moments that scared the hell out of people that the Pubs laughed off.

As I tried to post last week, McCain has had way to many public "senior moments". This is not just my opinion. Frank Rich commented weeks ago that McCains foggy thinking is the most under reported issue of his campaign. Look it up . Rich's Aug 16 column says- "on the campaign trail McCain frequently forgets key elements of policies, gets countries’ names wrong, forgets things he’s said only hours or days before and is frequently just confused.” The NY Times wasn't scared to report on McCains lack of suitabitly as a candidate because of senior issues. Are your moderators again going deem my little posts as extreme and not post this??

What about the first ammendment ?

[redpepper]

07:43 PM on 09/24/2008

Well you can certainly tell the the Washington Post (Huffpost) is Democratic and very Liberal.
Age and experience is exactly what this Presidenti­al Campaign is all about people. McCain has the age eand experience to more than do the job. Maybe some of the reporters who are getting up there in age should retire. And, maybe some of the television hosts who are getting up there should retire. They have lost their objectivit­y and most definitely aren't aware of the fact that there are more seniors out there who prefer age and experience to the lacl of both on Senator Obamas side. I will personally sleep better with McCain in the White House. I used to enjoy the Washington Post, but it just has lost so much credibilit­y due to its lack of integrity and honest reporting.

[terkid]

08:20 PM on 09/24/2008

"I will personally sleep better with McCain in the White House. "

You're asleep already, pal, Wake up and smell the b.s....
before we all have to eat it.

[IhateNeoCons]

09:06 PM on 09/24/2008

honest reporting is telling the truth, not placating mindless morons who don't think, and vote against their own best interest. frankly, I don't much care if McCain wins. essentiall­y people like you will keep electing unqualifie­d lunatics and idiots until those same choices come back to bite you like a giant Darwin award. one might feel sorry for the people on the other side with brains, but then again, they shouldn't have stood by for 30 years and let it get to this point so they are not blameless. if they can't realize the effort needed now is so much larger because of their previous inaction, then they too will pay dearly.

you do realize of course that you are watching the end of wall street as the economic center of the world economy right? delude yourself that this is not the case if you need to, but it will be no more than a couple of decades now before China, India, and Europe are the big dogs economical­ly, and the U.S. is eating scraps. you must be soooo proud! what a legacy for your spawn.

[undrgrndgirl]

09:52 PM on 09/24/2008

sorry, but i've been fighting the repuglican lie for 30 years...i vote, i write, i email, i talk...to no avail. i am in NO WAY to blame for the atrocities of the current administra­tion. many of us did not "stand by for 30 years and LET it get to this point" - we have been sounding the alarm for 30 years. unfortunat­ely having the truth behind you does not keep idiots from getting into office - i mean its not like i could have stopped the supreme court from appointing W in 2000 and i have no way to keep diebold (liebold - bold lies?) from "miscounti­ng" votes. i will not sit by and let you blame ME for the problems we now face, i've done everything in MY power to stop it - what did YOU do?

[spaghettidinner]

03:20 PM on 09/24/2008

Raisin, McCain.
http://dig­g.com/2008­_us_electi­ons/Raisin­_McCain_6

[RevMike]

12:13 PM on 09/24/2008

PBS is doing a poll which asks if Palin is qualified to be VP. The right
wing has organized a yes campaign--­and the 'yes' is at the moment winning.
Takes literally 5 seconds, go to:

http://www­.pbs.org/n­ow/polls/p­oll-435.ht­ml

[tuttabella]

02:32 AM on 09/25/2008

Didn't click on the link above but instead went directly to PBS site to take the poll. Couldn't find this "poll" anywhere on their website (www.pbs.or­g). This is not to say it's not legit, but I couldn't find this poll on the legit PBS site. I'm not saying anything..­.. I'm just saying....­........

[southbay]

03:14 AM on 09/25/2008

That poll has been over for a while. PBS polls only last for a day. This one lives on only because of a lot of netizens have embarked on a spam campaign, emailing the direct address of the web page around the internet. If you search for pbs + palin + poll + results you'll find an article posted to the pbs site talking about the phenomenon­.

[Kwaayesnama]

11:43 AM on 09/24/2008

AGE IS NOT THE ISSUE
The People That McCain Owes Alegence To is the issue.
John McCain is in the pocket of oil companies?
John McCain is in the pocket of insurance companies?
John McCain is in the pocket of pharmaceut­ical companies?
John McCain in the pocket of the mortgage companies?
John McCain in the pocket of the banking industry?
Here is a list of lobbyists and employees of major companies working in major positions in the McCain campaign. It will answer any questions you might have about the people who are advising and influencin­g him.
http://mcc­ainsource.­com/corrup­tion?id=00­06

[VoterinVirginia]

11:36 AM on 09/24/2008

Get the facts. Rightchang­e.com

[11907281]

07:26 PM on 09/24/2008

Get a life, stop the spam.

[alady]

10:57 AM on 09/24/2008

This is by far my favorite election footage thus far, even better than Obama's acceptance speech!

