Friday, May 23, 2008

Access to McCain's medical records - a joke

A selected press (only 20 people) was allowed to access 1,173 pages of Senator John McCain’s medical records for three hours. No one was allowed to Xerox or photograph the records. A reporter could take notes. Oh, no cellphones. So, what do we know? Not much. The types of tests done to look for cancer recurrence were not revealed in the AP article I reviewed. We do know that the cancer removed from his jaw was of an intermediate depth. We also know that his lymph nodes were negative.

If they read 1,173 pages in three hours, they would have to read a page every six minutes. You can’t get any detail from that. I’m not sure that we know more now than we did before the records were flashed in front of our eyes.

To be honest, this was a great piece of politics by the McCain camp. Release the information on a Friday, a slow news day. Release the information on a holiday weekend. No one is paying any attention. Then control what is said. The McCain camp got the exact headlines that they wanted. Reuters - McCain deemed in good health by doctors. The McCain camp couldn't have written it any better.

2 comments:

Brian said...

Doesn't appear to be a very open process from Mr. Straight Talk.
He is already taking after the Bush Administration - controlling information and controlling the environment in which information is shared.

I'm more concerned with his mental health. I have thought for several years that this guy was a little crazy... Just go back and look at some of his comments. Even his recent comments regarding Iran.

Troubling to say the least. (And that's when he's not fumbling and forgetting things). Either he's forgetful or puts out erroneous information (for example...his Al Qaeda statements), or he says something crazy & off the wall regarding what U.S. foreign policy will look like under his watch.

I'm not looking forward to John McSame....or what will likely be John McWorse.

Unknown said...

You mean "six pages a minute", not "a page every six minutes".
Ten seconds a page. Actually a little less. Thanks for raising this issue, as I haven't heard it anywhere else.