Those of us who are over 60 and have felt the accelerating changes in our brains understand this. It is the progressive deterioration of our memory, the loss of our ability to recall names and other facts, and the simple decline of intelligence. McCain has just turned 72. If he hasn't already lost it, he is definitely losing it.

Todd:

Nice work in posting this. The reporter was tough yet respectful of McKain. I'll be interested to see if Charlie Gibson will be this tough on Palin.

It is downright scary to think that this guy could be our next president.

Try this one --

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080911/ap_on_el_pr/ch
afee_palin;_ylt=AlagyzpcUkFTXkg60RPmjU2pg9IF

The real story here is that he claimed, with only a weak "probably" as a qualifier, that Palin knows more about energy than anyone in America. I have to admit that I don't know what she knows about energy but I'm willing to guess it isn't that much.

The debates should be fun. I wonder if he'll need to wear a bib so he doesn't drool on his suit.

Wow. I actually feel bad for both of them.

MRI time.

I couldn't watch it all--it's sad and disgusting. He never answers the questions but blathers on about how wrong Obama is about utterly unrelated issues. What does she know about Iraq, John? what does she know about Russia, other than its geographical nearness to the extreme northern tip of the state of Alaska? Pathetic

It was painful but you should have stuck with it to see his moment of truth:

About 5 minutes in, after being asked if he realistically thinks he can win in Maine, he says: "I'd love to compete in the state of Maine. I think it is going to be very difficult. A little straight talk."

Very little straight talk, and about the only that's come of his mouth in months.

Remember : most Republicans became convinced in 2000 that McCain is 'nuts' in their words. They learned this from the Bush campaign and they still believe it.

I have been told this belief by several Republican voters.

Along with reminding everyone that McCain is TOO OLD FOR THE JOB, remind Republicans that McCain is NUTS. They already think so; no sales job necessary.

McCain : once bottom of his class; now OLD and NUTS.

By choosing Sarah Palin as his running mate, McCain has increased the audience he can draw from hundreds of tepid Republicans to thousands of energized religious right extremists.

McCain is well-known to have spent much of his youth as a hard-partying boxer even before he went through the privations and torture in Hanoi. Now he is age 72 and it is all catching up to his brain and the rest of his body.

The religious right gets more with Sarah Palin than they had with George Bush. They get a female Elmer Gantry who will push America more to a theocracy than any sensible American will find acceptable.

I'd estimate that McCain has no more than a 60% chance of surviving the next four years both alive and mentally competent. When mentally competent is factored in, that 60% may be highly exaggerated.

Palin proves in the Charley Gibson interview that she is literally a blank slate that any Republican adviser can write his own agenda on. Think what that means for a Palin Presidency.

First - consider the battles to become her closest adviser(s). These are all conservatives. She has a "them vs. us" attitude and clearly considers whoever "us" is to be "Good" and "them" to be "Evil." That means no compromises. The battles will be intense and even nastier than we are seeing in the Republican Presidential primaries and the Presidential campaign itself. That's just conservative nature, and the circumstances of a Palin Presidency will intensive their nature.

Second - the pool of potential advisers in the Republican Party and especially in the social conservatives is primarily made up of really nasty extremists. This election is not about electing John McCain so much as it is about handing off the Executive Department (with its 7,000 plus political appointee jobs) to another crew made up of the same corrupt extremist Republicans.

The very best we could hope for with McCain as President is that he struggles and survives at least nominally in power for four years. That's not a great prospect.

But a Palin Presidency? She is so damned ambitious that she doesn't even realize how unprepared she is. She probably thinks God will give her the job and guide her to do it his way. Which God does she believe in? New Testament? Old Testament? Or does she, like so many biblical literalists worship the written word of the Bible itself with its myriad interpretation?

Apparently the Republicans, reacting to the claims that Bush is the worst American President ever, are trying to elect/select someone even worse. The choice the Republicans now offer is a McCain who cannot logically think any more or a religious bigot who is on a crusade to convert America to "Good" and destroy "Evil."