Senator McCain Apparently Forgets the Invention of the Photocopier

John McCain, who has long said he'll release his medical records, is doing so with severe restrictions:

The McCain campaign has selected a handful of news organizations to review the records today in a conference room at the Copper Wynd Resort in Fountain Hills, Ariz., near the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale.

Reporters from all five major news networks — CBS, ABC, NBC, CNN and Fox — will be allowed to take notes from the records, as will wire reporters from the Associated Press, Reuters and Bloomberg news agencies. Just two print newspapers will be among the pool: The Washington Post and the Arizona Republic.

The reason for the restrictions, according to the McCain campaign, is the high level of interest in the elderly McCain's medical condition. Let me repeat that: he's restricting access to the records because everyone is interested in them.

"We had to do it at the Mayo Clinic and the doctors there probably didn't want 200 reporters running around," said senior McCain adviser Charlie Black. "It's not a perfect situation, but its the best available." 

Which is, of course, a load of crap. If the campaign had any interest at all in openness, they could have photocopied the records and handed them out to reporters to review somewhere besides the Mayo Clinic. They could have posted them on the Internet, for that matter, and we could all have a look at them.

That's not what McCain is doing.

Whether McCain is hiding anything or not, this gives us all an insight into just how open a McCain Administration would be.

Comments

[fish]

Medical records are or should be private! If I were in his situation I'd tell the media to pound sand! None of this matters anyway, he isn't going to win.

[Lee]

Real quick, looks like you forgot the link. I've done the same thing before.

[Adam]

The records are private, but that doesn't mean there isn't a legitimate public interest; maybe we don't have the right to know, but it's certainly right of us to ask - and it would be right of him to tell us.

McCain's an old man. The electorate should be able to make an informed decision concerning whether they want to hire someone who may have a heart attack and die if he hears about a terrorist attack.

[fish]

The records are private, but that doesn't mean there isn't a legitimate public interest; maybe we don't have the right to know, but it's certainly right of us to ask - and it would be right of him to tell us.

McCain's an old man. The electorate should be able to make an informed decision concerning whether they want to hire someone who may have a heart attack and die if he hears about a terrorist attack.

If you can't make an informed decision about McCains health and general mental state at a glance (I made mine simply by listening to him speak. Determination: he's well into his senescence... formal; noun BIOLOGY, the process or condition of deterioration with age. Given the lack of impulse control of and poor exercise of judgement associated with this condition I won't be voting for McCain.) Don't vote for him.

You are aware that there is a formal process of succession should he expire while in office?

[Adam]

Yes, I am aware there's a formal process of succession - in case something nobody could have seen coming occurs. That doesn't mean I actually HIRE someone with the expectation that it may well be necessary.

And there are plenty of medical conditions that aren't obviously hindering "at a glance".

So come off it.

[Frank]

I hate to rain on your Memorial Day Parade, Tom, but another one of your talking points just went down in flames, as Cindy McCain release her tax returns Friday.

Guess you'll have to find something else to complain about now.

[Tom]

Ah, yes, Frank: now he's perfect. Whatever could I have been thinking?

One of the biggest problems I have with the Bush Administration is their penchant for secrecy. I'm a believer in open government, myself, and like to see that in my candidates.

The fact that McCain resisted and resisted and resisted until the pressure got too great, and then did a quick document dump the Friday before a holiday weekend...well, it's doesn't exactly build my confidence.

Still, it's nice that he did it at all, even if it was entirely political in motivation rather than indicative of any kind of belief in openness...

And yes, Frank, I'll find something else to complain about. I always do.

[Pursuit]

You know this is interesting because McCain, who I think we all can agree is a fairly open guy has gone out of his way here to look secretive. The irony is, if anything, he has increased focus on the tax returns and health report, surely he knew this would be the case. Perhaps this is some sort of reverse strategy to get the media to be extra vigilant and then lay-off for the rest of the campaign?

I kind of doubt it.

But what really interests me Tom, is your one sided focus on this all important issue of honesty and openness. Correct me if I'm wrong, but you are a big O'Bama fan yet, you refuse to hold your guy to the same standard. In fact your guy's first inclination was to tell bald face lies about his trade position (thank you Austin Goolsbee!) his relationship with the good Reverend Wright, and of course, his property deal with Tony Rezko. To my knowledge McCain hasn't been quite so cavalier with the truth. Maybe you can get on your guy to be more honest going forward. After all, it is so very important after the Bush years, and I'm sure your concern is as an American and not just a partisan libby.