The Man Who Would Be the Oldest President

Boston Globe 3/28/2008,

It was probably not wise for the 64-year-old Brit Hume to describe the 71-year-old John McCain as having a "senior moment." A blip would have been better. Or a gaffe. Or even a dent in the candidate's "experience" armor. But when the traveling senator confused Shi'ites and Sunnis, when he conflated Al Qaeda with all extremists, the "senior moment" phrase uttered by the Fox newsman got velcroed to the story of The Man Who Would Be the Oldest President in American History. Age? Ageism? Or realism? We've been holding a heated debate about race and gender all season. But age has been relegated to a late-night laugh line by the likes of David Letterman, 60, who described McCain as "the kind of guy who picks up his TV remote when the phone rings."