For all of you who so arrogantly mock Hillary, or even McCain, because of their age

[mtnsnake]

I would bet every last cent I have that there isn't a single one of you who could follow them around for one single day without dropping flat on your faces from sheer exhaustion, let alone for 3 or 4 months.

[Oleladylib]

1. how true

[DavidDvorkin]

2. What if we're in their age range? Can we mock them then?

My parents, who were already old in Reagan's time, mocked him and felt he was too old for the job. I'm older than Hillary, but Obama's youth and energy are among what I consider his positives.

[mtnsnake]

9. Why mock them, period, for their age when they obviously have more stamina & guts than most people

could ever dream of. Like them or hate them, there isn't a single one of these candidates on either side of the fence who isn't in some kind of amazing form, mentally and physically combined, to be able to go through that kind of a routine. Yet the mocksters can sit at their computers and poke fun of them for their age when most likely they couldn't walk a mile in any of their shoes.

[Warren Stupidity]

14. Mock Not or Punish Most

I have no idea what that means.

[DavidDvorkin]

21. You have a point

That tends to be true of career politicians in general, regardless of age. It does take a lot of physical stamina.

[pnwmom]

48. No. Being older doesn't give you an excuse for being stupid.

Hillary is only 60, which historically is typical for a President. And these days, 60 is much healthier than in the past.

[MaineDem]

3. I have no issue with Hillary's age

McCain's age and health make a completely different story.

[Divernan]

45. McCain's either lying or already has dementia/memory problems

re his lack of memory as to who he talked to and what he swore to in a deposition. Really, I'm a senior citizen and my family is very long-lived, i.e, into their mid-90's for the women and late 70's for the men. I have watched 2 older generations in my family age and suffer gradually progressive senile dementia. They can be physically in pretty good shape. Their bodies are still going strong, but the short term memory is abysmal. I think Clinton's mind is just fine. But McCain is alarming to me - especially his hair trigger temper. Personality traits like temper only get more extreme with age. His hand on the nuclear button - recipe for disaster.

[Debi]

4. I just watched the movie Marty

Ernest Borgnine's Aunt complains to his mother - I'm a 56 year old woman, I am old, I have nothing -:wow: I don't think so!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048356/


On edit:

Here's the quote:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Aunt Catherine: So I'm an old garbage bag put in the street, huh?... These are the worst years, I tell you. It's going to happen to you. I'm afraid to look in a mirror. I'm afraid I'm gonna see an old lady with white hair, just like the old ladies in the park with little bundles and black shawls waiting for the coffin. I'm fifty-six years old. And what am I gonna do with myself? I've got strength in my hands. I want to clean. I want to cook. I want to make dinner for my children. Am I an old dog to lay near the fire till my eyes close? These are terrible years, Theresa, terrible years... It's gonna happen to you. It's gonna happen to you! What are you gonna do if Marty gets married? Huh? What are you gonna cook? Where's all the children playing in all the rooms? Where's the noise? It's a curse to be a widow, a curse! What are you gonna do if Marty gets married? What are you gonna do?

[Warren Stupidity]

5. I'm just hoping that when I am McCame's age

the young gals will also find me strangely compelling.

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

7. LOL!

:rofl:

[Vinca]

6. True - that's why we're in our jammies behind a computer screen

and not out campaigning for something. So? McBush is still as old as dirt - he said it himself. On the other hand Hillary, who is only a year older than I am, is proving "60 is the new 40." :rofl:

[Exilednight]

8. If they're willing to put me on the campaign trail them with them, then i'm more than willing to ...

take that bet. As long as I can choose to eat when they eat, and choose to sleep when they sleep.

[mtnsnake]

12. But have you been one of the ones mocking them for their age?

If you know what it takes, I'll bet that you haven't mocked them for being older.

[Exilednight]

17. I don't mock them for their age.

[mtnsnake]

43. Glad to hear that. I didn't think you did.

[cali]

10. Hillary comes off as having great energy

and seems ageless to me, perhaps because she's so attractive and energetic. She sounds positive and enthusiastic. McCain? Yikes. He comes off as sapped of all that except when he's getting angry. Of course, he is almost 12 years older than she is and has a history of illness and hardship, but there's no comparison. And sorry, I'll continue to mock him at every opportunity.

[Clovis Sangrail]

11. you underestimate the physical prowess of DUers

I'm sure there are lots who couldn't keep up...
I'm just as sure there are some DUers McCain and Hillary wouldn't be able to keep up with.

[mtnsnake]

15. I'm sure SOME DUers could keep up, but not the ones who mock them for their age

I'll bet anything on that because the ones mocking them for age know nothing about what it takes, mentally and physically, to get though a marathon like the Primaries.

I suspect that the DU'ers who could keep up with them are the last ones to mock them in that regard.

