Why We're Carrying the Brave New PAC Ad About McCain's Health

Starting Monday, The Young Turks will be carrying the ad that Brave New PAC and Democracy for America have put together on John McCain's health records on our XM satellite radio show and on our website - www.theyoungturks.com.

MSNBC pulled this ad after getting pressure from Bill O'Reilly. How does that work? If I yell at Rush Limbaugh, will he drop his advertisers? We are told that this ad is "controversial" because it brings up the issue of John McCain's health (you can watch the ad for yourself here).

Why is that controversial? Whether the man we elect will make it through the four years of his term is highly relevant to our decision making process. Especially when the person he has selected as his VP is grossly incompetent.

I really don't see the issue. Are we worried that we are being impolite to John McCain? Is it bad form to bring up the word cancer? Does it have to be whispered? Can it not be said in polite company or on-air?

If John McCain were a plumber and he was going to come into fix my sink, his health is none of my business (presuming that he gets the sink unclogged without having a health crisis). If John McCain had a health problem that is not life threatening, such as erectile dysfunction, then that is none of my business. It is not at all relevant. But if he has recurring cancer and there is some chance he cannot complete the job we are hiring him for - and that job is the most important job in the world - then his health is of tremendous relevance. It would defy logic to claim that it is not.

I don't want to hurt Senator McCain's feelings, but there are more important things on the line here. Especially because he picked an absolute imbecile as his vice presidential nominee (there I go again, hurting people's feelings). By the way, are we also not allowed to call Sarah Palin stupid because it might be impolite and make her feel bad? Yes, better to make a tremendous mistake about who we select as the leader of the free world then to hurt someone's feelings.

If Sarah Palin was ugly, it would not be relevant to the job she is seeking. If she had bad breath, we could live with it. But if she's dumb as brick and John McCain dies, we have just condemned the whole country and the world to a miserable four years because we didn't want to appear insensitive.

Have you seen the Sarah Palin interviews? Jack Cafferty of CNN summed it up best with just one word: pathetic. She has no idea what she's doing. You're goddamn right I want to know how healthy John McCain is. I'm scared enough of McCain, let alone this blank slate, uneducated, intellectually incurious, simpleton. I'm sorry, did I hurt her feelings again?

Right now, the McCain campaign is telling the press that Palin is a quick study. That's embarrassing. They are admitting that the person they've selected to be the VP nominee has to study up on foreign and domestic policy because she didn't care to learn it before she was selected. Think about a 44 year-old who is a politician and didn't care to learn anything about foreign policy before she was selected to be on a national ticket. That rivals George Bush in lack of intellectual curiosity.

She knows nothing and we're supposed to be reassured that she's a quick study? By the way, if you've seen the interviews, you know that she is in fact not at all a quick study. I can take almost any freshman out of Harvard and they would learn national policy a hell of a lot quicker than she has.

His VP nominee is busy trying to learn policy and McCain says he shouldn't have to release his health records? Are you kidding me?

We are going to run the Brave New PAC ad everyday from here on out until the rest of the media gets out of their shell and does their job. Your job isn't to be polite to the candidates, you're job is to make sure they are ready for the most important office in the world - and capable of serving their term.

Finally, I am not at all saying that people should vote against John McCain because he has cancer. All I'm saying is that it is relevant. It is a perfectly pertinent factor to consider when making the weighty decision of who to vote for. Are you voting for John McCain or are you voting for John McCain and a possibly a couple of years of Sarah Palin?

It would be grossly disingenuous to claim that question is not relevant. And that is exactly what the rest of the mass media is doing right now in the name of politeness.

Watch The Young Turks Here

< Liberal Hollywood Does It Again: "Eagle Eye." | Palin Obsession >
 Display:
As I understand it, McCain can insult my intelligence by fronting an imbicile an his successor and I can't ask a few simple questions to help me evaluate the risk? I think something has already spread to his brain.


His only pretense at disclosure was a document dump conducted in a manner to evade meaningful review. Hell, no one could even tell if any documents were missing because of the numerous constraints. That's not what you do when your are fully disclosing; that's what you do when you are trying to hide something.


What is McCain hiding? A competent media would ask that question. Again, and again, and again.

by Dogger on 09/29/2008 06:32:31 AM EST


I approve this message.

