Does McCain look like a healthy man to you?

[NNN0LHI]

His left eye is almost swollen shut. His whole face is all puffed up. He don't look steady on his feet. He can't open his mouth without making a huge gaff.

This is not an attack McCain thread or one looking for sympathy for him either. It is just a simple question. Does he look healthy to you?

Our media seems unable to notice this even when they are standing right next to him. Like this subject is taboo to even ask him about.

But honestly McCain looks more like a guy who should be running for the emergency room rather than for president to me.

What do you think? Am I imagining things?

Don

[NMDemDist2]

1. i don't think he looks healthy at all

and he's looking worse everyday IMO

[truebrit71]

2. No. Not at all. And the strange thing is that he has appeared to get worse...

...the more he convolutes his positions...for every flip/flop the more uncomfortable he seems...

Maybe that isn't so strange, maybe that's his body telling him something...

[donco6]

3. I haven't thought he looked well for some time.

Does he have health problems? He does look awfully puffy . . . ? I hate to slam him for that if it's true, but in an election, it can be an issue.

[Cronus Protagonist]

4. He has a living alien implant in his left jawbone

Sometimes it causes him some trouble.

[Cheney Killed Bambi]

5. Photo?

If there a particular photo you're referring to?

[NNN0LHI]

8. I have been seeing him being interviewed on cable TV

Looks like he just went 15 rounds with Muhammad Ali in his prime.

Don

[Raven]

6. You're not imagining...

I saw him up here in Keene, NH a month or so ago and I thought he looked very puffy and very pasty. This is an awful schedule for anyone, much less a man his age, to endure.

[marmar]

7. I don't think he's mentally healthy....

In all seriousness, he increasingly sounds like he's suffering from some sort of dementia.

[asjr]

17. I agree. I have thought that

for some time now. He would certainly deny it but someone needs to really talk to him. He just isn't the man he was a few years ago.

[Poiuyt]

40. He keeps making statements and then coming back within a few hours to

to correct what he had just said. Usually after a campaign aide has had a chance to whisper in his ear. Definitely not as sharp as he used to be.

[JitterbugPerfume]

43. dementia was my first thought

He just aint right

[NYCGirl]

9. No...

WALNUTS!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uuoyKKcAwU

[Poiuyt]

10. He needs to have an aide comb his hair for him

This was from his war injuries I believe. A legitimate excuse, but how would that affect him down the road? Could he withstand the rigors of the presidency?

[NNN0LHI]

15. I think he had some cancer removed from his face a few years ago too

I am pretty sure of this.

Don

[Richard Steele]

41. Yes, and his facial puffiness is caused by meds he's had to take ever since.

His current MENTAL deterioration, however, I have no guess about.

[Wickerman]

11. He reminds me of something out of Brazil, the Terry Gilliam movie

but maybe it's just me.




Seriously, I haven't seen much of him lately, but he did seem a little puffier than he used to be. Seems you should go into such a contest in fighting trim...

[BuyingThyme]

12. Need not worry about what he looks like; just listen to what he says.

Any psychologists want to take a shot?

[MasonJar]

13. Let Katie Couric interview him; she has no compunction about what

she asks...well, dems at least.

[Old and In the Way]

14. I think he's sick and his campaign is imploding.

Sad to see him go from a politician who'd speak his mind regardless of Party position to a mouthpiece of Bush talking points. I really think he's out in 6 months.

[VP505]

16. I think he might

be stressed to the max and exhausted as well, it can't be easy at his age to be going non-stop with campaigning and working in the Senate as well.

[Avalux]

18. No. He wears that heavily padded leather bomber jacket to cover it up.

I noticed that the other day when he was speaking. The jacket is enormous and he's wearing it to make him look youthful and tough; I think it looks rather absurd. Can't stand the guy so I guess I probably can't give an objective opinion.

[I_Make_Mistakes]

19. He looks like he is on medical steroid treatment. Not to be funny,

I know someone that was on steroids (medically) and looked like the Pillsbury Dough Boy, but, more swelled than fat. His one side of the jaw is also, symptomatic of a swollen gland, and has not dissipated in the last year. There are signs that he is not gonna be around long, and, as he has traded his soul, maybe for good reasons.

[Ilsa]

26. You beat to the post.

"Steroids" was the first thing I thought of as well. He doesn't look well.

[Virginia Dare]

30. That's a good guess...

I was thinking maybe kidney and/or liver problems, his coloring is off, and he looks very puffed up.

[rec_report]

20. Nope. n/t

[napi21]

21. I think what you're seeing is a very tired old man.

I don't mean that as a slam either. Campaining is really rough, campaining while being in Washington to cast important votes makes it harder, and doing both at age 70 is VERY VERY hard.

I also think the cancer news about Elizabeth and Tony had to take a mental toll on John too. It wasn't THAT long ago that he had some pretty serious surgery for skin cancer.

[kimmerspixelated]

23. Yeah, I agree. He doesn't

seem strong enough for a huge campaign. I can't imagine him even raising his voice in a heated debate. I don't think we should EVEN worry about him getting the nomination for the rethugs.

