The HuffPo is reporting that the limited pool of reporters being permitted to view John McCain's medical records excludes any representative of the New York Times. No doubt pup tents are being raised in the collective trousers of the rightosphere over this slap at the poster child of the LIEbrul Media, but I think it's a dumb move, politically, by McCain.
A fetish for secrecy ranks high on anybody's list of complaints about the Bush Administration. McCain is already easily tagged as "McSame," and this will only add to that perception. To review: The first time he ran for president, in 2000, he was as open about his health history as anyone could ask. This time around, after having been treated for melanoma in the interim, not to mention aging eight more years, he's playing games.
His campaign has delayed the release of his records several times already. Now that he's finally releasing them, he's not really releasing them -- he's doing a classic stealth dump by choosing a Friday before a holiday weekend, he's not releasing the complete records, it appears that reporters will only be able to view the records for a short time and will not be able to keep copies for further scrutiny, and he is excluding, in addition to the NYT, several other prominent news organizations; e.g., Time, Newsweek, and U.S. News. In fact, only two members of the print media have been invited to have a look. Even his "base," those reporters who travel with the campaign and who are widely seen to be in the tank for McCain, will get just a pool report, the CliffsNotes of the CliffsNotes, as it were.
It's going to be easy to ask, and it's an entirely legitimate question: What is John McCain hiding? If he has nothing to hide, he's at least creating the appearance that he has something to hide.
My own guess is this: there are some items in the full record that could be exaggerated, and the McCain campaign made the calculation that it would be worse to let these items be gnawed over than it would be to present as less than transparent. If this is the case, I think they've miscalculated. Add this to his wife's adamant refusal to release her tax returns, and the "Straight Talk" image is looking mighty tarnished.
10 comments:
Easily tagged as McSame by liberal bloggers.
According to the AP (is that a big enough news organization for you? seems kind of weird for a blogger to complain that the Newspapers are getting short shrift) his health records indicate that for a 70 year old man he is in remarkably good health.
As far as not all the records being released, I personally doubt that the AP reporter has any reason to lob a softball to McCain, and that there is nothing in the last 8 years of his medical history (1173 pages) that would be unexpected for a man of his age with the parts of his medical history that are public.
He had melanoma, he now gets checked out for it "every few months." He's in remarkably good health for a 70 year old. He takes cholesterol medicine.
You can believe he's hiding something all you want. I agree he probably wanted to make as little splash as possible, thus the limited release of the info on the day before a holiday weekend. But I don't think there's any "there" there to be hidden.
If he's not hiding something, then he should have had no problem with a full release. They should have been distributed to any responsible news outlet that asked.
I know many people in their 70s. None of them should be school bus drivers, airline pilots, neurosurgeons or .. Presidents. A simple truth, told straight.
This is, as I see it, a P.R. battle. Liberals want to make a big deal of his health records, even if he's not actually afflicted by any medical condition, by having it be huge news that "today is the day that McCain finally made the reports public." And then they'd be posted all over the web and there'd be a big story made out of nothing.
It seems a bit naive (or disingenuous, not that I'd ever make any accusation of impropriety ;-) to think that the only reaction to his health records will be "OK, he's got a clean bill of health," particularly from his political opponents. Even the release of records that show something as uncontroversial as the fact that he takes Lipitor will be plastered all over the leftosphere with the insinuation or direct statement that THIS MAN IS AN OLD FOGEY.
McCain has tried to limit this politically damaging scenario by managing the release of his documents and doing it on a slow day when most people aren't following the news cycle.
It is a political move, to be sure, but from the AP story there doesn't appear to be any health problem that would disqualify him from the Presidency or cause any grave doubt about his capacity to be President. From the rabble surrounding even the release of these records it seems to me like he did a smart thing, even if there is nothing to hide: Since he's already been crucified for his age by the left, why should he hand his enemies more rope with which to lynch him?
Hey Libs...best of luck getting somewhere on this one...you're wasting your time!
Ronald Reagan was IMO the greatest President in our time and was in his 77th year when he left office.
BTW I seem to remember Reagan had colon polyps too. oh the humanity!
sheesh
Adam:
Regarding your first comment: I am unconvinced that a few hours is sufficient time to properly review 1173 pages of medical records, particularly if the viewer is not a doctor. I remain unconvinced that those pages tell the whole story -- I'm sure they are the output of a filtering process. I remain suspicious that the NYT wasn't invited, and was reminded while surfing today that the last time the press got a look at the records, the NYT sent Lawrence Altman, who is a reporter with an M.D.
If his aim is to alleviate concerns about his health, I'd say he hasn't succeeded, except with those who want him to beat Obama.
Regarding your second post: He's been "crucified" by the press for his age??? Haven't I told you ten billion times not to exaggerate?
Dave:
Welcome aboard. Always nice to have another dissenting voice. What brought you here, if I may ask?
Don:
I disagree that being over 70 automatically means you're too old. I have known too many counterexamples to think this.
Brendan,
Nonsense. We are about to face the most challenging and demanding period of history our country has ever faced. We will need resourcefulness, creativity, flexibility, a willingness to think outside the box, the energy to do things in a way that hasn't beem tried before.
Qualities of the 70+ set? No. Should I gamble that McSame is the exception? Hell no.
Well ... I'd say McCain lacked those qualities long before turning 70, too, so I'm not sure that proves the general case. But I take your point in this specific case.
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