Pro-Palin Advocacy Group Releases Anti-McCain Ad: "Unfit to Command"

No, not really. But I thought I'd do as Scott did, to draw some attention.

The real ad, of course, was produced by Brave New PAC and Democracy for America. It suggests that Senator McCain is unfit to live out his presidential tenure, due to health reasons:

Two liberal political action committees, Brave New PAC and Democracy for America, launched an aggressive attack on John McCain's health this morning in an ad featuring unflattering images of his melanoma scars. The ad calls for McCain to release his medical records, something he already did earlier this year.

"Another bout of cancer for John McCain while he is president of the United States would profoundly impact his capacity lead," Dr. Michael D. Fratkin says in the ad. "Melanoma is the deadliest of skin cancers," Dr. Noah Craft then explains, adding "the chances of survival if you have melanoma spread through your body are very slim." The ad closes with a graphic asking, "Why won't John McCain release his Medical Records?"

Of course, as the CBS link notes, McCain did release his medical records back in May:

On May 23, a small group of reporters were sequestered in a reading room outside of Phoenix, Ariz., and given several hours to review 1,173 pages of McCain's medical records spanning from 2000 to 2008. In 2000, during McCain's first presidential bid, his campaign released hundreds of pages of medical records including psychological tests run after his prisoner of war confinement.

Apparently though, the McCain campaign was not willing to release the documents to the general public nor allow reporters to make copies of them.

McCain's physical fitness to command was brought up earlier this year in the New York Times. Questions regarding his health are nothing new:

"In 1999, during Mr. McCain’s first race for president, he gave the public an extraordinary look at his medical history — 1,500 pages of medical and psychiatric records that were amassed as part of a United States Navy project to gauge the health of former prisoners of war," Altman writes. "This reporter, who is a physician, interviewed the senator’s doctors in 1999 with his permission."

Here's the scare ad:



Aimed at independent voters, maybe it means something. For conservative Republican voters, it means something else entirely:



If elected, McCain will be the oldest U.S. president inaugurated for office (not counting Reagan's reelection at age 73).