Would you consider a Presidential candidate, of any age, to be of "average" health? 

I'd say above average.  I get that.

Maybe you guys think there's a significant chance of a successful assassination.  I think it's incredibly unlikely, with the precautions we take now.

50 year old, seemingly healthy man, drops dead, suddenly. How surprised are you?
75 year old, seemingly healthy man, drops dead, suddenly. How surprised are you?

No, I don't think that at all.   In fact, I'd guess Obama was the most protected Prez in US history.    I also think McCain's handlers, doctors and family knew his health situation and felt there was little to no chance of the stress of being POTUS would hasten his death.

Posted by burnsy483 on 11/5/2014 2:49:00 PM (view original):
50 year old, seemingly healthy man, drops dead, suddenly. How surprised are you?
75 year old, seemingly healthy man, drops dead, suddenly. How surprised are you?

I had a 51 y/o cousin, drop dead, suddenly, yesterday.    Am I the right person to ask?

No. I'm sorry for your loss.

Posted by MikeT23 on 11/5/2014 2:51:00 PM (view original):

Posted by burnsy483 on 11/5/2014 2:49:00 PM (view original):
50 year old, seemingly healthy man, drops dead, suddenly. How surprised are you?
75 year old, seemingly healthy man, drops dead, suddenly. How surprised are you?

I had a 51 y/o cousin, drop dead, suddenly, yesterday.    Am I the right person to ask?

Assuming he wasn't morbidly obese or suffering from some sort of disease, that's pretty surprising, right?

Posted by burnsy483 on 11/5/2014 2:54:00 PM (view original):
No. I'm sorry for your loss.

It's alright.  Not like we were tight or I wouldn't have mentioned it.

Just saying that people drop dead suddenly regardless of age.

I also had a teammate, mid 30s, suffer a heart attack and die in the dugout after running the bases a few years back.    A fireman who had to pass physical tests to keep his job.    A friend's wife, early 30s, found dead from the thing that killed the Muppet guy.   Perfect health up to that point.

So, no, I'm not surprised when someone drops dead suddenly.    Age doesn't matter.  

I get that. I had a friend (more of an acquaintance, a friend of my friends) die at 27 a few years back because of a brain aneurysm.  He stayed home from work because of a splitting headache, took a nap, never woke up. 

It's just much more likely that that sort of thing happens in your 70s. The odds of someone successful killing a president, fueled purely on racism, doesn't make up the difference.

Again, I'm pretty sure a Presidential candidate has gone thru a myriad of tests, and passed, that Joe Average does not.    A sort throat, a splitting headache, a nagging cough come with bells and whistles for them.    As I said, the expectancy of either dying in their first term is virtually nil.

It also doesn't have to be "dropping dead suddenly." Aggressive cancers, strokes, etc. But finding yourself unable to do the job of presidency is more likely the older you get.

We can agree to disagree. But I do still think that the Palin talk we were discussing happened because of McCain's age. If she acts the way she does with a 50 year old McCain, I don't think you hear as much of it.

Yeah, we'll have to disagree.    Political advisors look for something to attack.   You can't deny someone's age and you bought into the argument.   Maybe you're one of moy's "low information voters". 

I think you're either ignoring or just severely downplaying how viciously the liberal media attacked her and her family.  It was very personal, and had little to do with McCain's age.