[Disturbed]

24. McLame has had serious cancer.

I suspect that it is in remission but can start becoming active at any time. Aside from that, he is mentally deteriorating rapidly.

[Virginia Dare]

31. Was it cancer of the prostate?..n/t

[hang a left]

37. So funny that you asked...

I view him as an opportunist that is in ill health.

I think his days are numbered with respect to his physical and mental conditions.

He will NOT be a factor in 2008.

He is a nothing.

[calimary]

46. This may be it. In many cases anymore, 70 is NOT old, but on him

I'm afraid, it is. And I think you probably also have to take into account the battering his body has suffered over the years. His POW years CLEARLY took something out of him, and I suspect, are probably taking more now, since he's older and his resiliance isn't what it should be. And he's a cancer survivor, too, which can exact a toll. Now, I think, at his age, it could well be reaching critical mass - all those physical affronts converging on his health pretty much at once.

He does NOT look well. I wonder how many people fixate on that disturbingly bulging left jaw whenever he speaks. In the BEST of circumstances, your strength and vitality wane a little as you approach that age, but when you consider what he's gone through, Lordy Lordy...

Plus, he's under BIGTIME stress at the moment. His camp is probably rather unsettled that he's as far back in the pack as he is. I'll bet they feel as though THEIR campaign should be the frontrunner, maybe because they think it's his turn, he's owed, another one of those republi-CON entitlement programs like bob dole experienced in his run against Clinton. dole just assumed the crown was his, and that it was his turn now, and it was just gonna go to him by some sort of Divine right. Most of the GOPers have this sense of entitlement in one form or other - that they should just lead. They were to the manor born. The right and privilege of governing is their territory and their business and the White House and all the marbles just simply belong to them. Why? Because. The ruling class, dontchaknow. They ARE the elites they scorn so loudly in public, so everybody will go look at where they're pointing instead of directly at them.

So I imagine the stress of NOT being the widely-acknowledged front-runner is getting to him. The increasingly difficult argument he has, since everything he says is full of shit, and you have many programming segments in the media now busy "truth-squadding" his statements. When they're not taking your word for it anymore and just leaving it at that - hoo, boy, you're in trouble. And that's where he is, now. That's where they ALL are, now, because the lies have just been too numerous and too ridiculous and it's just a little bit too obvious by now. A few years ago, no. But things have changed now. WHEN would you ever have seen before - wolf blitzer, of all people, questioning the merits and legitimacy of mccain's statements on camera? If even wolf blitzer is taking what mccain says with a grain of salt, mccain's got a big problem. They ALL do. There's stress for ya, especially when you're trying to convince America that you deserve the presidency because YOU have integrity and you're this "straight-talking maverick" and all that bunk.

There's that stress. There's also the stress of just being a republi-CON these days. That CANNOT be fun, at all. I even heard john boner on the radio this morning - cuts of him speaking somewhere and rattling off all the idiotic White House/RNC-issued talking points, and being loudly harrumphed as he tried to do so. And if I'm not mistaken, this was a fairly "friendly" audience he'd been addressing. And mitch mcconnell abandoned the fight in the Senate so that Iraq War funding bill goes through. Didn't even TRY to mount a filibuster. Just threw in the towel straight away. They're ALL feeling it. Undoubtedly they're getting pounded by constituent and other phone calls and emails and faxes, PLUS, they're seeing that reinforced in increasingly lopsided public opinion polls. The public is not coming back. The public is moving farther AWAY. And they're all feeling it, bitterly, now. ANY false hopes they had that last November was just some crazy fluke or mistake have faded. Public opinion and the circumstances in Iraq and elsewhere have NOT turned around, but instead are sliding steadily downward from bad to worse.

Besides, the more the Dems can visibly demonstrate or even just sound as though they are acknowledging the message of last November and how they're delivering accordingly, the worse it will get for the GOP, and the worse and MORE wrong and misguided and incompetent the republi-CONS will look. And I think most of them, deep down, KNOW it, whether they admit it or not. PAINFULLY aware of it. The proof is there in black and white and living color - in the fact that they did NOT go to the mat for bush on this Iraq bill. They know, painfully well, that they already hitched their wagon to an anvil (bush), and they're paying the price for it (from November 2006 ONWARD), and they know their troubles stem directly from him. And they know the war is a loser, especially with the voters, and that the longer they try to prop it up, the worse things will get for them. Even now, I bet, they're seeing a bloodbath coming in November 2008, and it WON'T be ours. What to watch for now is how loudly and how many more republi-CONS throw bush under the bus. And how long mccain will hold out. The longer he does, the more ridiculous and out-of-touch he appears. And nobody wants that in a president (again). We've had MORE than enough of that shit already, and look where it got us. And look where it got the GOP.

