McCain Tries to Make Age Issue a Laughing Matter
On Sunday, septuagenarian and Republican presidential nominee John McCain's advanced age once again jumped to forefront of the 2008 campaign. Over at the Politico, Jonathan Martin pondered whether McCain's age will emerge as an issue. Meanwhile, the New York Times editorial page demanded 71-year old Arizona Senator finally release his medical records, a long overdue disclosure especially important in light of his bouts with skin cancer. For everyone but John McCain himself, the man who has repeatedly joked about himself as "older than dirt," the GOP candidate's age is no laughing matter.
McCain has been making fun of his age - and telling the same joke - for years. At the November 30, 2006 event with Republican governors in Florida, McCain offered up his now standard septuagenarian punchline:
"I am older than dirt. More scars than Frankenstein."
When asked by Reader's Digest in February 2007 "how are you going to answer the question when people say, 'I just think he's too old?'" McCain trotted out his old reliable response:
"I think I would say that I'm older than dirt. That I have more scars than Frankenstein. That I've learned a few things along the way. Anyone who has accompanied me in the two months before the last election, or while I was hiking in the Grand Canyon or doing many of the things that I do regularly, can attest to the fact that I'm capable of keeping a very rigorous schedule."
The next month, USA Today featured McCain offering the same "older than dirt" rim shot. Then during a December 2007 MTV/MySpace event broadcast live, McCain stumbled and bumbled his way through the joke to a very forgiving youth audience:
"I'm older than Frankenstein. I gotta few scars. I'm older than dirt and I've got more scars than Frankenstein...Screwed up that line."
(The venerable joke appears about two and a half minutes into the video.)
While John McCain has apparently been granted a dispensation to ridicule his perpetual senior moment, the opposition has not been so fortunate. Just last week, DNC research director Mike Gehrke was reprimanded for repurposing online a Jay Leno quip:
"You know what you call someone who digs up dirt on John McCain? An archeologist."
Back in 1984, then 73-year old Ronald Reagan dispensed with the age question by standing it on its head. During a debate with Walter Mondale, Reagan joked, "I am not going to exploit for political purposes my opponent's youth and inexperience." But having already made himself the subject of the punchline, self-proclaimed Reagan foot soldier John McCain has guaranteed the issue of his age (50% of those surveyed in a 2007 Pew poll said they would be less likely to vote for a candidate in his 70's) won't go away.
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