Disgusting: Slimy Howard Dean Group Attacks McCain's Health

Very classy. Considering McCain's health has been pored over in agonizing detail and he's released 1100 pages of medical records, does this make Barack Obama's health fair game? Since Obama has released one page of his records, I'd say it does. Maybe we should have a look at whether his cocaine abuse and decades of smoking have taken a toll.

The public has a right to know, doesn't it?

Two liberal groups – one of them directed by a brother of the Democratic Party chairman Howard Dean – will begin running a graphic attack advertisement Thursday morning raising questions about Senator John McCain’s health. Showing vivid and unflattering images of the fresh scar that appeared on Senator McCain’s face immediately after his last operation for melanoma skin cancer eight years ago, the commercial ends with a screen headline that reads, “Why won’t John McCain release his medical records?” (Mr. McCain, 72, did invite a limited group of reporters to inspect more than 1,100 pages of his medical records in May, though he gave them only a three-hour window in which to review the documents.)

Aww, only a three-hour window. But that's a lot more access than anyone has had to Obama's records, not to mention the Annenberg Challenge records that Obama and his terrorist buddy Bill Ayers are desperate to keep hidden.

The commercial is among the harshest to run against Mr. McCain yet, seeking to exploit the sensitive issues of health and age. Officials with the groups running the ad, Brave New PAC and Democracy for America, said they were only showing the spot initially on MSNBC over the next few days, a limited run intended to draw news media attention on a network that has increasingly catered to liberal tastes.

Officials at the groups, both of which are political action committees that rely on individual donors, said they hoped to show the spot on stations in battleground states in the coming weeks as well. But it is unclear if individual stations will accept the spot: Leighton Akio Woodhouse, a spokesman for Brave New PAC, said late Wednesday that CNN declined to accept the commercial after reviewing its contents this week.

The ad comes from the same two groups that recently released an advertisement questioning whether Mr. McCain’s time as a prisoner of war in Vietnam adversely affected his ability to lead.

Democracy for America has as its chairman Howard Dean’s brother, James H. Dean. Federal rules prohibit coordination between outside groups and campaigns or parties.

Daniel Medress, a spokesman for Democracy for America, said James Dean has not spoken with his brother about his activities at the group, which Howard Dean started in 2004. “We don’t coordinate with them,’’ Mr. Medress said of the Democratic National Committee, adding that at family dinners the Dean brothers, “sit there and make small talk, because they can’t talk about their jobs.”

It should tell you something that even the far left CNN rejected the ad. Naturally, MSNBC will be happy to run these spots on a continuous reel.

Danny Diaz, a Republican National Committee spokesman, said, “The fact that Howard Dean’s brother and an adviser to the Obama campaign are behind despicable and cheap smear ads against Senator McCain is deeply disappointing, but in no way surprising. Barack Obama has promised Americans an elevated debate offering nothing but gutter, Chicago-style politics.”

What The Times omits is the fact this group was founded by Howard Dean, so don't give any of this crap he's not in the loop on this. They actually expect us to buy the lie that the Deans haven't spoken about this?

Please.

Hot Air links. Thanks!