McCain's Health: Should We Be Worried?

There's one thing that keeps worrying me about McCain: we really have no idea about how healthy he is. He still has not released his medical records, despite repeated calls for him to do so. Sure, back in May he let 20 select reporters look at 1,173 pages of his medical history for 3 hours. But he also did not let them make photocopies or calls or use the internet. And somehow, the public has accepted that that's all, case closed. However, I have several problems with that.

1. Since when are reporters qualified to make judgements on someone's health?
2. 1,173 pages is a lot of material. And 3 hours is not a lot of time. I believe the math comes out to approximately 400 pages per person, per hour.
3. Without access to a cell phone or internet, how can the reporters ask questions of the people who should really be there, the doctors?

So we're supposed to believe that McCain has a clean bill of health, based on the word of 20 unqualified people speed-reading his records, without any method of contacting experts? I don't, that's for sure.

But guess what? McCain doesn't have a clean bill of health. 8 years ago, he had a cancerous lesion removed from his temple. Afterwards, there were two conflicting reports issued, one by the Mayo Clinic Scottsdale, and one by the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, both of which are highly respected medical institutes. The Mayo Clinic simply stated that it was a low stage of melanoma, but the Armed Forces Institute stated that the melanoma was much farther advanced than previously thought. Now, who to believe? McCain seems to want us to believe the Mayo Clinic, but without his records, that's not possible. That's why over 2,300 doctors have signed an online petition to get access to McCain's records. Many of these doctors are oncologists and melanoma experts - the kind of doctors that should have been allowed to examine McCain's records back in May.

It's also true that Obama has not released his records - just a one-page summary, with his doctor's opinion that he is in great health. It's true that he should also release his records to doctors, so that the public can find out for themselves his state of health. But here's the big differences between Obama and McCain, why I'm not worried about Obama's health.

1. Obama has a VP running mate that is competent, intelligent, and experienced. Palin, on the other hand, only knows Alaskan energy issues, has extreme views, and has no experience governing a large population. Should Obama's health fail, whoever-you-believe-in forbid, I would be able to confidently trust Biden to take the reins of the presidency. Should Palin take over, I would panic.
2. Obama is much younger than McCain, a spry 47 compared to McCain's 72. Obama is also athletically active, running and playing basketball.
3. Obama has no history of major illnesses. McCain, however, has a history of melanoma, a type of cancer. And as we all know, cancer is unpredictable and often quite deadly.
   

I think we can all agree that McCain should stop playing this dangerous hiding game with the American public and come out with his records - because he just might be unfit for the presidency. So sign the petition, and spread the word - we want the truth about McCain's health!

Source: The Huffington Post, John McCain's Cancer