70-Year-Old Republican Senators: We're Too Old For VP

As you know, John McCain will 72 years old come election day. If elected, he would be the oldest first term president in our history (Ronald Reagan was 69 when elected).

But according to McCain, 72 isn't too old. He may be "older than dirt", as he says, but those decades and decades of service give him experience.

Yet some of his fellow Republican Senators disagree. The Hill conducted a survey of 97 U.S. Senators, to see which ones would accept a VP slot. Three of McCain's supporters said no, and for reasons that McCain might not like. Carpetbagger reports:

TPM posted an item noting the responses from some of the Republican caucus’ septuagenarians: “Don’t you find it odd that three Republican Senators (Thad Cochran, 70; Pete Domenici, 76; Chuck Grassley, 74) all noted that they were too old to be Vice President. Kind of odd given the circumstances of the current Republican nominee…”

Good point. Here are the specific responses:

* Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) — “When I was much younger I would have probably said, ‘Sure, I’ll be glad to accept it,’ but I’m 70 years [old] and they need a younger person for the job. I would probably tell them, ‘Look for somebody else.’ ”

* Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.) — “No. I’m too old.”

* Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) — “I’m too old to be vice president. But I am young enough to be reelected to the Senate.”

McCain is older than Cochran, and he will be the same age as the other two sometime during his first term. A VP has to be ready to assume the presidency at a moment's notice, so the age issue is the same. Perhaps somebody should ask McCain whether he agrees with his fellow Republicans (and half of America) that 70 is just too old for the presidency.