I think you're missing the larger point of some of these gaffes. These aren't like Obama's "57 states" mishap, which is clearly a sign of fatigue. I'd be willing to grant McCain a handful of those as well. But some of these gaffes - such as not recognizing that Czechoslovakia hasn't existed since 1993 or that Shiites and Sunnis aren't the same thing - show a man who has essentially stopped learning about the world around him. He's set in his ways, and doesn't care to keep himself current.

I think it's almost preferable that McCain's gaffes stem from some onset of dementia. The alternative is that he's just stopped caring.

I agree that, if he's really campaigning strenuously, then painting him as otherwise had pitfalls.

But I"m not sure he's campaigning that robustly. He was notoriously taking nearly every weekend off until recently. He also makes it back to DC for votes infrequently.

Then there's this:
"I've covered a lot of campaigns, and I've never seen anything like this," says a techie from Fox News, lighting a smoke after a day on the trail. "Presidential-election campaigns, usually you're working all the time. You get to the hotel at two in the morning, and you're back on the plane at six. But McCain does one event a day. One event. It's unbelievable."
From Vanity Fair, scans here:
http://www.americablog.com/2008/07/fox-employee-covering-mccain-its.html

Plus he really does sound like Abe Simpson in the first bit on that TPM video. I could never hear Al Gore without thinking of Principal Skinner (and I voted for Gore), but now I think I'll always hear Abe Simpson when I hear McCain speak.

I agree that some of those bits in the TPM video are cheap shots that could be applied to anyone.

Others aren't (like when he obfuscates about "timetable," or his feeble smirking rictus, or "my friend," or the extra long gaps before sussing some questions.)

He's got a lot of ridiculous moments. I realize that Republicans play the ridicule card as a reflex, but McCain's campaign is full of moments worthy of derision.

I'd rather legitimately deride him as candidate than deride him as President.

riffle:
Don't forget that McCain takes weekends off normally, too.

And with all this little energy, he's still damn near tied with Obama.

I don't know in what political world a consistent 5-point lead is "near tied" but heck I would be happy to be "near tied" that way in November.

I will root for you to win some nice prizes for your good work though, Christian.

Here's a related but fair attack: he's a dope.

I don't agree that it's mere buffudlement, Ezra. McCain has shown a pretty clear pattern over the last couple of weeks of not being a spokesman for his own campaign.

There's a pretty consistent disconnect between what his campaign stooges say -- Scheunemann, Rogers, etc. -- and what he says on the stump.

IMHO, something smells funky about this campaign, and highlighting the funkiness like Josh is doing here is pretty fair.

So don't be overly fair: Put a nice anti-McCain recipe in your Link Blog. I recommend a wrinkly dessert including prunes.

christian wrote: "he's still damn near tied with Obama"

Yes, he's only five points or so behind Obama! That's damned near tied!

The less that McCain can display his rictus, the better he will do. For now.

But five points in a Presidential election is a blowout.

Unfortunately, McCain will have to show himself in the autumn, and that will doom hin.

Sad, sad old man.

Christian, did you pick up your McCain-branded golf tees for posting your comment here? Cause apparently the only reason McCain supporters would trawl this part of the internet is to get some points for some giveaways.

Comment trolls wanted by McCain: Give me McCain points!

I think "Country Club First" should be awarded points. It's his economic plan, after all.

I suppose it is unfair to imply dementia.

I know it is not even mildly defensible to think that McCain is anything other than supremely dim. The dude is just freakin' stupid.

We've been doing this for 8 years, let's try something new.

I guess Josh Marshall is seeing things in McCains ads that just aren't their like Bob Herbert of the NYT.

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/mark-finkelstein/2008/08/04/obamania-has-herbert-hallucinating

The continuing claim in the media that McCain was wrong to assert that Al Qeada has been trained by Iran is completely false. Even the Sept 11th Commission reported that Iran trained Al Qeada.

