Interesting points found on Electoral Vote website:
http://www.electoral-vote.com/
--------------------------------------------------------------
McCain's Fellow Prisoner of War Makes Ad
A Navy veteran, Philip Butler, who went to the Naval Academy with John McCain and later was a prisoner of war with him in Vietnam has made
an independent ad in which he says: "I think I can say with authority that the prisoner-of-war experience is not a good prerequisite for president of the United States." This ad is, of course, reminiscent of the ad by the Swift Boat veterans for Truth ad used so effectively against John Kerry in 2004. Butler says it is different however. He is not demeaning McCain's service and has great respect for the man, but having been a prisoner of war himself is questioning the idea that you learn a lot from the experience. He also says that he knows McCain well and is worried about his explosive temper.
McCain and Actuarial Life Expectancy
Politico ran a
story about the probability of a 72-year-old man reaching the age of 80 based on actuarial tables. There is a chance of about 1 in 3 that he won't make it. If you are fascinated by morbidity, Met Life has a do-it-yourself
Webform but to do this one you need information about the prospective insurance client's height and weight and some other data. Of course actuarial data is great about predicting how many of 100,000 72-year-olds will make it to 80 but doesn't give a definitive answer about any particular one. Other factors come into play. In the case of John McCain these include:
- The President gets the best medical care from the best doctors anywhere on the planet.
- The President can have a physical every day if he wants one. Nothing goes undetected long.
- McCain has had the most lethal form of skin cancer (malignant melanoma) four times.
- McCain smoked two packs of cigarettes a day for most of his adult life but has now quit.
- McCain's father died at 71 and his grandfather died at 61. His mother is hale at 96.
No conclusion here, but Sarah Palin's chances of having to take the oath of office unexpectedly are much greater than Dick Cheney's were in 2000 since George Bush was much younger and extremely fit physically.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Linear Mode
