Depends for gramps

[Dems4HowardDean]

[IndyOp]

1. Attacking McCain's age is wrong, in part because "McCain Aims for Backlash Among Seniors"

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x6328744

[SDuderstadt]

2. Yeah, it's a particularly stupid strategy as...

America's population "grays".

[Uncle Joe]

3. Reminds me of the joke of and old and young bull on the hill looking down on some cows.

The young bull says let's run down there and get a cow, then the old bull says let's walk down there and get many cows.

[Dems4HowardDean]

4. I don't think he's will get votes because he's old.

[Uncle Joe]

5. He may not but if you alienate the elderly, Obama is likely to lose some. n/t

[Dems4HowardDean]

6. But you gain alot of voters who may think "wow he's too old to run".

[Uncle Joe]

7. You don't need to harp on age as an issue, people that believe he's too old already

believe it, at some point the law of diminishing returns kicks in and all you get is backlash.

If you believe his health is too poor for the rigors of office or his judgment is unsound, that's a different matter, but age's effects are different to different people and yet age is universal, so attacking age in and of it self, only serves McCain's purposes.

[IndyOp]

9. I don't think you will get a lot of voters who think "wow he's too old to run"

- particularly not when all someone does is call him a name (gramps) and state that he needs "depends" --- that stuff will just make voters angry.

In our culture, virtually EVERYONE who looks at him immediately thinks "wow he's too old to run."

If you are going to discuss problems he may have as a President then just discuss the specific problems - lack of energy, concentration, poor memory and skip the discussion of age, and really, really, really skip name-calling and insults.

Calling 'the other guy' names just makes us look lazy. :eyes:

[hokies4ever]

15. Any more wrong for attacking Obama for being young?

Why is ageism only a one-way street? Pretty soon McCain will be calling Obama 'boy'.

[IndyOp]

17. I never, ever said it was okay for anyone to attack Obama on his age.

If Obama is attacked on his age, I hope he responds quickly and firmly with a list of his accomplishments and a long, long list of John McCain's poor decisions and behaviors. 'Experience' doesn't mean anything if all McCain has accumulated is a long list of negatives on which he can be attacked -- he worked to outlaw torture and then he caved on it, he helped write "ethics reform" legislation after he was implicated in the Keating 5 scandal...

[hokies4ever]

18. Age and experience are different things

[IndyOp]

20. The only reason to attack someone on their youth is to attack them for

not having adequate experience or for not having judgment.

If McCain could directly attack Obama re: inadequate experience or poor judgment then he would do that -- the fact that he is flirting with attacking Obama on his age suggests that McCain knows he can't attack Obama on the more substantive issues of inadequate experience or poor judgment. McCain is a "Washington insider" -- all of his experience could easily be interpreted by voters as the wrong kind of experience.

Attacking someone on their age shows that you don't have anything better to say.

[mulsh]

8. you know what, read what McCain has to say

“I admire and respect Senator Obama. For a young man with very little experience, he’s done very well. So I appreciate-with his very, very great lack of experience and knowledge of the issues, he’s been very successful,” McCain said to laughter from the more than 500 supporters gathered at an airport hangar rally Thursday afternoon. “So, don’t get me wrong-I admire and respect Senator Obama, but he does not have the knowledge, background or judgment to lead this nation in these difficult and challenging times and I do. And I can keep this nation prosperous and secure.”

The dig at Obama, 46, echoes a similar line President Reagan used during a 1984 presidential debate when he defered a question about his age by reversing the issue on his younger opponent, Walter Mondale.

“I want you to know that also I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit for political purposes my opponent’s youth and inexperience,” Reagan joked. “If it was not for the elders correcting the mistakes of the young, there would be no state.”


age is certainly on the table. McCain's age is fair game as far as my senior citizen relatives are concerned.

http://embeds.blogs.foxnews.com/2008/05/22/mccain-makin... /


edit to add link

[Uncle Joe]

10. I believe this is because McCain is baiting Obama, he knows

when Obama responds in kind, the corporate media will be sympathetic to McCain.

I contend the best approach or strategy for Obama is simply to tie McCain to a continuation of radioactive Bush because McCain does indeed support Bush's disastrous policies and as long as Obama stays with that approach, I believe he will win.

[Killy]

11. Yeah.

I'm really glad I'm not the only one who feels this way. You can easily cite specific reasons such as "poor memory" as you stated, but the name calling and insults are simply self-defeating. The fact that McCain put age on the table is not necessarily a smooth move on his part or an effective reason to respond in derogatory rather than objective kind.

[Uncle Joe]

12. After the past decade or so, I have no doubt who the corporate media

will paint as the villain and who will be the victim.

I believe Obama should stay on the high road so as not to give the corporate media an excuse to hammer him. Of course they will make things up anyway, but I believe this is where the Internet can help counter balance corporate media slander and libel.

[mulsh]

13. I agree with you. Obama is great at getting his message across.

But there's no reason for any of us supporters not to make disparaging remarks about his corrupt old opponent. If his name comes up I try to focus on the facts from McCain's long and lucrative dealing with bankers and lobbyists,oh and his advanced age.

[Uncle Joe]

14. I agree regarding the corruption,

however I also believe if too many supporters make a habit of make disparaging remarks regarding age, the corporate media will tie it to Obama, anything negative can and will be tied to him.

[hokies4ever]

16. Agreed. McCain is flirting with danger attacking Obama's age.

[IndyOp]

19. I agree - and I look forward to him continuing the flirtation and eventually

trying to get to first base. The longer McCain attacks Obama on his age the more bitter he will look -- an attack on Obama re: age indicates that McCain can't attack him on anything stronger.