Let alone a second. Of course he says he will, but I wonder. He’s old. And what better for the Republicans than for McCain to step down after 2-3 years ‘for medical reasons’ and leave a new, sitting VP-now-POTUS to contest the next election. And what better for him? He will have retired honourably and if his VP fluffs it, then he gets none of the blame.
He’s going through all this to serve for 2-3 years? Nope, don’t buy it for a second. What’s in it for him?
His mom’s 96. I’m sure he expects to make 80, at least. If elected, I’ve no doubt he fully intends to do the whole 4, with a shot at making it 8.
Where do people get this nonsense?
Anywho, John McCain has many years on him yet, if you believe genetics play any factor.
Meet his 95 year old mother.
Was his mother in Hoa Lo also? Seems that would be a factor in life expectancy.
Of course he intends to serve a full term, and probably two, but I think a good deal of the interest in his VP is that there’s just a better chance that whoever it is will be called up. The stress of the presidency obviously ages people, and he’s long in the tooth to begin with.
Yes. I remember all the speculation about Cheney resigning in 2006 to allow some one to be the heir apparent.
If McCain is elected at all, I’d expect the Republicans to cling to that victory tightly, not piss it away by pulling their starting President in the third inning to bring in a right-handed reliever. Hell, they don’t have anybody warming up in the bullpen.
The Republicans have got to know that McCain’s in trouble. He’s all over the plate, his curve ball is hanging, and he’s walked a couple of guys. They don’t really have anybody else; all their other pitchers are out of gas. Bush just pitched a double-header and isn’t available, and Cheney’s ERA is sky-high. They’re just going to have to hope that McCain can pitch himself out of a jam, so they can save their bullpen for the next couple of games.
Meet his Father and Grandfather
Actually you can’t, they’re both dead, at ages 70 and 61 respectively. So if genetics play a factor, the current John McCain will die in either minus 10 or minus one year. Of course that’s silly, but then, so is trying to figure out his life expectancy based on any single relative.
Sorry, missed the edit window. But anyways, I started a thread a while back asking what the statistical likelyhood that, if elected, McCain will die sometime during the next four or eight years. The answer, based on mortality tables, was 15% chance of passing before he hit 76, 33% chance before he hits 80.
Of course we could probably fine tune that answer somewhat. On the one hand, I would imagine if we could find a similar table for just members of upper-class backgrounds it would probably lower those numbers a bit. On the other hand, if we could find a table that accounted for x # of years smoking, or one that had the percentages of not just dying but being severely incapacitated by health issues, then I imagine that would lower them.
Still, I think those figures give a much better picture of McCain’s likely life expectancy then simply saying “his mom’s 96, therefore he’s got at least another decade in him”.
Here’s the thread, btw: linkage
Beats me. It seems like they believe all these politicos are just tools of a Party machine. But the machine is dead and the politicians, even if they believe in their ideas, think of themselves first and foremost. Nobody runs for office like this just to quit and pave the way for someone else - not Cheney, not McCain, not anybody.
But their bullpen is a mess. The guy from Arkansas is wild, the guy from Massachusetts keeps throwing change-ups which get hit, the guy from New York talked a good game but could never get anyone out, and the guy from Tennessee was so boring that his catcher fell asleep by the third inning.
These clowns are going to need some help from the Ole Debbil to get anywhere near a pennant.
I will never understand why everyone always talks about McCain as if he’s about to drop dead any second. Like others have said, he has the genes of longevity on his side. People are forgetting that Obama, on the other hand, has a high risk of dying - by assassination. The first black president? He could be killed within his first week as president, if some racist lunatic is intent on it.
I don’t know why you say that. Historically, all of our Presidents who have been shot have been white. So logically McCain’s the one in greater danger.
McCain so wants to be president that he has spent the last eight years with his head up President Bush’s ass on the off chance the weasels running the Republican party would let him run if he ate enough shit.
He has sold every principle he ever believed in, and the opportunity to be President has broken him more thoroughly than five years in a bamboo cage. Do you think he plans to serve a couple of years and step down? For what, to have his face on a Presidential quarter?
The ironic thing is, he doesn’t seem to remember why he wants to be President. He doesn’t seem to have any kind of grand vision, and all of his plans are apparently based on continuing President Bush’s war and economic policies. He’s like a dog chasing a car, he wants it badly enough to die chasing it, but has no idea what to do with it. If he’s elected, and I think he’s got better than a 50/50 chance, he’ll be carried out of the Oval Office on a slab before he quits.
And Reagan was less than a month short of 70 when he took office. He went on to serve two full terms (though for much of the last one he seemed to be keeping the seat warm more than anything), and lived for another fifteen years after that. Aside from being somewhat disabled from his experience in The Bad Place, I don’t see any indication that he’s about ready to keel over. On the other hand, FDR was crippled throughout his presidency and was chronically ill for much of his last terms (most notable in his foreshortened fourth term), which didn’t stop him from being an effective leader until the very end.
There are plenty of valid criticisms of McCain, but age and health really aren’t two of them.
With impeccable logic like that, you should be Secretary of Energy, or Secretary of Defense, or maybe Health and Human Services. Where does your fancy lie?
Stranger
Bob Dole was 76 in 1996, yet he would have served two full terms with no problem.
Obviously the VP selection is more important for an older candidate than a younger candidate, but there’s no reason to assume McCain won’t be able to serve two full terms, much less just one.
His dad died at 70. The male parent of a man is a better indicator of life projection. Women do usually live longer.
McCain has dealt with cancer and the left side of his face seems to be morphing into something or another. Paul Tsongas ran for President in '88 with the claim he had beaten cancer, but he would not have survived his term had he won.
My money would be on McCain getting through his first term alive, but it’s not close to a sure thing. Nevertheless, there is no way he’s running just so he can step aside. Who would do that?
I object to that. I thought it a perfectly fair and interesting question. If the question is not of interest to you, then find another thread in which to post.
And as to the where, stuck in a traffic jam on the M25.