New York Times digs into candidates health concerns.

Barak Obama

Here is the potentially bad news:

Mr. Obama has had a notable medical problem: a difficulty in stopping smoking. It is not known how heavily he smoked. Dr. Scheiner wrote that Mr. Obama began smoking at least two decades ago and had made several efforts to stop. Mr. Obama has used Nicorette gum “with success,” Dr. Scheiner wrote, without defining success.

However Obama is a dedicated athlete who works out at least once a day, and that has a lot of heath benefits even for man with a history of smoking.


Joe Biden

Here is the report, which includes the potential bad news:

The Obama-Biden campaign referred me to Dr. Matthew A. Parker, an internist in Washington, who reviewed Mr. Biden’s records and also spoke with Dr. Eisold about them. Dr. Parker said that Dr. Eisold told him that brain imaging tests were not needed now because Mr. Biden had done well for the 20 years after the aneurysm. “It is a nonissue,” Dr. Parker said Dr. Eisold told him.

The question of an aneurysm aside, the documents show Mr. Biden to have relatively minor health problems, including chronic sinusitis and allergies. He has an enlarged prostate, but a biopsy showed no evidence of cancer. With the help of a statin, he has normal cholesterol levels: 173 (HDL 47 and LDL 98) and triglycerides of 133.


John McCain

Here is the potentially bad news:

If Mr. McCain’s 2000 left-temple melanoma was a metastasis, as the Armed Forces pathologists’ report suggested, it would be classified as Stage III. The reclassification would change his statistical odds for survival at 10 years from about 60 percent to 36 percent, according to a published study.

Here is the McCain campaign statement:

“As you know, we disclosed over 1,200 pages of Senator McCain’s medical history to Dr. Altman’s colleagues in the press earlier this year. We also arranged a Mayo Clinic briefing with three of Senator McCain’s physicians that Dr. Altman listened to by phone. Additionally, we released a detailed document outlining his most recent physical and lab test results. It was an unprecedented level of disclosure, and Dr. Altman can look at the public document on our Web site if he wishes to do so. It was certainly more significant than the one-page doctor’s note Obama released, though I have little hope The Times will report it that way.”

Sarah Palin

This all the Times had about the Palinator:

Nothing is known publicly about Ms. Palin’s medical history, aside from the much-discussed circumstances surrounding the birth of her fifth child last April. Ms. Palin has said that her water broke while she was at a conference in Dallas and that she flew to Anchorage, where she gave birth to her son Trig hours after landing.

Last week Maria Comella, a spokeswoman for Ms. Palin, said the governor declined to be interviewed or provide any health records.

My take after reading through this report is that, while there is no smoking gun, there are some real concerns about two of these candidates and some very puzzling questions about a third.

I think it is clear that John McCain's health issues could be a real ticking bomb, considering his age and past health problems. The idea that he could remain healthy through a four year term is questionable, and a second term seems virtually impossible.

Joe Biden is also somebody whose health should be a consideration for the voters to take into account when casting their vote.

Barack Obama's smoking may have the potential to become an issue in the future, but there is no reason to believe it will be a problem even if he is the President for eight years. He seems to be in good health, by all indications has stopped or dramatically reduced his smoking, and is still comparatively young.

The real puzzle is Sarah Palin. She is a 44 year old woman in seemingly good health, yet she REFUSES to provide her medical records or a doctor's statement. Why?

Palin has been surrounded with questions about the circumstances concerning the birth of her last child, Trig Palin. When the gossip reached a crescendo after her selection by John McCain as his running mate, rather then release her health records she outed her 17 year old daughter as an unwed pregnant teen. Now with yet another opportunity to put the questions to rest she simply refuses.

All this does is feed into the idea of a conspiracy and add fuel to the idea that she has something to hide.

I have gone on record as saying I believe she is terrified that somebody will realize that she is not Trig Palin's birth mother, but if anybody has a better theory I am open to hearing it. However regardless of any disagreements over the reason for her non-compliance I think we can all agree that something does not smell right here.