-- David Dickinson

by EveningStarNM on 09/29/2008 08:56:43 AM EST

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). 

by neo on 09/29/2008 09:48:03 AM EST

...but that's because I don't have an authoritarian bone in my body.

A legal requirement is a very different thing than an ethical requirement or an amorphous demand made by public opinion.  When we start requiring a few people to do something, it has always been the case that the number of people required to do that thing grows very quickly to encompass much larger numbers of people.  When we start requiring people to reveal what clearly is very personal information in an environment in which our choices are controlled by large institutions, those large institutions are more easily able to use that information to limit our choices. 

If you don't like the fact that McCain hasn't made his medical records easily accessible then don't vote for him.  But don't force him to make them public because very soon you will be required to reveal your medical records.

by EveningStarNM on 09/29/2008 10:12:31 AM EST

[ Parent ]
One page for Obama:

The release of a scant one-page summary for 21 years of care brought some criticism to the Obama campaign -- especially when compared to the thousands of pages of medical records released by McCain. Obama promised reporters that if there are additional health-related questions, his campaign would make that information available. "In terms of additional records, if there are particular things that people have questions about, then we'd be happy to give that information," he said.

Thousands of pages for McCain:

This set follows the reams of paper Senator McCain's campaign released during his presidential bid in 2000, in part because of a shadowy set of rumors about the psychological damage he might have suffered during his years as a P.O.W. The records showed no lasting effects.

The Associated Press was given advance access for hours last night, and its reporters pored through documents listing the senator's bouts with melanoma. The most recent examinations show no new cancer recurrence.

by Twba on 09/29/2008 10:39:58 AM EST

TWBA is right.

Me must pressure, and the media must pressure BOTH candidates to release all their medical records.

What is good for the goose is good for the gander.

Now get to pressuring, twba.

by ProfRich on 09/29/2008 11:33:20 AM EST

[ Parent ]
Me agree with heap big prof and him clever rhetoric.


Hiiiiiiigh-YA !

by perdido619 on 09/29/2008 11:46:25 AM EST

[ Parent ]
Just because someone dumps thousands of pages of documents doesn't mean they're revealing any information.  That one page summary by Obama appears to have been entirely sufficient to reveal all of the information we need.  But it will take weeks to sift through McCain's dump.  Rather than answer a straight question with a simple answer, he has once again (as a typical Republican) chosen obfuscation over clarity.

However, I am willing to agree that McCain's unstable behavior is not due to his imprisonment.

by EveningStarNM on 09/29/2008 10:56:40 AM EST

[ Parent ]
But it will take weeks to sift through McCain's dump.

McCain revealed his medical records in May.

He gets regular checkups.

Mr. McCain, who still has a puffy left cheek and a scar down the back of his neck from his surgery, told reporters that he continued to see an oncologist for regular checkups. The most recent visit was this month.

"I could probably get away with seeing her every six months," Mr. McCain said, "but just to be on the safe side, I see her every three months."

The operation was performed at the Mayo Clinic Scottsdale in Arizona mainly to determine whether a melanoma, a potentially fatal skin cancer, had spread from the left temple to a pivotal lymph node in the neck. A final pathology analysis showed that it had not, Mr. McCain's staff said at the time.

by Twba on 09/29/2008 11:15:49 AM EST

[ Parent ]

He's got melanoma, it's recurred already, it's likely to recur again and when he goes under the knife again Palin will be in charge.

Game over.

by EveningStarNM on 09/29/2008 11:35:11 AM EST

[ Parent ]
Is your point that McCain's health is A-Ok with no signs of a recurrence of melanoma?

If so, you need to google melanoma.

More importantly, if your news sources didn't report the removal of the huge, scary looking growth on the right side of his face in late July, then you need to find better news sources.


Obama had a one page medical summary because he is healthy. He didn't have 21 years of medical "care". 

You are trying to imply that Obama ISN'T healthy, and that he is keeping those records hidden.

This is a total fabrication. The REAL criticism involving the health status of the candidates was of McCain and his extremely limited access to his health records to answer that question. There was no criticism of Obama's release of his doctor's health accessment, only by Right Wing talk show hosts, and only as a fallacious rhetorical tactic. 


And those "Reams of paper released by McCain's campaign" in 2000 were regarding his mental health, and certainly don't reflect his current health, specifically the melanoma issue, which is post-2000.

OK - so the issue is that McCain has limited access to his medical records and your defense of this is to imply that Obama is actually the candidate that is hiding his medical records?

