in what is supposedly a thriving vibrant "democracy" (haha), one should never have to depend on the good-will of politicians to open up their health records when running for president.

among the requirements for (running for and holding) the office should be one that mandates a comprehensive health checkup whose results are made public.

such a requirement needs to be written into law (amending the constitution if needed).

this, of course, requires the engagement of congress (haha), but that is the only way to make sure that we do not need to go through this ridiculous song-and-dance every 4 years.

anything else (ads by political action groups, op-eds, blog posts, etc.) are all entirely without legal footing and a politician is free to either ignore these requests, or else play ridiculous games (only invited "journalists" can skim through 1700 pages out of the corner of their eye after having consumed a minimum 7 bottles of vodka and only in a darkened room with loud music playing so that one's concentration is at its greatest). the proper way forward is to make these evasions and games a _crime_, and then get the liars and cheats to disqualify themselves from office.

something like this has worked in other contexts. of the many agencies/commissions etc. that were created after 9/11 to investigate what had happened, one invited the participation of henry "war criminal" kissinger. the thug initially agreed, but then dropped out when it was revealed that all members of said agency/commission would have be vetted and this would require that they reveal detailed financial records---clearly henry "war criminal" kissinger did not want something to be made public, and was willing to forgo the power and influence of being on a committee in order to keep his finances a secret.

once such requirements (not just financial disclosure, but health-check disclosures) are made a _legal_ requirement, we will have the likes of mccain simply not running for office (or not winning the party primary/nomination).