A very secretive, invitation only, meeting occurred on May 23^rd at the Copperwynd Resort and Club in Fountain Hills, Arizona. Senator John McCain, at the urging of over 2500 doctors, provided his medical records to about 20 reporters including Dr. Sanjay Gupta and NBC’s Dr. Nancy Silverman.

The way the whole event was handled raised more questions than it answered. What does John McCain have to hide? How does this sound to you?

The invitees were allowed to enter a room at the resort in the back of the Alchemy restaurant. They were allowed in at 7:30 and given three hours to review the records and take notes. Most reporters used computers to take notes from the three stacks of documents that were provided to each of them. The main stack, labeled "Records from Mayo Clinic, Scottsdale, Arizona, 2000-present" were the main documents and are summarized below. The other two stacks were backup documents, including handwritten notes, lab results and insurance documents. In all it was 1,173 pages, in addition to 1,500 pages distributed the last time he ran for president.

McCain severely limited access to his medical records, not allowing any cameras, cell phones, or photocopying, giving rise to serious doubts about his already questionable health history.  His secrecy and evasiveness were eerily reminiscent of the egregious dishonesty and manipulation of information we’ve seen from the Bush administration for the past eight years. 

In addition to the “top secret-like” limitations, the possibility of having a frank discussion about McCain’s health records have also been hampered by attacks from the right and corporate media censorship.

Ads launched by Brave New PAC and Democracy for America  were countered by the right in their usual “one-sided” manner, unleashing attack hounds like Bill O’Reilly and Rush Limbaugh.  As most clear thinking people know, these are two of the most contemptible, bloviating shock jocks on the planet.  

This all is an obvious attempt to “change the subject” and keep any “truth seekers” at bay.

We wouldn’t want a little thing like the facts get in the way of John McCain’s desperate desire to be president of the United States. His words, not mine! 

Unfortunately, their bullying has scared the mainstream media, like MSNBC and CNN from running the ads exposing the truth of McCain’s health and physical condition. This censorship is dangerous and disheartening hampering any serious discussion on this crucial issue.

By pulling the ad, MSNBC comes across as more concerned with its own image to advertisers than having a substantive discussion of election-related issues.  And both MSNBC and CNN’s actions further reinforce the need for a healthy, vibrant blogosphere capable of shedding light on subjects the corporate press is unwilling to touch. 

And this is one of the primary purposes of The Lang Report.

As Bob Ewegen wrote in an Op-Ed for the Denver Post, "The health of anyone running for the job we call ‘leader of the free world’ is very much the public’s business."  The public ought to have the full facts and be able to talk freely about a candidate’s physical abilities to lead.  What’s more, the public has every right to cry foul when a candidate has clearly gone out of his way to keep us in the dark about his checkered health history, and the corporate press has attempted to keep any discussion about this under wraps. 

What does McCain have to hide? 

And what do these networks stand to lose by having an honest, open conversation about McCain’s health records?  As Amy Poehler joked when she played Hillary Clinton on the premiere of Saturday Night Live, "I invite the media to grow a pair.  And if you can’t, I will lend you mine."  

AROUND THE BLOGOSPHERE:

John McCain Needs to Reveal Medical Information - McCain is 72 years old, and has been diagnosed with invasive melanoma. In May of this year, a small group of selected reporters were allowed to review 1173 pages of McCain’s medical records and were allowed only three hours to do so. …

New Urgency Over McCain Medical Questions As Election Nears - It isn’t just McCain." And as Gupta argued, there is something sadly ironic with the fact that physicians and airline pilots are required to release medical records, but not the would-be president of the United States. …

Is McCain concealing medical records? - In an Ideas piece, writer says questions will fester about McCain’s health if he withholds medical records.

McCain, Time to Come Clean and Release Your Medical Records - In May, when the McCain campaign allowed 20 reporters three hours each to review almost 1200 pages of McCain’s medical records (no cell phones, internet access or photocopying allowed), one particularly disturbing piece of news emerged …