Lousy cables

There is serial hand-wringing about how and how much to question McCain's suitability for President based on his age. I'm of the feeling that McCain's age isn't fair game -- we don't get to say that at X years, you're no longer capable of certain jobs. Bush was elected at 54 years old, and was disastrous from day one, pretty much. On the other hand, you have Warren Buffett, who is eight years older than McCain but still a man I'd trust to run this country.

But McCain's mental faculties and "connectedness" to the world are an appropriate thing to question. I don't care whether it's due to age, fatigue, or control from pod people, the fact that he can't keep straight Somalia and the Sudan -- repeatedly -- makes me wonder. It's not just a lack of knowledge, but also the ability to hold his own with other world leaders. You have leaders of Malaysia and Iran blogging, a hyper-awareness on technology from the leaders of Germany, Britain, and Japan, and we elect...a man afraid of his own computer? It is indubitably fair to question any candidate's understanding of the world around him. A technophobe who confuses disparate African countries, and can't keep Sunni and Shia straight, shouldn't be president whether he's 35 or twice that.

If a 40 year old candidate groused about "the cables" like this, I'd worry...