John McCain and his 'unremarkable' buttocks

First, we have to start with this reasoned medical opinion buried deep in John McCain's medical files, released for review earlier today. From his oncologist, Dr. Suzanne Connolly of the Mayo Clinic:  "Buttocks unremarkable except for some very light tan freckling." That noise you hear? A massive "thank you" from Jon Stewart's writers.

On a more serious tack, the way the records were made available to reporters wasn't exactly a "release." It was more an environment of controlled access at the Copperwynd Resort and Club in Fountain Hills, Ariz., limited to a handful of media, none of whom were allowed to make copies. From the pool report just disseminated (by Michael D. Shear of the Washington Post):

About 20 reporters -- including CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta and NBC's Dr. Nancy Snyderman -- were allowed to enter a room at the resort in the back of the Alchemy restaurant. We 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.

The backup stacks included the statement of financial responsibility, assignment of benefits and authorization to release information, forwarded documents from the attending physician of the U.S. Congress, including lab results, clinical notes, pathology reports. Insurance details, doctor's orders and anesthesia reports. The documents went into great detail about his operations to remove melanomas and colon polyps.

While the records seemed to be comprehensive, a three-hour review by pooled media isn't exactly a full release. (At least they had a chance to eat: "It was a cloudy day of about 56 degrees and we were given fruit, bagels and some muffins, along with some nicely sculpted mounds of cream cheese. No one ate anything, as far as I could tell.")

Add that controlled environment, though, to the financial records McCain has made available, and there are some pretty significant questions about a McCain administration's approach to openness -- especially against the backdrop of the Bush administration, which has shown a penchant for secrecy.

ADDED NOTE: We've e-mailed the Barack Obama campaign about when his records will be available. Will update when we hear.

UPDATE: From Bill Burton, Obama spokesman: "We'll put out a summary early next week." Note that he says a "summary" will be released. So while Obama seems to have revealed more of his family financial records than McCain, it looks like Obama will be revealing less of his medical records. Unless there isn't anything to reveal (McCain, given his age and experiences, obviously has had a lot going on). So we'll have to be patient and see what the Obama "summary" contains.

Also, for those of you who missed the other coverage (there have been comments to that effect), we blogged about this earlier and our colleague Maeve Reston has a full story elsewhere on the site.

-- Scott Martelle

Comments

[Tominellay]

Well, Republicans? Are you putting your best candidate forward?

[Kuilor2k]

It MUST be a slow news day to have an article about John McCains buttocks. LOL

[Q]

Isn't "the anus was unremarkable" what they said about Anna Nicole Smith in her autopsy?

[Kimmy]

He had skin cancer in February, and didn't think to mention it on the campaign trail? Pathetic liar.

[Insane for hussein]

McCain has more time as a pow than BHO has in the senate. McCain is a tough guy, how else could he live through that and now run for Pres. you gotta respect that

[Art, et al.]

McCain is still a better choice than Obama, if Clinton is not nominated.

There have been many things Obama has been secretive and disingenuous about, but in ongoing fashion he's given a looser leash by the media.

[Randall Smith]

This is not FULL DISCLOSURE TO THE PUBLIC. SHAME ON McCAIN!

[bob]

so..whose buttocks are more unremarkable? John McCain's or Anna Nicole's?

[captbilly]

I can hear it now, the next ime Obma says that McCain isn't being open about his financial and medical history, McCain's people are going to say, " we released 2,673 pages of medical records, isn't that being completely open. The only way that you can claim to be open and transparent is if you give complete and free access to everything, clearly McCain doesn't plan on doing that. I am not even sure if voters have a right to his wifes financial records, but he can't claim to have provided them if we don't have complete and total access to the records.

As far as the medical records are concerned I do believe that the American people have a right to know anything that might relate to his ability to do the job or regarding his likelyhood to become incapacitated or die during office. In the end the answer is almost certainly that he doesn't really want people to know about everything in his records. There are probably some pretty scary things in there regarding his several melanomas. Maybe there is even a prescription for Viagra or a reference to incontinence, certainly not something that he wants people to see.

