McCain's Health, Medical Records in The New York Times, CNN, and Washington Post
Elise Wagner
What a difference 2,908 doctors make! Your efforts to get John McCain to issue a full, public release of his medical records are making huge waves in the press.
- On Monday, in a front page story in The New York Times, medical correspondent Dr. Lawrence Altman catalogued precisely why this issue is so important.
- In response to the article in The New York Times, Joe Biden released his medical records (he's perfectly healthy). Yet McCain, the candidate with the most cause for concern, still refuses to issue a meaningful disclosure. (Sarah Palin, it should be noted, also now refuses to release hers.)
- Yesterday, The New York Times' editorial board weighed in, concurring with your opinion as expressed in our open letter.
- McCain had to answer a question about his health to a CBS interviewer yesterday.
- CNN's Campbell Brown made the issue the focus of her commentary on Monday.
- The New York Post also weighed in.
- The Washington Post covered the story last weekend.
- CBS 5 in San Francisco ran this story.
- Even Scientific American took notice.
- In addition to this coverage, stories and opinion pieces have appeared in newspapers and radio in Florida, Virginia, Ohio, Indiana and other battleground states in the last few weeks.
It should be noted that Dr. Altman at The New York Times is the leading expert on the issue of disclosure of presidential medical records, having himself interviewed doctors for and examined the records of numerous candidates and incumbent presidents going back decades. His attention to this subject sends a strong signal to journalists all over the country that this is a critical issue to report on.
In the voluminous coverage so far, not everyone agreed with us (read the New York Post piece for some major disagreement), and most of these stories also question Obama's decision not to release his records (an opinion in no way in conflict with our call for full disclosure by McCain). But the bottom line is, the more attention of any kind brought to this issue, the better for transparency and accountability.
With all of the excitement and news over the past few days, we here at Brave New Films want to thank you for your contributions and making a difference.
Best,
Elise Wagner and Brave New Films
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