Who do you think you're fooling here, pal?

by perdido619 on 09/29/2008 11:02:44 AM EST

[ Parent ]

Ok, what's so wrong with this message? Fix news blowing it way out of proportion to intimidate everyone. I say run the ad.

I approve this message.

by 05 TypeS DC5 on 09/29/2008 11:16:17 AM EST

The Friday before last, Cenk bashed the bail-out and a lot of the Kos comments were VERY negative, even threatening with cancellation. Now Cenk posts this diary and a fair amount (I wouldn't say most, but still far too many) of overly sensitive dopes there flip out about it.

THIS is exactly why Dems lose elections despite being right on the substance...because there are far too many of them who won't allow HARD ads.

Some people just can't make a distinction between smear ads (i.e. McCain's ad saying Obama wants to teach little kids how to have sex) and hard ads (like this one).

Smear Ads make up and or intentionally and grossly misrepresent&n bsp;shit while Hard Ads simply give the hard hitting, ugly truth based on the facts.

Ah, it's so aggravating, the self defeating/self righteous nature of some Dems.

by Tom Hanc on 09/29/2008 02:35:45 PM EST

What are the possible outcomes?

GOP ignores it.  Message goes out into world unopposed.

GOP argues it.  Conversation centers around McCain's age.  It's clever.

I am pretty sure the Dems will accommodate any attempts to explain what is not true or distorted about this ad.

I suppose the media could call it somehow discriminatory.  That would make the Dems the mean ol' tough guys and McCain the wimpy little minority that needs protecting.

Yep.  I think all Grampa Death can do is sit there and take it.

Or you could run an ad against Obama cause he's black.  Since they think ageism and racism are the same thing, right?

by ProfRich on 09/29/2008 03:31:26 PM EST

[ Parent ]
If one wanted to know more about the cancer history, one only had to look it up. Cenk can very easily do that, but that does not fit his left wing nut agenda.

Here is a medical statement published by the Mayo Clinic about the status of McCain's history of Cancer.

Skin Cancer:
Regarding his past skin issues, the Senator has received skin care at Mayo Clinic in Arizona since August, 2000. Four malignant melanomas were surgically removed in the past.  Three of these were “in situ†melanomas, meaning they were limited to the top layers of the skin and were not invasive.  These three early melanomas – on his left shoulder, left arm and left nasal sidewall, were removed in 1993, 2000 and 2002, respectively.  A fourth melanoma that was invasive was removed from his left lower temple in 2000. 

 

Each melanoma was a new primary melanoma and did not represent a recurrence of any previous melanoma.  There was and is no evidence of recurrence or metastasis—meaning spread—o f the invasive melanoma nearly eight years after surgery. Other less serious skin cancers have been removed over the years without complication. These have been non-melanoma basal cell and squamous cell cancers.

 

Many questions have been asked about the removal of the invasive melanoma from Senator McCain's left lower temple in August 2000.  Dr. Hinni, who performed the surgery, will explain in detail the surgical procedure.  To summarize, we continue to find no evidence of metastasis or recurrence of the invasive melanoma as we approach the eighth anniversary of that operation.  This was most recently confirmed with his comprehensive examination and tests in March 2008 and with Dr. Connolly's skin examination on May 12, 2008.  The prognosis for Senator McCain is good because the time of greatest risk for recurrence of invasive melanoma is within the first few years after the surgery.

 

Michael L. Hinni, M.D., Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery, Mayo Clinic:
(bio & photo: http://www.mayoclinic.org/b io/10569677.html)


Of course, not many left wing nuts really care about the truth, just about speading stories, true of not 

by robokop on 09/29/2008 11:43:50 PM EST


So he's had recurrences of skin cancer how many times now?  And at least one of them was invasive?

Pretty soon he'll have nothing but scar tissue left from all the surgeries -- assuming that he doesn't have another recurrence of the invasive cancer.  But it's a sure bet that he's going to get it again.
 
Hey!  If he's spending so much time in the hospital -- and I really don't mind that he's using my tax dollars to pay his medical bills -- how will he ever find time to be President?

Oh!  Right.  Bush has just shown us what a part-time President can do.  It's just too bad that McCain will have to spend his vacation time in the hospital rather than on some ranch.

by EveningStarNM on 09/30/2008 11:03:37 AM EST

[ Parent ]
 Display: