John McCain's feud with the New York Times is sometimes blamed on the newspaper's humiliating demand for a rewrite of an op-ed piece he had written or the February scoop on the Republican nominee's relationship with a female lobbyist. One could attribute the campaign's petty digs at the newspaper's business woes to the candidate's Scots-Irish irascibility or to the cannier calculation by McCain's new aides that an attack on the liberal media is a reliable way to stimulate an otherwise lethargic base. But there's one point the pundits have missed: McCain's grumbling morning reading of the Times reveals more about his age than any other characteristic.

The Gray Lady no longer sets the media agenda as it did-witness the lack of follow-up to the newspaper's stories on McCain's cosiness with that lobbyist, or the deafening silence with which its story on corrupt pundits was met. If McCain was a politician of the modern era, he'd be more concerned with the photo selection on the Drudge Report. As it is, the 71-year-old Republican nominee resembles nothing more closely than a grumpy retiree who loves to complain about the local newspaper, but cannot bring himself to cancel his subscription. The Times should be gentler with McCain: he represents the troubled newspaper's core demographic.