Former Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) is cutting ties with conservative website Newsmax after it sent a disputed email about Alzheimer’s disease to his political mailing list Wednesday morning.
The email from Newsmax, headlined “5 Signs You’ll Get Alzheimer’s Disease,” struck even Scott’s Republican supporters as odd. The article promoted a doctor who reportedly compared the country’s heath care reform to Nazi-style thinking and said the former Soviet Union introduced drugs and AIDS to the United States, according to New Hampshire TV station WMUR.
Brown explained to WMUR that he does rent out his email list to vendors, albeit selectively.
“With regard to this vendor, I was exploring entering into an occasional rental agreement with the vendor that sent out the email this morning,” he said. “While the issues of Alzheimer’s is personal to me and an issue I have been working on for years, I did not approve or authorize the sending of this particular email. Due to this and other issues, I am terminating my relationship with this vendor effective immediately.”
Newsmax editor Ken Chandler defended the contents of the email in a statement, saying the doctor’s medical opinion served the public interest.
“Dr. Blaylock is a respected medical doctor, neurosurgeon and natural health expert. He has argued that fluoride and vaccines pose certain health risks. His arguments are supported by the medical evidence he cites,” Chandler said. “While we at Newsmax recognize that not all medical experts agree on his views, we believe consumers should be aware of the diversity of medical opinion on these and other health issues and that a discussion of all medical viewpoints ultimately serves the public interest.
WMUR noted the disputed Newsmax email came two days after Brown was featured shirtless on the front page of the New Hampshire Union-Leader. The former senator is widely considered to be mulling a challenge to New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D).
“Let the Dems have their fun,” Brown told the television station. “No biggie.”
h/t Politico
Correction: A statement Newsmax originally sent out after the dustup was attributed to CEO Christopher Ruddy. A company spokesman later said that was an error and the statement should have been attributed to editor Ken Chandler. It has been updated. In addition, because of an editing error, a previous headline on this post indicated the doctor’s “Nazi” reference appeared in the email sent by Newsmax, which it did not. The headline has been updated to correct that.
