As the 2008 presidential election draws to a close, questions have arisen regarding the health of Republican presidential nominee John McCain, and his widely known struggle with melanoma. Speculation heightened in May of this year, when the candidate released around 1,200 pages of medical records to a restricted group of journalists, who were given limited access. Their reports indicated that in August of 2000, McCain underwent surgery to remove a melanoma, and that subsequent tests of his lymph nodes indicated the cancer had not spread.
Since then, controversy concerning the 72-year-old candidate's recovery has abounded throughout the blogosphere and mainstream media. Doubts about his health have become so pervasive that 47 percent of respondents in a recent poll said they were concerned that McCain would not finish a single term as president in good health.
Last week, The New York Timesran a long article reporting on the lack of information provided by the presidential and vice-presidential candidates, and presenting evidence suggesting that McCain's cancer might have been worse than his campaign—and even his personal doctors—have publicly acknowledged.
