By now most Americans have heard about John McCain's inability to
answer a question about how many homes he and his wife own. (Obamans
say eight, McCainiacs say four). The overall response especially by
Obama's campaign is to take that as just another sign of how out of
touch McCain is with the average American. They couple that with
McCain's response to Pastor Rick Warren's asking him to define rich and
he flippantly said "5 Million?". Some find McCain's "gaffes" humorous.
Some find them sad. I find them deeply troubling.

I've written
about this before and will keep writing about it until I finally see
some major media type or blogger confront the issue head on. I am
referring to McCain's current mental state. The major media wait with
breathless anticipation for the candidates' health reports. And then
they will pore over them in minute detail for the slightest hint of a
looming medical issue. But none, none of them ever addresses the mental
health of the candidate. And if there even are some sort of mental
ability and psychological tests run on them those tests are never
discussed and their results never revealed.

Let's face facts
here. McCain has at the moment a 50/50 chance of being elected the next
president. His recent spate of "gaffes", "mis-statements", and general
overall public performances seem to indicate a decreasing level of
mental dexterity and acuity.

His misstatement of facts such as
Iran training al Qaida forces, not knowing the difference between Sunni
and Sh'ia, referring to the shared border between Iraq and Pakistan are
certainly troubling in someone who claims have foreign policy
expertise. The problems become even more amplified when he is not in a
totally scripted and controlled environment. In the news conference
format or the town hall setting his inability for rapid coherent
responses are greatly diminished. Most of the time, he will respond to
an un-anticipated question by offering an aphorism or anecdote in
response. Yet even with the aid of a teleprompter McCain stumbles and
lurches. And his little facial tics, inappropriate smiles, and grimaces
certainly don't help.

The problem has become so great that his
campaign has ruled out any news conferences for the foreseeable future
and have limited the press's access to the candidate. Moreover, they
have found themselves to be issuing corrections and amendations to his
various statements on almost a daily basis. If we give him the benefit
of the doubt and attribute all of these things to the stress of the
campaign then what does that imply for the how he will function in the
most stressful job in the world?

Maybe someday soon, someone in
the "mainstream media" will have the balls to raise this issue but I
won't hold my breath. He's not just kindly old gramps just have one of
his funny turns. He is the man who wants to be our next president and
leader of the free world. Scares me. Does it scare you?