Time Tries The Whole “Just Wondering About McCain’s Health” Attack Line
Seriously, what Time schedule is Time on? The NY Times and LA Times tried this attack on McCain a bit of Time ago
Headline: How Healthy Is John McCain?
It was the size of a dime and as thick as a nickel—a discolored blotch on John McCain’s left temple. He didn’t pay it much mind during the heat of the 2000 Republican primary campaign. But after losing the nomination to George W. Bush, the Arizona Senator found himself with time to spare. So as Bush celebrated victory, McCain headed to the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., to have the spot checked out.
McCain’s handlers know his age is both a strength and a weakness, one that his campaign is acutely sensitive about. Early this month, aides pounced on Obama’s suggestion in a television interview that McCain was “losing his bearings as he pursues the nomination” by making negative attacks. Within hours, adviser Mark Salter had released a blistering memo saying the comment was a “not particularly clever” knock on McCain’s age. “We have all become familiar with Senator Obama’s new brand of politics,” Salter concluded.
But if McCain intends to make his experience a plus with voters, he must also make sure that his health is at the very least not a negative. And so, after weeks of delay, the McCain campaign plans to deal with the issue later this month, with a release of his medical records and a briefing by his various doctors in Arizona, where he underwent the surgery. Though details are still being firmed up, the campaign says it expects to offer enough documents and medical opinions to lay to rest any concerns about the candidate’s condition. “What you are going to find is that he is in good health,” says Charlie Black, a senior adviser to the campaign.
They’re “just wondering,” ya know.