In a meeting today in Aspen, John McCain met with oil billionaire T. Boone Pickens to discuss his plan to address U.S. dependence on foreign oil and focus more on alternative energies including wind and natural gas (in which Pickens is heavily invested).

Before they even sat down to talk, the subject of a recent study that predicted that white Americans will be in the minority by 2042 came up. Pickens found what he apparently thought was a silver lining in the report. He said to McCain…

“You and I won’t have to worry about that.”

The candidate and the audience chuckled at what the press described as a joke aimed at their advanced age. But that was not a joke about their age. It was an admission that they believe that such a demographic shift is something to “worry” about. They are saying that those of us who will be alive 34 years from now, and are white, should be worried. They are implying that they may be better off dead then to live in an America with a non-white majority.

What exactly are they afraid of? No one in the press corps bothered to ask. One intrepid reporter did ask McCain to comment on the anti-Obama book, “Obama Nation.” McCain ducked the question with a curious non sequitor: “Gotta keep your sense of humor.” Huh? An alert staffer intruded on this exchange and advised the reporter that, “we’re not doing that.” Straight talk? Racist talk? A typical day on the McCain campaign trail.