CNN’s Jack Cafferty:

All we have heard from John McCain for months is, “Barack Obama is too young. Barack Obama is too inexperienced to be commander-in-chief. Who do you want answering the phone in the White House at three a.m.? * Blah, blah, blah.”

So what does McCain do? He picks someone to be his running mate who is even younger than Barack Obama and has less experience.

All we have heard from John McCain for months is, ‘Barack Obama is too young. Barack Obama is too inexperienced to be commander-in-chief.’

Sara Palin is 44 — Obama is 47. Sara Palin is in her first term as governor of Alaska, a state that has 13 people and some caribou. Obama is a member of the United States Senate from Illinois.

It’s not a big deal, except for this: If McCain wins, he will be the oldest person ever inaugurated for a first term at 72. He has a history of health problems that include bouts of melanoma, a potentially deadly form of skin cancer. It is reasonable to consider that McCain’s running mate could be called upon to be our president…

At some point, voters will have to ask themselves who they would want running the country if it ever became necessary: Joe Biden or Sarah Palin.

* Actually, Jack, that was a Hillary Clinton ad. But good analysis otherwise.

Have to pass this one along — Paul Begala’s take on McCain’s VP choice:

John McCain needs what Kinky Friedman calls “a checkup from the neck up.”

In choosing Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to be his running mate he is not thinking “outside the box,” as some have said. More like out of his mind.

“For a man who is 72 years old and has had four bouts with cancer to have chosen someone so completely unqualified to become president is shockingly irresponsible”

Palin a first-term governor of a state with more reindeer than people, will have to put on a few pounds just to be a lightweight. Her personal story is impressive: former fisherman, mother of five. But that hardly qualifies her to be a heartbeat away from the presidency.

For a man who is 72 years old and has had four bouts with cancer to have chosen someone so completely unqualified to become president is shockingly irresponsible. Suddenly, McCain’s age and health become central issues in the campaign, as does his judgment.

Begala goes on to list all the potential running mates McCain passed up: Tom Ridge, Kay Bailey Hutchison, Joe Lieberman, Rob Portman, Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney. Then he nails it:

For months, the McCainiacs have said they will run on his judgment and experience. In his first presidential decision, John McCain has shown he is willing to endanger his country, potentially leaving it in the hands of someone who simply has no business being a heartbeat away from the most powerful, complicated, difficult job in human history.

I don’t have a lotta love for Florida Democratic Party Chair Karen Thurman, but she didn’t waste any time sending out an e-mail that shares her feelings toward Alaska’s governor:

John McCain rolled the dice with his VP pick today – in an attempt to woo women voters.

But we cannot gamble with women’s lives.

Don’t let your friends, family and co-workers be fooled: Alaskan Sarah Palin is a dangerous right-winger who lacks the judgment to lead.

In 2000, Palin endorsed Pat Buchanan for President. Yes, that Pat Buchanan.

In 2006, Palin ran for Alaska Governor on a message of change – and then turned out to be just another corrupt Alaska politician who’s now under investigation in her own state.

She’s no Hillary Clinton. She’s Dan Quayle in a dress.

Women voters who care about equal rights, choice, family and other issues, will not see a partner in Palin.

She is lockstep with Bush and McCain on issues important to women. Every one of them. That’s scary.

The corrupt trio of Ted Stevens, Don Young, and Lisa Murkowski all raised campaign money for Palin.

John McCain claimed that Barack Obama lacked experience. Then he picked a VP who has just 20 months at the helm of a state with a population smaller than the city of Jacksonville, and zero foreign policy experience. Palin would be a heartbeat away from the presidency.

Barack Obama is ready to lead. Last night he showed us what the next American president will look like. He and Joe Biden will deliver change we need.

ABC’s Jake Tapper points out that John McCain is 72, while Alaska is only 49.

Both McCain and Alaska were admitted to the United States after having been around awhile. McCain was born in Panama where his father, the admiral, was serving. Alaska was part of the Russian empire until becoming a territory in 1912.

Congress bought Alaska for the mineral rights. Lobbyists have bought McCain for pretty much the same purpose.

The Obama campaign wasted no time in responding to McCain’s choice of Dan Quayle in a skirt:

Today, John McCain put the former mayor of a town of 9,000 with zero foreign policy experience a heartbeat away from the presidency. Governor Palin shares John McCain’s commitment to overturning Roe v. Wade, the agenda of Big Oil and continuing George Bush’s failed economic policies — that’s not the change we need, it’s just more of the same.

McCain’s contemporaries celebrate another birthday

We’d like to be among the first to wish Sen. John McCain a happy 72nd birthday. And also to note that just because McCain is now the oldest potential president in the history of the country, and just because he has to be checked every few months for a recurrence of his skin cancer and needs Ambien to sleep, and he has kidney stones, enlarged prostate, high cholesterol, and degenerative arthritis, that doesn’t mean he isn’t fit for the 60-plus hour work weeks that presidents must maintain.

We are not at all concerned that a former beauty queen whose only experience holding elective office is 19 months as governor of Alaska would have to step into the office of president in the event that McCain didn’t finish out his term. And with his health about what you’d expect for a 72-year-old with melanoma, what are the odds of that?

So happy birthday, Sen. McCain, and our congratulations on your outstanding and reassuring choice for a running mate!

Roger Simon of Politico has a fine analysis of the Obama speech as he accepted the nomination at the Democratic National convention, saying the candidate highlighted his opponent’s biggest weaknesses: he’s old and wrong.

Obama’s speech soared many times, but it always came back to earth. And it usually came back to earth on John McCain’s head.

Obama mentioned McCain by name no fewer than 21 times, praising his service and patriotism, but attacking him not just on specifics, but on one, general point.

“McCain doesn’t get it,” Obama said. McCain is “grasping at the ideas of the past.”

Need a translation? Here’s one: McCain, who turns 72 on Friday, is old and out of it. His ideas are tired and he is tired, and this is no time in the history of America or the world for a tired president.

You can accuse Barack Obama of a lot of things — and no doubt McCain will do so next week at the Republican National Convention — but you can’t accuse Obama of being a cream puff. He is ready to get it on, high road, low road, or middle road, against the Republicans.

That was certainly how it struck me. Even more, Obama’s speech left me feeling the urgency that we just have to defeat the Republicans this time.

“John McCain stands alone in his stubborn refusal to end a misguided war,” Obama said. “That’s not the judgment we need. That won’t keep America safe. We need a president who can face the threats of the future, not keep grasping at the ideas of the past.”

The past, the past, the past. Old, old, old. Tired, tired, tired. That was Obama’s continuing line of attack as he stood on a vast stage in a vast football stadium looking young, vigorous and enthusiastic.

After seeing and hearing him last night, I can’t wait for the debates. On the one hand, you’ll have the six foot and change young black guy whose energy you can feel through the TV screen. On the other, you’ll have the 5’7″ old white corn dodger with the bizarro smile who has to be photographed from the right in order to keep from scaring young children. Beyond looks, it’s a contest of someone who can articulate his beliefs with alacrity and sincerity versus a guy who, when he isn’t sniping sarcastically, has to check with his staff before stating a position (or how many houses his wife owns).

Bring it on.