Between 1991 and 1996, Osama bin Laden lived in Sudan where he was protected by Hassan Abdullah at-Turabi, the leader of Sudan's National Islamic Front, an Islamist movement. According to the 9-11 Commission, Sudanese officials facilitated meetings between al-Qaeda operatives and Iranian officials, a relationship which blossomed into tactical training:

Turabi sought to persuade Shiites and Sunnis to put aside their divisions and join against the common enemy. In late 1991 or 1992, discussions in Sudan between al Qaeda and Iranian operatives led to an informal agreement to cooperate in providing support—even if only training—for actions carried out primarily against Israel and the United States. Not long afterward, senior al Qaeda operatives and trainers traveled to Iran to receive training in explosives. In the fall of 1993, another such delegation went to the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon for further training in explosives as well as in intelligence and security. Bin Ladin reportedly showed particular interest in learning how to use truck bombs such as the one that had killed 241 U.S. Marines in Lebanon in 1983. The relationship between al Qaeda and Iran demonstrated that Sunni-Shia divisions did not necessarily pose an insurmountable barrier to cooperation in terrorist operations.[7]

Al Qeada also has received safe haven in Iran and further planned terrorist attacks:
In April 2002, only five months after leaving Afghanistan, al-Qaida in Iran and the first post-9/11 terrorist attack ordered by bin Laden. A propane truck, used a truck bomb, breached the gates of one of Africa’s oldest synagogues in Djerba, Tunisia, killing 14 tourists. The attack was organized by Sa’ad bin Laden from Iran.

Even the British found evidence Iran was training Al Qeada:
Last week, British military commanders based in Basra said Iran was sustaining the insurgency against British and American forces by supplying terrorist groups with weapons and cash.

"From the evidence we have seen, Iran's links to Al Qaeda go far deeper than simply supplying them with equipment," a senior British official said. "They are allowing them the use of training facilities so that they can ensure their attacks are as effective as possible."

Ahmandeenijadh was a leader in the Qods force in Iran with the mission to train and export terrorists to attack Israel and the West. It is the same Qods that are supporting and training Al Qaeda today.

What's even scarrier is you can put together a video of Barack Obama claiming 57 states, claiming the wrong states border Illinois, suggesting giving asthma patients breathalyzers, suggesting Americans liberated Auschwitz, 10,000 people died in Kansas, seeing war dead in his audience, etc.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ap2Cg_FDRy4

And Barack is not a 70 year old POW survivor but supposedly in great shape and in his 40s.

Anonymous[e]: Needs more caps lock. Also, you didn't misspell enough.

Oddly, both candidates misspeak more than normal. 57 states is NOT the kind of thing one would say when tired -- or even drunk. The number of states is something drummed into children who went to school in the U.S. It is the mistake of a foreigner. Neither candidate could be called quick on his feet, intellectually. The upcoming debates will be excruciating.

57 states is NOT the kind of thing one would say when tired -- or even drunk.

It's the sort of thing you'd say if you started to say that you'd visited all 50 states and then realized you'd only visited 47. And were tired.

It is the mistake of a foreigner.

ZOMG OBAMA'S SECRET REVEALED

"five points in a Presidential election is a blowout"

A 5 point lead in August is different from a 5 point win in the election, just as a 5-0 lead in the 3rd inning is different from a 5-0 win.

I bet the same might have been said about Ronald Reagan in 1984 and look how that turned out.

It's the sort of thing you'd say if you started to say that you'd visited all 50 states and then realized you'd only visited 47. And were tired.

Or if there were 57 primary contests. That was something that I realized right away: he was referring to the number of primary contests: in fact, he corrected himself on that specifically right afterwards.

panon either didn't hear the gaffe or wasn't paying attention to the primaries. However, based on what he was told, he is convinced -- convinced -- that Obama doesn't know how many states there are. That's how clueless Obama's most adamant opponents are.

Let's unpack Ezra's reasoning:

First premise: John McCain isn't senile.
Second premise: _________
Conclusion: An attack on McCain's mental acuity won't work.