I think you'll notice that it's not just mccain looking bad. It's most, if not ALL, of the republi-CONS now. These are not good times for them, and there's no way out as long as bush keeps acting like a first class putz. They're all epoxied to him, and I think it's making some of them crazy. And it's probably making mccain ill.

You don't go through shit like this without it taking its toll on you, physically.

[cwydro]

22. He hasn't looked healthy to me

in some time.

[whistle]

25. Not really, isn't over 68 years old now?

[Hekate]

27. No, he doesn't. Time for the old warrior to go rest on his laurels, seriously.

He's given his all for this country, and I honor that despite severe philosophical differences. But he doesn't look at all well these days, and at 70 it may be time for him to think about retirement instead of running for the Oval Office.

Any whispers about this issue from the Repubs?

Hekate

[Hekate]

28. self delete unintentional dupe

[DefenseLawyer]

29. He needs more exercise

Perhaps a nice stroll through the streets of Baghdad.

[saltpoint]

33. Kissing Bush's butt -- doesn't that count as exercise?

And Falwell's, too.

McCain's building up a strong enough embouchure to join a marching band.

[ronnykmarshall]

32. Just looks cranky.

Like he hasn't taken a good dump in a few years.

[IChing]

34. He just called reporters Jerks on Faux news

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOmJchzT4tg&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Enewshounds%2Eus%2F2007%2F03%2F28%2Fmccain%5Fcalls%5Fnews%5Freporters%5Fjerks%2Ephp

[Eric J in MN]

38. He smiled after he said that. NT

NT

[Beausoir]

35. I believe he had alot of his face carved out due to melanoma.

That being said, he looks ill, he acts ill and his campaign doesn't have a snowball's chance.

[Bridget Burke]

48. McCain has had melanoma surgery twice.

In 1993 & 2000. His surgery in 2000 took more than five hours.

No skin cancer should be ignored, but melanoma can metastasize. Once that happens, survival statistics are grim. In 2000, McCain's doctors apparently found the melanoma had not spread.

[Beausoir]

52. Yes. Melanoma is nothing to sneeze at. My cousin is dealing with mets melanoma to the liver.

Very grim prognosis.

Not to kick McInsane when he's down, but his medical background is certainly shaky at this point.

[donheld]

36. Do you really expect us to know a healthy asshole compared

to a sick one?

[AshevilleGuy]

39. His chronic dishonesty is taking its toll??

He probably has some trace of conscience left, and it's struggling with his constant LYING about everything. It makes him look and feel bad. He is 70, and that's really not old; he looks 80.

[bluedawg12]

42. Good point, he does look swollen and old and is behavior

is pretty awful, making silly statements and trying desperately to turn back the clock to 2000 when shrubrove kicked his @$$ with their NC lies.

He brings with him all of the boomer baggage of Nam, old personal battles, scars and hurts and he is the living past not the liviing future.

I think we boomers need to start promoting young talent and youthful energy with a bigger stake in the next 50 years than us.

[calimary]

47. Good post. Excellent point.

We need NEW blood, a FRESH start, not a moldy oldie.

[never cry wolf]

44. Not at all, I watched him on this video

C-Span's Road to the Whitehouse had a piece on him and Obama recently (fair and balanced, an hour of McCain, 13 mins of Barcak) and he was on a stage in the center of the room and looked real stiff walking around.

http://www.c-span.org/homepage.asp?Cat=Series&Code=RWH&ShowVidNum=4&Rot_Cat_CD=RWH&Rot_HT=206&Rot_WD=&ShowVidDays=100&ShowVidDesc=&ArchiveDays=365

[lonestarnot]

45. No you are not imagining things.

[Vinca]

49. No, he doesn't appear healthy. One eye is obviously swollen and

the side of his face where he had the cancer removed seems to get larger and larger. In addition, some of the stuff coming out of his mouth makes me think he's in the early stages of Alzheimer's or some sort of senile dementia. My husband pointed out that one symptom of that is combativeness and McCain has definitely been that, of late, as he cheerleads for the troop "surge." His remark about Baghdad being safe enough to stroll around was just whacky.

[Matariki]

50. I think he's 'in the club'

haven't you noticed the high rate of 'injuries' on members of the 'bush clan'. Bush himself often has bruises on his face, Rice had bruises more than once, an then there was Libby's broken foot...

[pitohui]

51. well he looks like he's 70

puffy face, swollen eye, sometimes a bit unsteady on the feet...standard

i don't think he looks half bad for somebody who was in a tiger cage for 7 years

as far as public speaking, i'm not sure he was ever a good public speaker, never heard about it if he was

i wouldn't vote for him, but i see lots worse looking people at his age who have been thru way less physically and emotionally

honestly to me he doesn't look any worse than *, who is a decade younger and has never been able to walk or talk with any facility, even in his youth

folks upstream are saying he's had melanoma and prostate cancer, both skin cancer and prostate cancer are very common even in healthy active man in that age and shouldn't affect his ability to hold public office unless he's damn unlucky, yeah, these diseases CAN kill, but they don't have to kill with proper treatment and they needn't affect one's ability to work or be active