This old man, he mocks one

RICHMOND -- John McCain likes to joke that anyone with questions about his vigor should cast a glance at his 96-year old mother. But are the high-profile dignitaries he asks to join him at rallies there for a similar purpose -- to make the 71-year old candidate look young?

While introducing Virginia's retiring 80-year old senator John Warner on Monday evening at an aviation museum, McCain gestured to an antique plane on display and said, "I think that's your airplane over there, John. Maybe there's a biplane around here," McCain said. "John has served his country ever since the Great War."

Then McCain naturally eased into a favorite joke about a monkey who gets promoted to admiral, but ad-libbed a cutting remark about the age of another Virginia endorser. "There's a guy standing next to me, really old and senile-looking -- he looked a lot like Governor Gilmore, as a matter of fact," referring to the state's former governor, failed presidential candidate and current Senate contender Jim Gilmore, only 59.

Then, as he often does, McCain saluted the veterans who showed up at his event. "Raise your hands, you old geezers!" he instructed them.