[JohnnieP]

10:29 AM on 09/24/2008

When the phone rings at 3:00 A.M. in the McCain White hOUSE, John McCain will be in the master bathroom taking his 15th leak of the night.

[sedum]

08:39 AM on 09/25/2008

Hasn't he got handlers for that?

[theplaintrutho1]

10:20 AM on 09/24/2008

Let me get this straight, 5 pundits, a mixed bag of right, left and middle, all agree somethings wrong with the mac camp. Before I agree,allo­w me to qualify my statements­.
I'm a fiscal conservati­ve that believed that blacks should not benefit from welfare or social programs that contribute­d to them being permanent 2ND class citizens, although I knew, from share numbers alone, whites benefited more from those programs including affirmativ­e-action.
Than there was the problem of so many on the left, trying to define my religious beliefs while making me sound like a religious-­wacko.

Bill's infideliti­es was His problem, along with his family and higher-pow­er. Who am I to judge? While NY Senator Chuck S. defending the abominatio­ns that took place in Waco, TX. made me sick to my stomach.

After giving you some idea as to where I stand:
As a Repug I say I do believe in "country-f­irst", and I foolishly believed in 2000 that G. was much more inspiring than Al.

"Country-F­irst" is not what Mac is about, nor are the tro lls, right-wing­s, or uneducated commentato­rs that are willing to through away their vote for Mac & P.

Anyone willing to vote party first over country, is a traitor.

[southbay]

03:16 AM on 09/25/2008

Wow! I think you just said you're voting Obama! Right on!

[Johnjlws]

10:10 AM on 09/24/2008

Now close your eyes for a moment and imagine "the Maverick" under the pressure of this office.

If that doesn't scare the republican out of people, there's truly no hope.

[gladtobebaldwin]

07:53 AM on 09/24/2008

Get ready for the debates. Obama should have a picnic.

http://myr­ealitytele­vision.com­/2008/09/t­he-preside­ntial-deba­tes-2008fu­ll-schedul­e/

[zerotimes10]

02:22 PM on 09/24/2008

gladtobeba­ldwin: You said, "Obama should have a picnic." Not if half the country likes the dumb guy because he's more like they are.

[southbay]

03:17 AM on 09/25/2008

Hey ... Who would you rather have a beer with?

[DannyEastVillage]

03:56 AM on 09/24/2008

at last the media are fed up with McCain. funny. his crappy politics haven't been enough--bu­t when McC attacks the PRESS--THA­T'S GOING TOO FAR.

[kjwhite]

01:32 AM on 09/24/2008

What bothers me most about McCains most recent "senior moments" is his apparent inability to admit to a mistake. This is NOT a quality I want in a leader. It's dangerous. I think this is what Sam Donaldson was trying to point out. No matter what blunder McCain makes, they insist "He meant to say that."

When you would rather save face than to risk our foreign relations, you do not belong in the White House. Just look at the recent interview with the reporter from Spain, when she asked again and again if he'd be willing to meet with Spanish Prime Minister Jose Zapatero (he's previously stated many times he was looking forward to meeing with him) but because he could not remember WHO Zapatero was and somehow thought he must be some "South American" leader, gave an answer that amounted to a snub. It was soon splashed across the headlines - McCain Snubs Spain! He could have easily said I misunderst­ood her, but no, insisted he meant to do that.

This does not make me feel very safe. What will he "misunders­tand" the next time and not admit to? What if the next leader he insults takes it personally­, or he causes an internatio­nal incident?

Here is my take on it....Pali­n really was recruited by Bush, they are counting on McCain kicking the bucket and she will be Bush's new mouthpiece in the White house...(o­k, just a little humor)...o­h alright, I meant to say that.

[txvoodoo]

02:47 AM on 09/24/2008

We've had 8 years of someone who can't admit a mistake.

Oh, and I think Palin is a Cheney/Rov­e pick, for same reasons you mention.

[watchdog911]

01:18 AM on 09/24/2008

DEWEY BEACH, Delaware (CNN) -- Although Democratic vice presidenti­al candidate Joe Biden routinely mocks his Republican counterpar­t, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, for her onetime support of the infamous "Bridge to Nowhere," Biden and his running mate voted to keep the project alive twice.

http://www­.cnn.com/2­008/POLITI­CS/09/23/b­iden.earma­rks/index.­html

[JustLeftOfRight]

08:16 PM on 09/24/2008

No, they just call out her LIES on her position on the matter. She WAS for the Bridge to Nowhere and ensists she wasn't. She only said when it became politicall­y convenient­. Frankly, I don't think she's capable of forming an intelligen­t position on anything Sound Bite Sarah.

[iChoose]

12:57 AM on 09/24/2008

After all this if McCain wins, there is something wrong with the voters.

[DannyEastVillage]

03:55 AM on 09/24/2008

I DONT SEE HOW YOU CAN SAY THAT AFTER THE LAST TWO PRESIDENTI­AL ELECTIONS.