This is an update on our previous report re: John McCain's health.
First of all, a word of clarification. McCain claims to be the "open" candidate, the candidate with nothing to hide, the "disclosure" candidate.
He is nothing of the sort, of course. He promised to disclose his health records but it took him many months to do so, and then the "disclosure" was limited both in scope and time so that there was no way for reporters to make an accurate determination as to his health today or his health in the past.
Some of his health problems have been known; we know he has had several skin cancer operations. McCain, however, has insisted for a long time that he has a "clean bill of health" from his doctors.
Americablog notes that the AP headline, summarizing the AP glance through his medical records, "McCain appears cancer free, healthy," is misleading at best
Here's what else AP said:
"McCain's most recent exams show a range of health issues common in aging: He frequently has precancerous skin lesions removed, and in February had an early stage squamous cell carcinoma, an easily cured skin cancer, removed. He had benign colon growths called polyps taken out during a routine colonoscopy in March."
John Aravosis, writing on Americablog said, "McCain isn't cancer-free if he had cancer 3 months ago. ..." Well, squamous cell carcinoma usually isn't that big a deal if it is treated early. We don't know, however, if it was treated early, so Aravosis maybe correct in his statement that McCain isn't "cancer-free."
But the second thing he said is more important relative to McCain's vaunted "openness." He asks, [is] "Anybody else troubled that candidate McCain was running for the GOP nomination, went for cancer surgery, and didn't bother telling anyone? What else isn't he bothering to tell us, and won't he tell us in the future?
"If this is McCain's standard for disclosure about his medical condition, we'd need weekly document dumps of his medical files because McCain clearly has a policy of hiding his true medical condition while running for president."
Why is it that McCain's deeds so seldom match his words?
1 comment:
The press is grateful that they got something and probably will not push for more. We have had old or sick presidents before. We have one now that has trouble putting together a full, coherent sentence yet he was elected twice. Reagan probably had early onset Alzheimer’s while still in office. Kennedy was quite ill for a long time and FDR had polio. We are never sure when a person will fall ill, at any age. I do not think age is a factor as long as the guy functions well physically, which he does. That is one of the reasons a VP is selected and is important but few care.
McCain will get lots of votes simply because he is not a Democrat, others will like what they think he believes in. I do not think he will lose much simply because of his age. Obama will get votes because he is a Democrat; young, black, etc. People do not always vote for logical reasons.
I think McCain is young. Age is relative. Old is anyone older than I.
Bob Poris
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