N.Y. Times Targets McCain's Melanoma -
Sunday, March 9, 2008 5:42 PM
By: Phil Brennan, Newsmax.com
newsmax.com
For the third time in less than three weeks, The New York Times
has swung its hatchet at Sen. John McCain, reporting Sunday
on his winning bout with a deadly form of skin cancer eight
years ago and speculating that it might somehow reappear
despite medical opinions that a recurrence is unlikely.
Obviously horrified at the prospect of the Arizona senator
winning the presidency, the Times first tried to bury
its hatchet in McCain's candidacy with a widely condemned
Feb. 20 story alleging that aides to McCain had intervened
when they became worried that a relationship between the
senator and a lobbyist might have become romantic.
McCain denied the report.
That was followed by an obvious attempt by Times reporter
Elizabeth Bumiller, one of the reporters who wrote the
discredited sex scandal story, to provoke a temper
tantrum from the senator by pointlessly dredging up a
2004 story about the invitation to him
from John Kerry to join his ticket.
Instead of blowing his top as she hoped, McCain merely
asked why she was bringing up a long-past matter that
was widely known.
Despite his mild rejoinder, Bumiller asked “Why are you
so angry?” when he was anything but.
As Michell Malkin reported on the Hot Air blog,
"the question ['Why are you so angry?'] is so inappropriate
that he asks her to repeat it — and she declines,
hopefully out of embarrassment.
"Interestingly, the Times now has tried twice to get his goat,
and for the second time, they’ve wound up with egg on their
face," Malkin added.
The latest Times assault came in a story headlined "On the
Campaign Trail, Few Mentions of McCain’s Bout With Melanoma."
"Mr. McCain, the story notes "is occasionally asked on
the campaign trail about his age. But he is almost never
asked about his health."
To remedy that omission, Times reporter Lawrence K. Altman,
who is also a physician, recalled the melanoma skin cancer
that McCain suffered way back in 2000, and
the subsequent surgery.
While Altman takes pains to point out that for all intents
and purposes, the melanoma is a closed chapter in
the senator's medical history, he suggests ominously
that it could recur, although all the data he reports
suggests that McCain is in greater danger of being run
over by his campaign bus than he is of having a second
bout with skin cancer.
Altman writes: "Doctors advise melanoma patients to
have regular checkups to detect new skin cancers
and the spread of old ones because melanomas
can be quirky," and then adds that the senator's
staff "has not said what tests his doctors have
used to monitor his case."
Most recurrences of melanoma occur in the first few years
after detection, Altman explains, adding that
"survival figures for melanomas are often measured
in 10-year periods rather than the five-year periods
for many other cancers."
Altman recalls that an operation at the time was performed
mainly "to determine whether the melanoma, a potentially
fatal form of skin cancer, had spread from his left temple
to a key lymph node in his neck; a preliminary pathology
test at the time showed that it had not.
"But because such a test cannot be definitive, the surgeons,
with Mr. McCain’s advance permission, removed the
surrounding lymph nodes and part of the parotid gland,
which produces saliva, in the same operation, which
lasted five and a half hours.
"The final pathology analysis showed no evidence of spread
of the melanoma, his staff said at the time. Mr. McCain,
of Arizona, has said he did not need chemotherapy
or radiation."
Altman quotes Dr. Richard L. Shapiro, a melanoma surgeon at
New York University, who took pains to tell Altman he had
no personal knowledge about McCain's medical condition,
as warning: “With melanoma, a patient is never completely
clear.”
Having noted at length the improbably of a recurrence
of melanoma in McCain's case, Altman writes that
should melanomas recur, standard treatment options are
limited for many to surgery and a difficult form
of chemotherapy.
"The chances of long-term survival diminish," he wrote.
McCain, he reports, "appears to take care to shield
himself from the sun, slathering on powerful sunscreen
before outdoor events, finding spots of shade from which
to speak and sometimes wearing baseball caps while outside."
Noting that McCain’s "prognosis for the recurrence of melanoma
can be gauged only by talking to experts not connected
with his case," in other words people having no
first-hand knowledge of McCain's medical condition -
he admits that even those "experts say his prospects
appear favorable."
newsmax.com
Dr. Paul's campaign has not stopped and neither has he.
Did you folks bother to check with Paul's HQ?
Oh, I forgot.
We're talking about the Boston Globe, so facts
do not matter.
If you had bothered to call, you would have discovered
that his campaign is continuing and that he has
not stopped.
Shame again on the Boston Globe.
Posted by Don March 7, 08 06:26 PM
Reply | Report this post
add your comment
Paul concedes presidential bid is effectively on the GO -
to continue:
boston.com
The Real Revolution Is Here, Have You Joined Yet? -
ronpaulrevolutionradio.com
April 15, 2008 - Strike against the illegal FED -
youtube.com
Ron Paul on Larry King 1-3-08 (UNAIRED) -
youtube.com
Here's the clip that should have aired last night.
No explanation has been issued on why it didn't air.
The Revolution: A Manifesto by Ron Paul -
siliconinvestor.com
God Bless America
Judge for yourself and then decide whether you wish
to join the strike.
WE ARE CHANGE!!!
tinyurl.com
Constitution Class taught by
The 2004 Libertarian Presidential Candidate,
Michael Badnarik teaches his famous class about
the Constitution....
tinyurl.com
ronpaulaustin.com
tinyurl.com
lighthouse57.com
Dr. RON PAUL,
BIOGRAPHY -
en.wikipedia.org
ronpaul2008.com |
