John McCain has been making a series of verbal slips -- invariably described as "gaffes" -- that are starting to ricochet from liberal blogs to the mainstream media. And fairly or not, some critics are suggesting the 71-year-old Republican candidate is showing his age.

McCain referred to the "Iraq-Pakistan border" in a "Good Morning America" interview; since there is no such border, he must have meant Afghanistan-Pakistan. He has twice referred to Czechoslovakia, a country that ceased to exist in 1993; mixed up Sunnis and Shiites; and identified Vladimir Putin as president of Germany.

Aides to the Arizona senator dismiss the missteps as meaningless, noting that their man is far more accessible to journalists than Barack Obama. "When you engage with reporters from 8:30 a.m. till 8 at night, you're bound to make a gaffe," says McCain communications director Jill Hazelbaker. "People are yearning for the kind of president who takes tough questions, and that's who John McCain is."

As for the candidate's septuagenarian status, Hazelbaker says, "I'd encourage anyone who has concerns about John McCain's age to join him on the campaign trail. He keeps an exhausting schedule."

With Katie Couric, Charlie Gibson and Brian Williams traveling overseas to interview Obama this week, a debate has erupted over the imbalance in media attention.

Who's a media darling?

The McCain camp this week sent out a mocking video compilation of pundits praising the Illinois Democrat, saying: "The media is in love with Barack Obama. If it wasn't so serious, it would be funny."

But there is a counter-narrative, which has taken root on the left, that McCain is the one being treated with journalistic kid gloves. In this view, Obama's every utterance is scrutinized, while McCain, who enjoyed warm relations with reporters during his 2000 White House campaign, pays little price for blunders.

Dan Abrams, host of MSNBC's "Verdict," said Monday that "gaffe after gaffe after gaffe come from John McCain, and they are forgotten. ... There is no way Barack Obama would be able to get away with something like this."

Politico cataloged the errors on its Web site this week, saying, "McCain's mistakes raise a serious, if uncomfortable question: Are the gaffes the result of his age?"

The question is fair, says veteran analyst Charlie Cook of National Journal. "When you're about to turn 72, people are going to be watching to see if you're slipping," he says.

Obama goofs, too

Of course, a 46-year-old candidate can slip as well. Obama told reporters in Jordan this week that "Israel is a strong friend of Israel's," obviously meaning to say the United States.

Still, Obama supporters are turning up the volume on what they see as a slanted approach.

"McCain has been a media darling forever, and now he's making the claim that he's not getting enough media coverage? It's comical," says Mitchell Bard, a writer and filmmaker who blogs at the Huffington Post.

"If Obama had said the things McCain has said, the media would be all over that as an example of his inexperience. ... The media have decided that McCain is a knowledgeable foreign policy expert, and anything that doesn't fit into that paradigm is just ignored."

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