Pat Dollard

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“perhaps the most vicious political ad of the campaign.”

CNN passed, Fox passed, who didn’t pass? Until they began to feel the pain of the hammer blows they were landing on the sides of their own heads. Oh, MSNBC, really?

WASHINGTON (AP) – The cable network MSNBC on Friday stopped airing a commercial by two liberal groups that makes an issue of John McCain’s past bouts with skin cancer and demands that he release his medical records to the public.

“The ad had not been thoroughly vetted prior to air, and has since been removed from our commercial rotation,” NBC spokeswoman Allison Gollust said in an e-mail. She did not elaborate.

The ad displays black and white close-up images of McCain and the scars related to the removal of melanomas from his face.

A spokesman for one of the groups, Democracy for America, said the cable network notified its ad buyer Friday that it would no longer run the ad.

CNN had already declined to run the ad, but MSNBC ran it several times Thursday evening and Friday morning before the network halted it. The ad cost $50,000—a small ad purchase by political standards that seemed designed primarily to generate publicity.

The 30-second ad was financed by Democracy for America and Brave New PAC, two liberal political action committees that have already aired another anti-McCain ad. Democracy for America is headed by James Dean, the brother of Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean.

“John McCain is 72 years old and had cancer four times,” the ad’s text says. “Why won’t McCain release his medical records?”

In May, McCain provided 1,173 pages of medical documents to a small group of reporters to examine for several hours, but the campaign did not release the documents and reporters were not allowed to make copies.

The records, which covered McCain’s health history from 2000-2008, showed that he had his last episode of melanoma, the most dangerous form of skin cancer, six years ago. The records described him as having a strong heart and generally good health. He gets an in-depth skin cancer check every few months.

MSNBC’s decision came a day after FOX New commentator Bill O’Reilly denounced the ad on his cable program as “perhaps the most vicious political ad of the campaign.” O’Reilly singled out Dean and Brave New PAC’s Robert Greenwald, a California film producer, for blame, and also mentioned Jeffrey Immelt, the CEO of NBC parent company General Electric, and NBC CEO Jeff Zucker. “They should be ashamed, but they are anything but,” O’Reilly said.

“Democracy for America stands behind the ad 100 percent,” spokesman Daniel I. Medress said. “It’s disappointing (MSNBC) would take marching orders from Bill O’Reilly. And it’s disappointing that they don’t want the American people to be able to ask the question of John McCain to release his medical records.”

McCain’s Democratic rival, Barack Obama, has not made his medical records public. His physician earlier this year released a one-page letter attesting to his good health.