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saz
10-28-2008, 10:06 AM
if true, this was forty-four years ago. but still, mccain was well known to be a boozer...


News Orgs Investigate Possibly Fatal McCain '64 Car Crash

Sam Stein
HuffPost Reporting from DC
October 28, 2008 09:45 AM


For the past two months, a major American magazine and an allied news service have been engaged in a legal battle with the United States Navy over records that they believe show that John McCain once was involved in an automobile accident that injured or, perhaps, killed another individual.

Vanity Fair magazine and the National Security News Service claim to have knowledge "developed from first-hand sources" of a car crash that involved then-Lt. McCain at the main gate of a Virginia naval base in 1964, according to legal filings. The incident has been largely, if not entirely, kept from the public. And in documents suing the Navy to release pertinent information, lawyers for the NS News Service allege that a cover-up may be at play.

"Plaintiffs have also obtained documents showing that law enforcement officers were ordered back to the accident scene to retrieve personal physical effects. The Navy has never publicly acknowledged this information," one document reads. "This request involves federal government activity, as it addresses what may be an attempt by the Navy to protect by concealment the involvement of a former Navy officer, sitting Senator and Presidential candidate in a serious incident involving the injury or death of another human being."

The first request for information concerning duty assignment logs to Portsmouth Naval Hospital -- where McCain was allegedly brought after the accident -- came in the form of a Freedom of Information Act request on August 28, 2008. The Navy acknowledged receipt of the request and advised that it had located the relevant information a few weeks later, only to deny the FOIA on grounds that it didn't prove an "imminent threat to the life or physical safety of an individual" or satisfy the criteria of "a breaking news story of general public interest."

"The patient admission record logs that you seek are exempt from release," wrote G.E. Lattin, Deputy Assistant Judge Advocate General, "as information in personnel and medical files, as well as similar personal information in other files, that if disclosed to a requestor, other than the actual person in which the information is pertaining to or next of kin, would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy."

NS News Service and Vanity Fair appealed the decision and asked for expedited treatment of the case, as the end of the presidential election loomed. But the Navy denied that request as well.

"It appears to be a deliberate refusal to provide clearly releasable information concerning assignments to Portsmouth Naval Hospital," wrote legal representatives for the two news organizations. "Allowing the Navy to extend its time to respond beyond a date when the documentary facts of this matter would be available for public consideration prior to the national election on Tuesday, November 4, 2008 would violate the spirit, as well as the provisions of the FOIA."

Staff for National Security News Service and the company's lawyer both refused to discuss the proceedings. And there are only parcels of information concerning the story that can be gleamed from the court documents.

At a minimum it seems clear that Vanity Fair and NS News Service have launched an investigation "disclosing first-hand witnesses' recollection of an automobile accident in which then Lt. John S. McCain III was involved. Those witnesses specifically recall McCain's assignment to that [hospital] facility with the other person involved in the accident." This episode in McCain's life has, it seems, not been made public, and the plaintiffs suggest that the Navy may be attempting to actively restrict information about the incident.

"The subject matter of the documents is a matter of current exigency to the American public," reads a document filed by legal representatives for the news service, "because the requester is preparing a current news report addressing whether the Navy continues to conceal the involvement of a Navy officer in a serious automobile accident in July 1964."

link (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/28/news-orgs-investigate-pos_n_138449.html)

Documad
10-28-2008, 10:21 AM
I read that too. I was a bit confused. Huffington Post doesn't know what sort of story might be there -- but HP knows that two other news organizations have asked the Navy for records that the Navy won't turn over. I suppose those news organizations don't want to say anything until they have a solid story? It makes sense to me that the press can't have someone's medical records without permission but I suppose there is some kind of exception if it's really important? It seems like the Navy is saying it's not really important because it happened 40 years ago thus it's up to McCain to decide if he wants to release them? And we know he won't release his more relevant cancer medical records, so he's not going to?

I hadn't heard of the National Security News Service. Are they some wing of the military or are they somehow independent? I tried to google them after I saw this story and found that they had broken some other interesting stories. I thought military news organizations didn't do independent reporting, so I wondered whether their name makes them sound like part of the government but maybe they're not?

saz
10-28-2008, 10:34 AM
well yeah, he is running for president so they should be released, especially when the request is being made through the foia. if it turns out that mccain only injured someone in the crash, it's still not great, but not nearly as serious as someone getting killed. obviously in such a massive time span as forty-four years people can change and turn their lives around, but when you're running for the president of the united states, something like that is hard to ignore, if true.

yeahwho
10-28-2008, 11:09 AM
Crash McCain sounds cooler than Maverick.

Bob
10-28-2008, 07:26 PM
i dunno, 44 years is nearly twice as long as i've been alive. i've made a lot of progress in just one of my lives, i bet he's made even more in two of them. i choose not to care about this one

Documad
10-28-2008, 08:59 PM
I'm not standing up for McCain by any means. According to that Rolling Stone story, he was a major fuck up. I just don't understand how a magazine can get his medical records without his permission. Unless it's some other kind of government record they're seeking.

It would be interesting if Vanity Fair would comment on the story. I'd like to hear what their witnesses say.

saz
10-28-2008, 09:09 PM
i agree, i'm going to keep an eye on this as well. if it does end up coming out that mccain was responsible for someone's death in a car crash, despite being such a long time ago, i can't see him getting around it as he's running for president. even if that scenario plays out post-election, it's still a nightmare scenario for mccain.