[enid602]

13. generational

It's a generational thing; the Gen-X-ers are understandable anxious to have the baton passed to them. I currently work in a 2nd, post-career, pre-retirement job. Unlike my career job, this one does not offer retirement or a savings plan. All the Gen-X-ers I work with seem OK that their careers will be spent in jobs like these. They've never known anything else. When a candidate talks about entitlements like mandated, universal health care, it just doesn't resonate with them. I guess they've accepted a new reality. It's sad.

[juno jones]

22. We want those things too, but we're unlikely to get them

without change. You can't really claim babyboomers have kept them on the table for us.

25% of the popualation voted in 1980. We wound up with Reagan. Where were all the hot activists then? I graduated in 81 to a town with no jobs. I was too young to vote in that election, so Reagan wasn't my fault thank you.


Baby boomers fucked us over with their narcissism and now they want to blame us for being apathethic. God, we can't win for losing.

[juno jones]

24. PS, I'm 44

Not a fuzzy-headed girl by any stretch. And after 20 years I'm tired of being condescended to by the members of the generation that went before. I think while looking for ageism, you'd better take a look in the mirror.

The generations that follow you are survivors. They are making it despite the crap that has been thrown at them by the 'greatest' generation and the boomers.

A few of you really 'socked it to the man' in the 60's. And some good things happened. Now, as the 'younger generation' we finally want some. And suddenly we're 'haters'. Hah!


I'm getting $300 a month when I retire. SS tells me so every few months. An RV, a can of Friskies, and thou. So I'm a little ambivalent about worring if the ones who screwed me get a full ride. Sad, but true. Shoulda kept your eyes on the prize way back when we were all just gleams in some daddy's eye. Karma is a bitch and all that.

[enid602]

51. Hil

Then vote for Hillary. She's for mandated universal health care. And always, alwasy give to your 401K plan.

[juno jones]

54. Universal health care provided by the grace and

kindness of insurance companies, No thanks. That is not the real thing. Are we going to mandate that all doctors and hospitals take the govt brand insurance? Haven't heard a word on that and I just spent most of my day off waiting in line at an low-income clinic in town which is so overloaded with medicaid patients that there are waiting lists years long. "If your condition has progressed to the point of severe pain, then maybe we can see you if we have a no-show", is the jist of the little poster on the wall. Are we going to get a two-tiered system? Govt insurance gives one thing while 'private' hospitals still accept only the 'name brand'? With Hil there seem to be no guarantees, other than she likes that insurance lobby money an awful lot.

For the same amout of money that an insurance comapny wants out of me per month, I could be paying into a Canadian-style system that would be there when I needed it and not trying to screw me for every penny.

401 K?!? :rofl:

I make 13,000 a year. After rent, bills and a couple of luxuries like food, I have nothing else.

My mom pretty much lost her entire retirement because the state (IL) 401k's and pensions were invested in Enron. The good news was she was dying of cancer that she most likely got working as a PT in horribly outdated State Hospitals infested with asbestos. So she didn't need it after all.

You boomers like to say, "Hell, I'm so cynical now, so realistic."

I've been cynical and have had to deal with the reality of this system since I was 18. I have worked to make other people rich and I ain't getting jackshit for it. I've seen my parents...who lobbied for ERA, who taught me to recycle, who showed me a reverence for nature...die far before their time, utlimately failed by the systems in which they had placed their trust. The same ones you reference in statements about health insurance and 401 K's.

Hillary holds no promise for me.

And (sorry, Im sure you meant well...but ) this is the kind of condescension that we are heartily sick of. The system doesn't work the same way for us. We've been telling boomers this for years and we get labeled as apathetic slackers for our pains.

[enid602]

55. health care

The multi-payer system has worked OK in France; if it doesn't here, I don't see why we can't convert to the Canadian-style single payer system in the future. As for your Mom's story, I can't even think of the words to say how it makes me feel; a story much too common in this country during the last generation. But don't be fooled, unmandated universal health care is basically what we have now.

[alphafemale]

16. McCain to put it in redneck..."Dun luk Gud"

I hate to be morbid but I have doubts of his shelf life.

[Bucky]

57. Don't worry about McCain's "shelf life".

His mama's lived to 91 and she, too, was captured by the Vietnamese and cruelly tortured for 5 years. Tough broad.

[rodeodance]

18. I really wish the agist comments would stop.

[Catchawave]

27. Nobody complains about the Pope's age :)

And he oversees many, many more people !

Then again, I remember the days when I thought 30 was REALLY old.

[rodeodance]

31. :-)

[cboy4]

19. I can't stand McCain, but I hope I'm able to move

around the same way when I'm his age.

Look like him? Not so much.

[OHdem10]

20. Just remeber many people believe Obama is too young

too young too young as well as lacking in experience.

[mtnsnake]

23. I haven't noticed many people on DU getting on Obama's case because he's too young

yet I've noticed hundreds of arrogant and snotty remarks leveled at Hillary because of her age, which to me is not only arrogant and insensitive but so ironic because the people making those remarks are always the kinds of fools who couldn't walk a mile in her shoes without dropping. OTOH, the people who don't make those comments are well aware of what it takes.

