Dead man walkin'

I'm going to vote for Obama. There are a number of reasons for this and it's possible that you might disagree with them. That's cool.

That leaves McCain or any independent candidate you care to throw away your vote on in some kind of 'protest'.

You might like his policies, or maybe you just dislike him less than Obama. Fine.

But there's very good reason you may want to reconsider that vote for McCain. And it unfortunately has to do with him being a 71 year old cancer survivor. I suppose I am in fact being ageist. I don't want to be. I personally want to be VERY active and mentally sharp when I am Mr. McCains age and beyond. And it appears that John McCain is fairly sharp most of the time.

But most of the time is not what I want from a 72 year old President. I don't want his health to be 'passable'. If you are 71 and are running for president you better be sharp as a tack and able to go up stairs without getting winded. I would prefer it if you can wrestle a bear and recite the Treaty of Tripoli (google it) but I'll take moderately good shape.

A few days ago during the debate I noticed McCain exhibiting a minor facial tick during the debate. It didn't seem too serious but I wondered about it, especially after the many small mistakes he's made in interviews and seeming contradictions from things he's said only a few days earlier. A lot of the liberal blogs rail about him being a 71 year old cancer survivor, but that cancer was melanoma. A skin cancer. He's had several lesions removed, only the last was of any concern. I felt that perhaps they were being a bit alarmist about his health.

But the fact is that McCain only let a handful of reporters LOOK at his 1200 page medical report. They weren't allowed to make copies or take notes.

And then I learned that melonoma is one of the really fucking serious cancers. It can spread almost anywhere in the body and do it agressively. And unlike breast cancer, where the chance of recourance goes down ofter x years, the chances for recourance with melonoma increase.

Several doctors are commenting over at Americablog about this and other things they have seen recently and while a video diagnosis cannot yield any concrete evidence these doctors are VERY concerned and would advise ANY patient they saw exhibiting these symptoms to get to a hospital for a full work up including CT scan for a possible mini-stroke.

I wouldn't fly on an airplane with a pilot 10 years post melanoma who had not been followed/staged/ examined because he might seize and the FAA wouldn't let him fly as far as I know.

Would you?

I am actually concerned now for this guys health. Let's set aside that fact that Sarah Palin is in NO WAY qualified to be President. That's another issue. If McCain gets into the White House he will have access to the best doctors anywhere. But the fact is there is still no CURE for cancer, and treatment is painful and debilitating.

I'm voting for the 47 year old.