So what we got was a highly scripted access to incomplete medical records, that does nothing to truely illuminate his present medical condition. Of course you only have to watch and listen to him to know that he is not the man he used to be. Whether he there is still enough left to handle the job of president, who knows, but I doubt that he can really handle the job anymore. The last president this old was Reagan, and we now know that he was well into Ahlzheimers by his second term.

[Danny]

Unremarkable? I *beg* to differ.

[John from NH]

NOTE: On the matter of openess; Obama has yet to release any of his medical records.....

[Clyde]

What the hell is everyone worried about on the health of John McCain? He's a vibrant man in his very early 70's. People die at 20, 30, 42, etc. It's up to God most of the time. FDR was elected president when he could not walk and he was reelected and reelected again. He was really a sickly person most of the life, yet he lived thru alsmost 3 terms. Kennedy had a illness which was suspressed, yet I don't recall all the fuss about his health.

People should not worry about how long one lives; they should worry about what they did during the time they lived. Some of our best world leaders were older than McCain when elected.

[Jane]

Relax, Scott Martelle. Obama will not be a president.

[Bob]

You are accusing Mccain of secrecy? Have the two democratic presidential nominees released their medical records yet? That noise you hear? That's the sound of Mr. Martelle choking on his tongue.

[Pwr]

I guess this is the 'Butt' of all jokes! :)

[ignatzh]

It's seems only appropriate given the overwhelming stupidity of the American public, we're more interested in the freckles on this old lizard's ass than his policies, which are decidedly militarist and are going to get us into a world of hurt if he's elected.

[tioedong]

such ignorance.

When there is no pathology observed, the term used is "unremarkable"....what the word here means is that there are no melanomas on the skin.

One now can see why McCain hesitated to release his medical records.

[capt]

McCain had cancer surgery in February, and didn't disclose it

McCain's most recent exams show a range of health issues common in aging: He frequently has precancerous skin lesions removed, and in February had an early stage squamous cell carcinoma, an easily cured skin cancer, removed. He had benign colon growths called polyps taken out during a routine colonoscopy in March.

I thought the LATimes might actually report the news not gloss over it.

What a poor source for facts.

[Dave]

No one is really concerned about either one of the democratic hopefuls' health. They're both young enough it isn't a great issue. So you can't really use the "Oh yeah? Well they didn't do it either!" argument. Obama isn't at an elevated risk of heart disease since he's so young and Hillary obviously hasn't seen sun in years so melanoma isn't a threat.

Different people different concerns.

McCain needs to be as forthcoming as possible so people don't have doubts about his health. There will always be that "What was it he didn't disclose?" mentality. And if he chooses a poor running mate it may be magnified. If Cheney was his VP wouldn't you be a bit more concerned about his health?

[RioTejas]

who the h@#$ cares about his health or health records, i think only the media is, isnt that why we have a vice president? dont care if he's in his 80's, if the american people want him to be president then we must hope that whoever is selected to be his running mate isnt the dullest knife in the draw.

[anonymouse]

I really don't understand the need so see any persons medical history. It is as I see it private, and should remain so. Perfect health before/during a campaign won't guarantee perfect health after election.

[Ellen]

Tioedong @ 1:29, you can't possibly be serious. Do you really think that the author of this column didn't know what "unremarkable" meant in this context? Did you not understand the reference to Jon Stewart (who no doubt would appreciate the humor you seem to have missed)? And since you're trumpeting your medical knowledge as though the rest of us would have overlooked this very basic point, do you really think that this characterization (whether applied to McCain or someone with buttocks rather more remarkable) hasn't been fodder for the wit of medical students (and probably practitioners as well)?

And you're the one lamenting "such ignorance"?

[margo rose]

"Add that controlled environment, though, to the financial records McCain has made available, and there are some pretty significant questions about a McCain administration's approach to openness -- especially against the backdrop of the Bush administration, which has shown a penchant for secrecy."

That quote from above says it all...we've had enough of this sort of thing and we need a CHANGE!! get it? Let the Obama sun shine in! No he ain't (sic) perfect but he's smart enough to amass the team of the century to run this pathetic, needy, ignored, tromped upon country just like it should be. I for one have had enough of the Imperial Bush presidency and cannot fathom another one.