Uh yes, in the case of John McCain - because I'd fear for this country if Sarah Palin became president. *shudders* And it could be entirely possible.

Here are some fun VP facts I just made up:

When Gerald Ford assumed the presidency his only experience was managing a bicycle repair shop in Evanston, Ill.

After Garfield's assassination, Chester A. Arthur became president and his only previous experience was operating a steam whistle.

Harry Truman's only qualifications after FDR's death was that he did light bookkeeping for a male strip club.

And finally, Millard Filmore's only job before becoming president was to clean the ponies at "Mr. Fumblebug's Children's Pony Rides" in Porterston, OH.

Yay for Sarah Palin. She rocks and if you don't know that you obviously aren't conservative.

Nope, I'm thankfully not conservative. Rac - loving your true "facts," especially the bit about "light bookkeeping."

Why are people pretending as if Sarah Palin wrote a word of that speech? All she did was deliver it. Sarah Jessica Parker could have done what she did, Sarah Michelle Gellar could have put on some glasses and done the Buffy speech. Sarah Silverman could have pulled it off if she could keep a straight face. Sarah Palin was a puppet, and she did her job. ...but they gotta work on helping her pronounce nuclear.That being said, if all this did (and all it did do) was energize the base, then fine. They need way more than the base...didn't Rove get the memo? Your base is hardly the answer. mlr710

I'm not sure why anybody thinks ANY politician has a big hand in writing their own speeches. Sarah Palin probably did not write the majority of that speech, but you can bet Barack Obama doesn't write the majority of his speeches either. Both are just reciting party rhetoric.

And knightime, McCain's primary voters were mostly from outside the Christian, conservative (and evangelical) base. There are a great deal of other people who support him, but in order to win he needs to also pull in the base.

The reason I'm not a John McCain supporter has nothing to do with his life expectancy, but I do think it's important to consider. I think McCain completely disregarded that fact and irresponsibly chose Sarah Palin for all the wrong reasons. Her speech didn't sway me at all, and I doubt anything he says about her tonight will.

I'm not voting for him anyways, so I don't even know why this bugs me so much, but it just does.

I think if McCain wins, we should put him on life support immediately - there's no way the country could survive a Palin presidency.

The goal of her speech wasn't to sway anyone from the other side, or even from the middle. It was to energize the base.

And I thought only Republicans used fear as a political tool.

Oh, no. The dems use fear of republicans all the time.

The simple truth: McCain is old, and not the most healthy man in the world. Sure, anyone can die tomorrow, but McCain is at a higher risk. God forbid McCain dies and leaves Sarah Palin as President. I'd move to Europe before I accept her as our commander in chief.

i don't really factor age into my choice. remember that we're talking about 4-8 years in office - so that's not going to push someone over the edge. also, we need to remember that up until recently, presidents were older - and when bill clinton came in, he was the young guy who started the trend for younger and younger leaders. i think that it's fine for a 72 yr old to be in the mix, and i think that we should look at experience rather than life expectancy.

Why is McCain more likely to die tomorrow? McCain is in better health than most people. WHere do you get that he isn't in the best of health?

i think people are scared because of all the skin cancer. many presidents have died in office so it's a real possibility the sarah palin could be our next president.

These days, 72 is not particularly old, to be honest. Age would not sway me from the right candidate, and I have plenty of other issues to question besides McCain's age.

We should stop focusing on stupid crap like that, and stick to the issues...but..since he chose someone like Palin as his VP, I can only hope to hell he takes his vits and keeps his temper in check. Palin has no business being VP, much less President of a major world power.

This woman spent a lot more time blathering on about herself and badmouthing half of the USA and what THEY stand for, instead of offering any solutions.

Vits, John. Take em.

"Palin also found Obama's lofty style of rhetoric wanting and devoid of details of where he would take the country if elected although she offered few policy specifics of her own."

- Reuters

"I was impressed by that. I also was impressed with what I didn't hear. I didn't hear a word mentioned about the middle class or health care or how people are going to fill up their tanks. I didn't hear a single word about how you're going to get a kid through college. So I was impressed by the speech but also about what I didn't hear spoken."

- Joe Biden, after Palin's speech, on "Good Morning America"

go joe!

Anyone runs the risk of dying in office, regardless of ur political affiliation or age..(look at JFK even) so it probably has crossed people's minds..

Personally, I determine whether I like a candidate based on my beliefs and theirs and whether they correlate or not..age is not a deciding factor for me

Sure when the average life expectancy for Anglo Americans is 76 years old. Of course you might want to consider that Sen. McCaine is no average American, he's been well kept at least much more so than the average white American. With that in mind I'd say we can bump him up three or four years.

In regards to Palin I am not completely comfortable if she were to step in, simply because a complete portrait of her has yet to be revealed to the American public. However, as we all know every President has layer upon layer upon layer of advisors from issues of War all the way down to ribbon cutting ceremonies. So again as I've said time and time again it's not about the experience for me it's about the plan what they look like on paper and what they say they're going to do in writing holds a hell of a lot more accountability than oh he was a military hero so now we're safe.

Age isnt a factor for me in this Pres Race.

Who writes thier own speeches anymore anyway?

The people who always threaten to "move" if someone they cant stand gets into office should just do it anyway.

Amen CG. I was hping to see a disappearance of about half of Hollywood in 2004. Unfortunately, it didn't happen.

Nobody is promised anything, McCain can live another 20 years and maybe Obama gets pneumonia or involved in a fatal car crash. His age is not the reason I'm not voting for him (did anybody get that??) I just don't agree with his policies.

The only thing amusing about Sarah's speech was Piper licking her hand and fixing baby Trig's hair. I was not impressed at all with Palin's speech. All she did was attack Obama with lame jokes and say Alaska has plenty oil. I liked Giuliani's speech better.

Undave, i know, we still have Tim and Susan .....

Absolutely you must consider it. John McCain's projected lifespan is shorter than the 8 years he will be in office if elected twice. Sorry, that's the facts. Doesn't mean you shouldn't vote for the guy, just means his VP pick better be ready on day one.

She would have to be ready on day one because his projected lifespan is shorter than the entire eight years? Is his projected lifespan so short that it wouldn't pass day one?

Day one after she takes over.

Missed you Hypno.

Nothing can kill McCain. Just ask the Vietnamese.

Have you see McCain -- he does look very weathered -- but looking at his mother -- he might have a long lifespan -- you never know. I do know I don't want her as President.

I was worried about if Hillary was voted into office, it was only a matter of time before her whole body, not just her face turned completely to stone.

She (and any other VP) do have to be ready on day one. The chances of anything happening to the President may be extremely little, but there is that possibility, and we can't take even the tiniest chance that the VP isn't ready. It may be a sort of understudy position, but it's understudy to the highest office in the nation.

Unfortunately, McCain's age and previous health issues do give the question of his VP's qualifications a sense of heightened urgency. But I think that the same goes for Obama, for different reasons (greater chance of assassination attempts).

I love Evanston, IL.

Rac --say no to ILL

I just don't know what to think about the age. I know this needs to be a discussion but let's hope if anything happens to him, that by then she would have learned a few things from him and use some of the experiences she had.

I don't care what the age is of either candidate. I care about and will vote for the person who has the most similar views as myself. All politics is dirty- I mean c'mon. I see it as voting for the least 'evil'. And shooting wolves from a helicopter is definitely evil

Supercharger, why are you so against aerial shooting of wolves to control the population? Do you think we should just let animals run rampant, take over our cities, and injure humans?

(I personally am against aerial shooting, but not because it's evil. I think it's a waste of money and just trapping wolves is a lot more cost-efficient.)