Let's accept Ezra's first premise. Hmmm, what kind of second premise would be required to make this work?

1. Voters accurately sense reality in a candidate; or
2. Swiftboating works on Democrats, but IOKIYAR.

I think we can dismiss premise #1 as unsupportable. Therefore, Ezra likely believes what's behind door #2. But this doesn't work, either. In 1996, Clinton successfully defined Dole as "too old." Worked fine.

Ezra is probably right that focussing on McCain's "senility" is a bit unfair and exaggerated.

But does anyone doubt that, if the situation were reversed, the GOP would be in full-scale smear mode to brand their opponent as senile and demented.

if I were giving daily speeches, on camera, over a period of months, you'd probably be able to string together a video of me looking a bit befuddled too

Unfair attacks work because they back up a narrative that is believable. It wouldn't be believable that you're befuddled and senile, but it is believable about John McCain, because it fits into an already-existing narrative.

Ezra,
I don't think you are seeing what's in front of you. John McCain may not meet criteria for dementia, but it is looking increasingly clear that he is impaired. His performances in Florida and at Sturgis were painful and frightening to watch. He looks wooden, his voice is monotonous, and he seems to answer most questions with simple, set speeches composed of talking points. I wonder if we aren't seeing something like early Parkinson's disease.

McCain is a Luddite. Even my 88-year-old mother-in-law uses e-mail and the Web!

Of course I'm not saying Obama doesn't know there are 50 states. The breathalyzer vs. inhaler mistake is much easier to understand, though. People who went to school in the states would never speak of 57 states and it doesn't matter if there were 57 primaries or 57 blackbirds baked in a pie. It remains a very weird mistake.

I think you are being overly kind here Ezra...I saw a "new" video of McCain speaking woodenly this morning....

And in spite of admitting that inflating your tires actually will save gas, he's still pushing the fantasy that "Obama's only energy policy" is to use tire gauges...

And he trots out the same old tired "Congress spends money like a drunken sailor, and I had an ex-alcoholic sailor call me up and...blah, blah, blah..."

He's beat this one to death, and isn't even getting chuckles from the loyal Republican crowd anymore...

It may not be "dementia" Ezra, but the "old, wrinkly, white guy" gets more confused and pathetic each time I see him!

it doesn't matter if there were 57 primaries

Why not? There were about 57 primary contests, which was the likely source of the verbal slip. In any case, it is bizarre to see people repeat the talking point "Obama doesn't know how many states there are!" as though they really believe it. Sometimes I think they're just playing a persona, but sometimes I think they've been fed the talking point so hard and they've repeated it so much that they've started to believe it themselves. This is actually the main danger of the Republican party: the corrupt and wreck the souls andminds of their followers until they actually start the believe the bizarre things they've beenm told. I myself have seen the minds of republicans rot after years of internalizing Republican propaganda, it's it's not pretty: particularly causing otherwise smart people to have taken up the Republican anti-fact, anti-science agenda as part of the Bush-cult fantacism that they've cleaved to.

We see it today with the bizarre obsession with repeating "tire gauge! tire gauge!" that republicans have taken up lately. It's one thing for a politician to be proud of his own ignorance, but it's quite another to see the political followers of that political movement voluntarily adopt pride in their own ignorance when they didn't have it before.

The whole 57 thing ultimately weighs in Obama's favor.

It just means he likes ketchup.

Attempt at being fair: FAIL.

The WSJ (of all places) reported recently that McCain is doing only one public campaign event per day (or a press availability, but not both), and that in the evenings he either is doing private fundraisers or going to bed.

He's also walled off the press in his airplane, and has gotten old-man testy more frequently.

McCain is NOT up to the physical/mental requirements of the POTUS job.

McCain is doing only one public campaign event per day

Be fair, he's simply using the "Front Porch campaign" strategy.

But if you try and argue that the bright-eyed, cogent politician on the TV every night is secretly in the throes of early dementia, not only will that attack fail, but related, fair criticisms will probably be discredited also.

Yeah, like Reagan.