Reply #30: You are completely missing the point

[loyalsister]

It's the generalization.....

"a guy on a disability pension with a history of health problems and anger management issues" describes one of my very good friends.

It's a generalization that extends to more people than John McCain. You are talking about 1000s of people in that statement.

Including one of our own......

Sen. Tom Eagleton http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Eagleton was swiftboated.

Having been declined by the "name" Senators, McGovern turned to lesser-known candidates, and Eagleton, who had opposed the Vietnam War, was selected on July 14 with only a minimal background check. Eagleton made no mention of his earlier hospitalizations. Newspapers soon revealed them. McGovern and Eagleton initially joked about the case with Eagleton saying he would undergo a psychiatric examination if other candidates (e.g., Nixon) would do the same. But the charges kept coming. Columnist Jack Anderson wrote a column falsely accusing Eagleton of being arrested for drunk driving — a charge that Anderson had to retract.

Between 1960 and 1966, Eagleton checked himself into the hospital three times for physical and nervous exhaustion, receiving electric shock treatments twice.<1>

The hospitalizations, which were not widely publicized, had little effect on his political aspirations, although the St. Louis Post-Dispatch was to note, in 1972, immediately after his vice presidential nomination:

He had been troubled with gastric disturbances, which have led to occasional hospitalizations. The stomach troubles have contributed to rumors that he had a drinking problem.<1>

I respect personal evaluation criteria, however they are not public policy. Shoveling ageist ablist bias is no better than shoveling racism and sexism. Use it for your voting determination if you like, but I base my vote on policy.
That is the relevant difference anyway.