Voters Deserve The Full McCain

McCain just blew off speaking with thousands of reporters at the upcoming Unity national convention for journalists all the while complaining he's not getting nearly enough news coverage.


At last count, it looks to be over 10,000 reporters who were snubbed by Mr. McCain. With all those news reporters losing out on a great opportunity to meet with and write about the man, could it be that mainstream media might be looking for something to report, a story to investigate?

Feel free to forward the following "news tip" to them. We can kill three birds with one stone - take the media to task for not giving us coverage on the full McCain, bring attention to an issue affecting many veterans, and give Senator McCain the level of news coverage he craves.

The media fills us full with stories of McCain's war 'hero' history, writes numerous articles on his status as a POW, informs us each and every time one vet speaks out for him, reminds us endlessly about the torture, even going into great detail about the types of torture and the number of years the man was tortured, yet it never enters the minds of mainstream media to ever ask the obvious question "Could the man running for the highest office in the United States of America, a job with incredible stress, possibly suffer from PTSD"?

Google the general web with the words 'mccain ptsd' and approximately one half million hits will appear. Many of these are articles by veteran groups, most having to do with McCain's lack of support for veterans and others having to do with the very real possibility he suffers from PTSD.

Now go to Google news section and enter 'mccain ptsd'. You might pull up one or two articles if you are lucky.

As you can see, there is no real mainstream media coverage on this issue. The press is more than willing to talk about the details of McCain's torture but not the probable result of the torture.

"Among U.S. servicemen taken captive during the Korean War, as many as nine out of 10 survivors may suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other mental disorders more than 35 years after their release, psychologist Patricia B. Sutker of the New Orleans Veterans Administration Medical Center and her colleagues report in the January AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRY."

McCain has a nine out of ten chance of having PTSD, displays many of the symptoms, yet no one in the mainstream press will question him, a candidate for Commander in Chief who has a history of an out-of-control temper and refuses to release his military medical records to the general press.

Nine out of ten - Anyone willing to take book on the possibility he does not suffer from ptsd? Call me, I need gas money.

'Post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, can result from wartime trauma such as suffering wounds or witnessing others being hurt. Symptoms include irritability or outbursts of anger, sleep difficulties, trouble concentrating, extreme vigilance and an exaggerated startle response.'

Before the Iraq war, many of us begged the media to fully report on the WMD in Iraq, how it got there, who helped to supply Saddam with it, and to report on previous administrations' dealings with Iraq. We were told it was ancient history. The media "apologized" years later for their failure to fully report the war.

Today, we ask the media to help us answer the question "Is John McCain emotionally fit for the most stressful job in our country, the President of the United States, our Commander in Chief."

Surely, the press owes it to the voters to report on the full McCain prior to the fall election.

(Suggested news tip recipients include ethics societies for journalists, cub reporters and college newspapers)