[Bongo Prophet]

47. Whether they could match the stamina or not, it is rude and dismissive.

My dad had more energy than I have ever had in my life.
Regardless, we should not be dismissive of those older OR younger, but judge them by their character.

If we spent more time teaching and mentoring the new voters (whether for Clinton or Obama) instead of demeaning them, we will be better of.
It is just the right thing to do, and there would be less generational resentment.

[Thirtieschild]

25. I'm 19 months older than McCain, husband is 14 months younger

I don't consider either of us old, but ... our thinking isn't as quick as it once was and our reflexes aren't as sharp. It's not so much that the muscles don't react as quickly (though they don't) but that it takes longer for the mind to register that action needs to be taken. Also, even though we are both writers, the words don't come as easily as they once did. By our experience, I'd say McCain is too old for the job.

We don't consider Hillary too old, but our granddaughters do. As the 19-year-old put it, "all the old white women are going to vote for her." Had to tell her that I know lots of old white women and that only two - one 39 and one 56 -were going to vote for Hillary. I'm using her definition of old here, not mine.

[windbreeze]

26. Age limits on the front side....but no limits on the back side...

and I think there should be, period!...I haven't made any comments about either candidate's age in particular other than McCain is too old...A person cannot run for Pres., unless they have reached the age of 35...imo, a person should not be able to run for pres., once they have passed 65 or at the very latest, 70...Once retirement age has been reached, that should be it, it's time for new and younger blood, someone who's not living in yesteryear, but instead has a full grasp of today's problems, and how they need dealt with by today's standards...

I myself am 67, and there is no way in hell that I believe any man or woman should be running for pres., at or beyond my age...Hillary is not too old at 60, but McCain sure as hell is at what? 72??? age WOULD keep me from voting for a person...call that whatever you care too, it doesn't bother me...I'm not sure how old Barack is, but it seems he is right in the prime of life? 47? Does that qualify him to be any better a president, perhaps not...but at least someone his age should manage to stay awake and alert, not fall off podiums, couches, bicycles, or repeat a sentence in a speech three times, before moving on to the next one....

No matter what we feel we are capable of...The fact remains that as ANY person gets older, we slow down, whether or not we want too...our bodies and minds are NOT as sharp and as quick as they were at 40, 50, or even 60, and some, if not all of us become stubborn and set in our ways....We need to ask ourselves if we are willing to risk our country's welfare, to prove a point, that someone over 70 would make a good president...IF you are willing to risk that, fine...at my age, I am not......wb

[asdjrocky]

28. Come on Snake, like I need your 26 cents.

:smoke:

[Unsane]

29. faux outrage much?

[rodeodance]

33. much overused retort. and fails to address the issue.

[Unsane]

34. "rails"? lol

LOL before rodeodance edits his/her post, let the record show that he/she accused me of "railing" to address the issue. roflmao

[rodeodance]

37. mocking posters with typos shows your immaturity.

[Unsane]

39. I think you mean: "it rails to show my maturity."

lmao

[Straight Shooter]

41. Let it go. You've been mocked on this board by your own. n/t

[Unsane]

44. Thanks. Now go play with your blocks.

[Straight Shooter]

52. Why, thank you. You go play with your AntiChrist. n/t

[mtnsnake]

42. I see it takes very little to amuse you

That's a sure sign

[goldcanyonaz]

30. Ageism and sexism are considered cool around here.

Viva la Unity!

[GoldieAZ49]

32. Agreed, I realized that with New Hampshire...amazing stamina

I would like to be able to do that now, let alone 10-20 years from now.

Saying McCain is to old to be viable at 71 is bullshit, as his 96 yr old mother looks on. It would be a mistake to write him off.

[ecstatic]

35. Very true. I tire easily

I've never made fun of Clinton's age, BTW.

[Seabiscuit]

36. Regardless of age, presidential candidates' stamina all year astounds me.

The schedule and demands on their energy seems inhumanly gruesome.

[rodeodance]

38. I agree.

[Divernan]

46. And we have also seen how cruelly the office ages them.

As an Obama supporter, I can vote for Clinton in the GE and have no doubt that she can handle the mental and physical demands of the office. But I think McCain (as I detailed in a post above) would be a disaster.

[jab105]

40. I probably could...but I'm training for an Ironman triathlon:)

[jillan]

49. I'd like to remind them not to blink.

[AX10]

50. True.

[Beacool]

53. I don't know about Mccain,

but following Hillary around for one day is enough to exhaust most healthy people. The woman has more stamina than most people half her age, she's been getting very little sleep and still she manages to look well put together and that's pretty hard to do on short notice (as any woman can attest to it).

[Bucky]

56. Can I at least mock McCain for surviving cancer and Clinton for having a normal body shape?

I've got to do something to show how shallow I am. Throw me a bone here, Snake!

[blm]

58. I agree with that. They are human and make mistakes on such grueling schedules.

Anyone would. They ALL do.

If anyone ran on the idea that THEIR campaign will be a well-oiled machine that doesn't make mistakes, then they set themselves up for closer scrutiny and a huge fall.