Letters to the Editor
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Oh my god
I really wish this wasn't on Salon's front page. I read the article and it's pretty cautious, but it still comes off like a passive-agressive whispering campaign exactly of the same sort as Rove's in 2000. Not only does it make me kind of queasy, but think about how it will look plastered all over right-wing blogs.
Look, I can understand the urge, but please...do we really want to take a page out of the Karl Rove playbook? I don't think Obama would stoop so low as to make this an issue, and neither should we. And it's not just a matter of principle - making an issue out of how someone's military service may have affected their mental health when our candidate has no military service of his own would be likely to backfire. Please, McCain has enough legitimate weaknesses to go after without us stooping to this level. No good can come of this.
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Actually...
...this raises an interesting point. I wouldn't mind seeing psychiatric evaluations for any party's candidate for President. We propose to put someone in charge of the nation's (still) over sized nuclear arsenal, much less our massive conventional military structure, and we aren't the least bit curious about that candidate's mental state?
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Not Cool
Dude:
I am a lifelong democrat - but this article is not cool. I think you are trying to "Swift Boat" McCain. Did you get PTSD writing this article? I can understand questioning his "100 years" in Iraq and other wacky stuff like kissing up to the conservative base by speaking at Liberty College, but not his military service. Not appreciated.
I know you are not running for office, but what are your traumas?
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Psychiatric evaluations..
...this raises an interesting point. I wouldn't mind seeing psychiatric evaluations for any party's candidate for President.
The trouble with this is that psychiatric evaluations have little value unless someone is complaining of a symptom, has a mental illness, or is being evaluated by a court to determine how responsible for their behavior they are.
Psychiatric evaluations of healthy functional individuals are essentially meaningless, especially when the individual concerned is highly successful, which is obviously the case for anyone who is a senator.
Of course McCain's life experiences will have effected him and shaped him in some way, but that is for him to describe and for the voters to evaluate, not a psychiatrist.
Are his political ideas crazy? That is the question.
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A Touchy Subject Reported With Journalistic Integrity
Fox News could learn a lesson on "fair and balanced" reporting by reading this article. Mr. Benjamin comes across as an objective, disinterested journalist...very rare on Salon's pages.
The question of whether even bringing up this sensitive subject matter seems to bother some of the earlier posters.
While calling for psych-tests on all potential candidates is ludicrous--especially given the inexactness of psychiatry as a medical specialty--McCain's extraordinary ordeal in Vietnam probably justifies probing a bit into his mental health, though I feel queasy about supporting such invasiveness.
No doubt McCain's a different cat than the usual in-control-all-the-time pol; Obama is, so far, the perfect example of a cool, calm, collected politician.
But apparently, John has been a bit of a hothead, loose-lipped guy his whole life, including his pre-military years.
Is he nuts? Is anyone who actually wants the job of President of the United States nuts?
My answer to both questions: YES!
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Excellent article
McCain's refusal to release his psychiatric records is a major issue. Many thanks to Salon and to Mark Benjamin for this excellent piece. The media are giving McCain a free pass on many things surrounding his campaign. I can only hope that his psychological health won't be one of them. In my opinion, McCain's a nut case on par with George W. Bush.
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Swift Boating !?!
OK, I got that this was a hit piece. But it sounds like he is one tough SOB. That has endured more than most Americans. Like my father and my son, I am a Veteran (Vietnam). It pissed me off when people attacked Gore,Kerry and Bush about their service. Especially when it comes from someone that never had the character or testicular fortitude to serve.
How many candidates or ex presidents, have released their Medical records?
There has to be an issue to attack him on other than his service to our Country.
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Service??
Dalifeman, how can you possibly compare the service of Kerry with Bush. We don't really know what Bush did in the Guard, how little or how much, but we sure know that he did not go to Nam. And he likely never expected to since the Guard was a shelter for rich men's boys trying to stay out. I remember a draft counselor asking me if I had any influential friends who could get me into the Guard. Everyone knew what it was then. Bush's "service"? The verdict is still not in.
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Privacy
I worked in a psychiatric hospital and I am acutely conscious of the rights of patients to confidentiality. I am uncomfortable about the release of the psychiatric portion of McCain's medical recorsd. I am not uncomfortable about the release of the non-psychiatric portion, especially in the light of a history of malignant melanoma which has a relapse rate.
The fact that he has been an effective Senator for many years makes me wonder whether we need to know about his psych evaluations. I would liken it to a man who has had colon cancer. We don't need pictures of his colon but we do have a right to know that he is not now suffering from it. A simple statement from a reputable gastroenterologist will be sufficient. A simple statement that Senator McCain is not suffering from a significant psychiatric illness is enough for me. As a Democrat, I would not vote for him anyway but as an advocate for privacy, I don't think I need to know about his mental status.
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Vetting An Angry Commander-in-Chief-in-Waiting
"Hit piece" my arse. The man is well-known for exhibiting SYMPTOMS of instability - his anger seems under tight, and sometimes poor control.
Hence, looking at expert opinion of those who have examined him in the past - since these records exist -is reasonable, and talking about such symptoms and such opinions is not a hit piece, but rather, part of the VETTING of candidates for the highest office on the land.
Besides, one expert has alreasdy found evidence of "oedipal rivalry" in the guy. Do we need a SECOND, consecutive commander-in-chief with this oedipal hang-up? By George, I dont think so.