Sarah Palin's physician says she's in 'excellent health'

The McCain-Palin campaign released a two-page letter about Sarah Palin's medical history Monday night. It declares the Alaska governor "in excellent health."

The letter, sent to the news media less than 12 hours before polls open, was written by Palin's physician.

It comes nearly two weeks after Palin promised NBC's Brian Williams that she would release her medical records to the public. In an Oct. 22 interview, Palin told Williams, "I'm healthy, happy, I've had five kids, that's going to be in the medical records."

Palin did not release the records themselves. But the letter, written by Cathy Baldwin-Johnson, Palin's family physician, details her recent medical history and her five pregnancies.

Palin's first four pregnancies were normal. But Palin's youngest child, Trig, was born about five weeks early and with Down syndrome. The Down syndrome was detected early in the second trimester, Baldwin-Johnson said.

Baldwin-Johnson concluded that Palin "is in excellent health and has no known health problems that would interfere with her ability to carry out the duties and obligations of Vice President of the United States of America."

Palin's running mate, John McCain, and her rivals, Barack Obama and Joe Biden, have all released parts of their medical records.

-- Kate Linthicum

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Comments

[Ken]

So if everything is so hunky dory then why not release the medical records themselves? Sounds fishy. I betcha she's had an abortion. That would ruin her far right appeal.

[Thrasybulos]

And Obama's Occidenntal College records?—his Columbia records?—his whereabouts for two years abroad in between?—a straight story of how he won election to the Presidency of the Harvard Law Review, without ever having written an iota in a peer review journal (and I don't want to hear about a silly little student exercise that was highly edited by his law professor), and how he was nearly awarded tenure at Univ of Chicago Law School, having still not written a word for peer review, the sine qua non for any tenured academic position, and for that matter for any prior president of the Harvard Law Review. We know very little about this Barack Obama's intellectual training, his ideological development, his academic advisors and recommenders, even about his performance in school (A, B, C student?) we just don't know.

Oh yes, and we don't know what's on the tape the LA Times is withholding from public view. And it almost doesn't matter if there's anything incriminating. What's worse is the the Times refuses to open it to inquiry.

Obama is a cipher, and we're worried about Palin's health? Whether she or her young daughter had a babay, or rather Palin herself ever had an abortion, as if that would disqualify her from the job. Obama on the other hand is an intellectual unknown (bright to be sure, I'll conceed) with little knowledge coming forth of his long leftist voting record.

[JustSayNoToSarah]

Some think the fact that Palin knowingly gave birth to a child with Downs makes her a model prolifer. If this is true, why did she put Trig's life at risk THRICE?
1) having an amniocentesis could have induced an abortion;
2) even though she knew her unborn child had health problems and that she had age-associate risks, she took a long plane flight to Texas just days before giving birth; and
3) after the flight to Texas, her amniotic fluid apparently started leaking, but even so, she still took another long flight without seeing an MD (see the 09/08/08 report at www.DallasNews.com - which is a paper that backs McCain)!
Since these acts are inconsistent with her radical pro-life positions, it is fair to ask if she is a hypocrite and/or impulsive and/or foolish and/or something else.

[Cat]

Why did Palin wait so long to release her records?
By leaving it so late, she has only made herself look bad.

If nothing else, it shows bad judgement in the timing of it when election results are now coming through. She has left it too late for the report to make any serious impact.

This lack of judgement is going to cost the McCain campaign the election.

2 election results have now come in.
Obama has won them both.

Diksville Notch New Hampshire
Obama 15
McCain 6

Hart
Obama 17
McCain 10

Both of these places are traditionally Republican and have been for decades.

That does not bode well for McCain.

[andrew]

Thrasybulos, your comment is, word for word, straight from the mouth of the drug-addled Limbaugh. He makes everything up.

[Judi]

The actual records hold the truth about Trig's birth. Which is why we will never see them.

[Lynne]

Yes Ken, I guess knowing that Obama attended two of the best universities in this country doesn't bode well for his intellectual stamina. (I'm sorry, but which ivy league schools did you attend?) Especially compared to John McCain, who finished third from the bottom of this class, or Sarah Palin who failed out of not one, but two community colleges. I guess when you have George W Bush as your benchmark any minor accomplishment can be considered a milestone (unless of course you are Obama who has actual academic credentials to stand on). Please, if you are going to make a point of attack, make it a valid one.

[Ken Zen]

As PR professional (I know, it's an oxymoron), the timing of the release is a red flag. In PR, you release good news early so it can get coverage over a length of time. For example, publicly traded companies release good news on a Monday or Tuesday so the trade press and dailies can pick it up, contact the company for comment, and report on it fully, and the markets have time to absorb it and hopefully drive your stock higher. With any luck, you can get reporters to do follow up so you maximize coverage and positive impact on your stock. They release bad news after the markets close on Friday, so reporters have little time to seek comment before execs go home for the weekend, and hope that nobody follows up on Monday. The fact that Palin released incomplete records (which she knew was far less than what the skeptics were looking for) the evening before polls opened suggests that she doesn't want to answer questions about what's not in the two pages she released. But in this case, it's not Friday and reporters aren't going to forget about it over the weekend. Essentially, she's thrown gas on the fire, which will just create more smoke...and where there's smoke, there's usually fire.

[theonejrs44]

Most Politicians don't get notes from their personal Doctors, they get a complete physical! Of course if Sarah Palin did that, it would probably prove that she didn't have a baby this past year. Now how would she explain (Spin) that one?

My guess is that the baby is her Daughters, and with all her dirty doings and some of her less than "nice" associates, no one dares to challenge her out of fear! I know I wouldn't want to live in Alaska and be against her. She'd probably have my house burned down, or I'd find a dead moose in my bed! I'm just so glad that after tonight, we won't have to hear from her big lying mouth again!

If she had some class, she would be probably be the Consummate Politician. She already has proved that she knows how to Lie, Cheat and Steal! What does it tell you when her local popularity dropped like a brick, the minute she left Alaska for the lower 48?

John

[Save the Alaskan Parrot]

It's not quite the same as releasing her medical records as she vowed she would now is it. The lady had no credibility, but she seems to be determined to ensure she just can't be trusted.
This does not help eliminate the speculation that Trig's birth mother was really Bristol.

[Nette]

Having kids myself,including one that died at two months old. Sarah knows that the full report of her medical records will show any and everthing, good or bad. They are not easily altered. And that is the real reason her "real records" were not released. And the night before the election.-Sarah please stop playing on peoples intelligence...Damn

[Robert C.]

She may be healthy physically but what about mentally?

[Lisa Small]

Fewer than 12 hours before the polls opened, Palin finally admitted via this letter that she too was pregnant when she got married. Her physician says her first four pregnancies were full term, and her eldest child was born seven months into the marriage. Why do I care?
-- Because she was happy to broadcast her own daughter's premarital pregnancy while laying low about her own.
-- Because she's still pushing abstinence-only education, though she and her daughter and thousands of other women are proof that it doesn't work.
-- Because she has announced her intention to dictate the terms of MY reproductive life, and the reproductive life of every fertile woman (and their men), BY LAW, and make MY reproductive decisions HER business. Okay, Sarah, that makes YOUR reproductive decisions EVERYBODY'S business.
-- Because she has no respect not only for any woman's right to choose, but also, no respect for any woman's right to privacy.

[marshall]

She STILL hasnt released her records, only a doctors note! That kid isnt hers, no way.