McCain: The Brezhnev Concern

While most of us generally think of McCain in terms of what he represents politically, there is another concern that should be at the forefront of the news: mental decline.

Many pundits will opine that McCain needs to pick someone younger (like Mitt Romney) in order to persuade voters to back a 72 year old. The general consensus is that McCain may not be able to survive the next four to eight years, so a young VP is necessary just in case McCain croaks.

Despite McCain's recent cancer episodes, he seems relatively healthy, physically, but there's another concern we must not forget.

Old age does not just suddenly appear. It takes time to develop, and by the time it is obvious a lot of damage can be done. Especially when you have a man who plans to carry forward the legacy of one of the most secret administrations ever.

We can look to the Soviet Union to see this in action, with Leonid Brezhnev. When Brezhnev took over from Khrushchev, he was a spry 58. By the time he died in office, he was 76, which is, coincidentally, the age McCain would be at the end of his possible first term.

Boris Yeltsin reported a typical encounter with the older Brezhnev, who was still alive, but would not be able to even comprehend the papers he would sign.

Could this happen to John McCain? In McCain's age group, on average 5% of people will have Alzheimer's or acquire it within a year. While a 1 in 20 chance may not seem very high, would you be willing to take this bet on someone who can push the big red button?

Obviously, most of my readers will not for such a man, but it is a shame that the media refuses to discuss this issue at all. They are likely afraid of offending seniors, but I think that these are the people who would be least offended, as most of them would have likely worried about dementia themselves and seen it up close with friends.

One important thing to ponder, is McCain currently in a mental decline? He is working very hard everyday, mentally. At his age, thinking is tough work for even the healthiest, and one must worry about his mental state after five years as a POW anyway, which probably aged him mentally by many years. When you see McCain's confusion on basic mental functions, such as speaking, it becomes apparent that he is not as sharp as he was even one year ago.

The real concern is that McCain would not visibly become incapacitated, and his advisors would take over for him, people like Phil Gramm, or the Georgian Lobbyist. With people like that running the country, and only giving McCain pre-written executive orders to sign, who knows what would happen, especially since these people would have an easy scapegoat should anything go really wrong.

So, how did Brezhnev's illness work out for the Soviet Union? Not too well. During the 70's the economy stagnated and it is unlikely that Brezhnev knew anything that was going on. Ten years after his death, his counry was no more. And Russians are left with the legacy of Brezhnev jokes:

During the Olympics, Brezhnev is giving a speech and begins it: "Oh, oh, oh..."
His advisor says to him: "Comrade Brezhnev, those are the Olympic Rings, you do not need to read them."

Hopefully we will not have these type of jokes in four years...