Readers have pointed out to me that there's this ... thing on McCain's left cheek, and have wondered whether his skin cancer has come back.
I'm hoping it's just scar tissue left over from one of his two earlier struggles with melanoma. When my six cycles of chemotherapy for lymphatic cancer were over in 1997, the CAT scan showed that where once had been the tumor, which had been the size of a Polish sausage, there was something still there a little smaller than one of those cocktail weiners you eat from toothpicks at receptions.
"No, don't worry about it, it could be just scar tissue," he said.
"How can I not worry about it?"
But, it was just scar tissue. (Knock on wood.)
Still, it would be nice if the media occasionally explained what that thing on the Presidential candidate's face was. They write so many zillion words about the Presidential election, but so few of them seem to have much bearing on obvious questions we should be asking candidates.
I suppose I could call up from Google Images, say, fifty pictures of McCain's face over the last seven years to do a statistically valid study of whether or not the thing is changing in size (or if it occasionally shifts to the right side of his face, like Marty Feldman's hump in "Young Frankenstein"), but that would require me to look at 50 pictures of McCain's face, so, to hell with it.
UPDATE: To be serious, the problem with the left side of his face apparently goes back to his nine-hour surgery after his 2000 campaign. Worried about cancer, the doctors took out a lot of lymph nodes and some muscle too.
Speaking of McCain's face, a reader writes:
And what is the deal with his cheeks? His face seems to have settled, like semi-melted jell-o, and he's got two little face love-handles bulging grossly, possibly anomalistically, to 3 and 9 o'clock. I write as an expert on jowls as mine form a perfect O-ring about my ever-diminishing head, as if I'm wearing a NASCAR tire.
My published articles are archived at iSteve.com -- Steve Sailer
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14 comments:
Ah, you are bringing up memories of the 1960 election. Nixon was famously known as 'jowly' by the media in those days. Yet I was an amateur cartoonist and felt obliged to draw caricatures of both presidential candidates during the 1960 debates. As I tried to capture the prominent facial features of both men, Nixon and Kennedy, I could not help but notice that Kennedy's cheeks were often puffier, even, as it were, a bit jowlier, than Nixon's. This was not always the case, just sometimes, probably after Kennedy had been given a particularly strong dose of cortisone, but there was definitely some flab there.
Is his face basically that shape due to Vietnam?
I've never seen these scars on McCains face before. I'm surprised given how closely I've followed the election.
If you google McCain you'll see almost all the well publicized photos of him hide these long parallel scars just in front of his left ear. It's like how the media never showed FDR in a wheel chair although everyone who met him knew he couldn't walk due to polio.
This is a testament to the power of MSM. Compare to the bad photos of Romney pushed in MSM outlets like Time (Lurch Marfans Syndrome), salon (4 fingered liar) and, of course, the NYTimes (demagogue).
What about Obama's purple lips???
What's the deal with McCain's brain?
Speaking of John McCain, the physical specimen: My wife met him recently. She says he's definitely shorter than her, and she's five-seven, which is what he claims to be.
Also, if he hasn't been able to raise his arms over his head since his days at the Hanoi Hilton, how come he was able to stay in Navy for eight years after his release? Don't they have physical qualifications? Just askin'.
John McCain is walnuts.
The Kennedy-Nixon debate
Presidential politics enter the television age.
By Bob Secter | Chicago Tribune
September 26, 1960
“… Rhetorically, neither scored a knockout in the debate, which was moderated by broadcaster Howard K. Smith and dealt with domestic issues. But one of the lasting lessons of the debate was that television is not about rhetoric; above all, it is about pictures.
…
On that level, Kennedy was the clear winner. He seemed self-assured, youthful, vibrant. ( Steve, that vibrant word! It dates back this far! ) By contrast, Nixon appeared defensive, and the bright studio lighting exaggerated his jowls and sunken eyes. As the hour wore on, the pancake makeup he used to hide a five o'clock shadow became streaked with perspiration … “
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-chicagodays-kennedynixon-story,0,4790493.story
Did Nixon a acutally have exaggerated jowls and sunken eyes that night? Check this photo, the result of a quickie Google search:
http://encarta.msn.com/media_461525049_1741500823_-1_1/Nixon-Kennedy_Debate.html
-- DD
Give Lettuce McAmnesty credit where credit is due. His jaw was broken by a Vietnamese rifle but when he ejected over Hanoi. And yes he can't raise his arms over his head. I assume like other wounded POWs he was kept on at a desk job. There are wounded vets now on active duty with amputations. Riding desks stateside.
Those imprisoned with McCain respect his personal courage and duty. But then Randy "Duke" Cunningham shot down five enemy MiGs in one day to become the last American Ace. Didn't keep him from taking bribes forty years later.
McCain's face is the way it is (including the scars) because of the fractured jaw from the rifle butt.
Revolting as the choice may be, he's better than Obama. Obama's one substantive proposal is being rushed through the Senate by Biden. It would commit nearly a trillion dollars to global "aid" aka money for dictators, sign on to Kyoto (Global Warming), ICC, and oh by the way have a back-door gun ban (treaty to "outlaw" all small arms).
Obama is not run-of-the-mill Liberal. He's far-left Code Pink Kucinich liberal. If anything to the left of his hippie Mom.
"There are wounded vets now on active duty with amputations. Riding desks stateside."
Forget riding desks -- there are even a few amputee soldiers on active duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. Today's combat vets don't get enough credit. They are as tough as any previous cohort, and probably tougher.
- Fred
Just checked out the picture - Hell, Nixon looks significantly younger and healthier than Kennedy, at least in that picture. Of course, the media always hated Nixon, so it's no surprise that he didn't get a fair shake. Studies have shown that people often "remember" seeing what they are told they saw, even if it contradicts what they really did see, and I guess that this proves it. Also, Fred is absolutely right - our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan are some of the best soldiers our country has ever produced. That's not flag-waving or war-mongering, just plain fact.
John McCain's face looks like my Dad's.. he has a blocked pituitary gland.. when it gets blocked,, he has to push on it to get the saliva out.. you could have an opertion but there are risks such as paralysis of the face.. he decided against it...
In reply to anonymous, who posted on 2/27/08, I believe you are referring to an obstruction of your father's parotid gland (which is in the cheek) [which can commonly inhibit salivary secretion], rather than the the pituitary gland (which is in the brain).
why not just shave in the afternoon?
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