With the selection of Sarah Palin as his VP running mate, John McCain has made his age and health more of an issue than it already was. I do not doubt that Ms. Palin is a very nice lady, but her experience and qualifications should and will be put under a microscope. Just how powerful that microscope is will be affected by the expectation that a President McCain (trust me, it was harder for me to type those words than it was for you to read them!) finishes his term. And our friends at the good old Associated Press played a role in what could have been a serious cover-up.
Most of us remember how McCain took the unusual and controversial tactic of releasing his voluminous medical records to a select group of newspapers and wire services. For those who don't remember, and to refresh everyone else's memory, the LA Times reported on May 23:
After a long delay, John McCain’s campaign plans to release the 71-year-old Republican’s medical history in Phoenix today, but has decided to restrict access to the records to a small number of reporters.
Campaign aides told several news outlets this week that among newspapers, only the Washington Post and the Arizona Republic would be permitted to view the Arizona senator’s health records, providing a "pool report" to other print reporters who travel with the candidate.
McCain’s health is of keen interest to voters, who frequently ask him during his town hall meetings about his age and whether he has any medical problems. The limited access to documents – which will not be available to the public – could raise questions about McCain’s pledge to "set a new standard for transparency and accountability."
The campaign has also been under fire for delaying release of the documents, after initially indicating it would release them last year. Then, earlier this year, campaign aides said the records would be available in mid-April. That was pushed to today.
McCain’s Democratic opponents – New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, 60, and Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, 46 – have not released their medical records.
The McCain records will cover the last eight years, including 2000, when McCain underwent more than five hours of surgery to remove a melanoma, a cancerous skin lesion, from his right temple. Doctors conducted exploratory surgery at the time, shortly after McCain withdrew from the 2000 presidential race, to determine if the cancer had spread to his lymph nodes. It had not.
At a news conference in Stockton, McCain said Thursday that his health was "excellent" and suggested that voters might see his age as an asset when comparing him with Obama. "Knowledge matters and judgment matters," he said. "I strongly believe that my experience and knowledge and judgment will be a deciding factor in this race."
The campaign will allow television reporters and three news services – Bloomberg, Reuters and the Associated Press – to review the records, in addition to the two newspapers. The reporters will have three hours to view about 400 pages and will not be allowed to photocopy them. Other news organizations will have access to a 90-minute conference call with McCain’s physicians and online summaries of the records.
What fewer people will remember is that the AP then pre-released their review of the records, scooping by hours the rest of the chosen reviewers, and effectively dictating what the spin would be:
Yesterday, it was reported that media outlets selected to view John McCain's medical records wouldn't start until 10 a.m. Eastern time. But the A.P. published several hours earlier.
The New York Times — which requested to view the documents but was denied by the campaign — had AP's dispatch leading the Web site.
When asked for explanation, AP spokesman Paul Colford said it was "good aggressive reporting" and declined to comment on what arrangement the news organization had with the campaign.
Indeed, the McCain campaign is not revealing the details about an arrangement for two AP reporters to view the documents ahead of time, and what the conditions were for that access.
So what does it all mean? By allowing the AP to beat the rest of the pool to press, the McCain camp controlled the spin completely. Recent questions about AP's impartiality highlight this maneuver and call into serious question the content of the medical records themselves. The likelihood that McCain's camp deliberately used the AP to gloss over grave medical questions is a very serious issue that needs to be examined.
There are plenty of other legitimate questions about the Palin pick:
- Her support for the teaching of creationism in public schools.
- Of all the female GOPers, he had to pick her? The one with the least experience and recognition?
- The trooper scandal.
- Virulent anti-choice record.
However, foremost in our minds should be this thought: every VP is a "heartbeat away from the Presidency", but not all heartbeats are created equal.
A vote for McCain would very much be a proxy vote for President Palin.
Is this what America wants, and is America worried about the manner in which McCain has steamrolled the press on his medical records? What is he trying to hide?
Democrats and journalists have to start asking tough questions here about this whole process. The possibility of an actual scandal cannot be dismissed lightly, and the role of the AP in this needs to be completely understood.