# Bush becomes a Doper?!
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-becomes-a-doper/257281
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [July 28, 2004, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-becomes-a-doper/257281 "2004-07-28T15:56:09Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@RTA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTA)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2004, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-becomes-a-doper/257281/1 "2004-07-28T15:56:09Z")
[www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article\_4921.shtml](http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_4921.shtml)
> [@](#):
>
> The prescription drugs, administered by Col. Richard J. Tubb, the White House physician, can impair the President’s mental faculties and decrease both his physical capabilities and his ability to respond to a crisis, administration aides admit privately. (…)
> Although the exact drugs Bush takes to control his depression and behavior are not known, White House sources say they are “powerful medications” designed to bring his erratic actions under control.
No real pitting here, per se, just passing along the tidbit … True? False? I guess that’s for them to know. It would explain a lot.
---
### Author:  [@shelbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shelbo)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2004, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-becomes-a-doper/257281/2 "2004-07-28T16:04:32Z")
I’ve never heard of “Capital Hill Blue”, but that article reads like something out of the Onion.
---
### Author:  [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2004, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-becomes-a-doper/257281/3 "2004-07-28T16:04:33Z")
Phew! For a moment there, I thought you meant Dubya had forked over his $14.95 to…
Now, if he had, which Doper do you think he’d be? Whose user ID might be hiding the Leader of the Free World[sup]tm[/sup]? :dubious:
---
### Author:  [@Brutus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brutus)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2004, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-becomes-a-doper/257281/4 "2004-07-28T16:05:11Z")
That’s some source you are putting faith in.
---
### Author:  [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2004, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-becomes-a-doper/257281/5 "2004-07-28T16:06:14Z")
Oh, great. Another no real Bush pitting.
---
### Author:  [@Dead\_Badger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Badger)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2004, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-becomes-a-doper/257281/6 "2004-07-28T16:11:30Z")
At the very least, the “diagnoses” of megalomania and all that have come up before, in a thread I can’t be bothered to search for. I defended Bush then, and for the novelty of it I’ll do it again: such diagnoses are about as low as a professional psychiatrist can get, in my humble opinion, and I don’t care what university they’re tenured at.
As for the anti-depressants, so what? I know lots of people on anti-depressants, and they’re perfectly fine. After all, it’s medicine, and that’s the point; would we rather he _didn’t_ take them?
---
### Author:  [@fessie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fessie)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2004, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-becomes-a-doper/257281/7 "2004-07-28T16:13:17Z")
> [@Liberal](#):
>
> Oh, great. Another no real Bush pitting.
Yeah, but it did provide the opportunity to find out for sure if you’re a good kisser.
---
### Author:  [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2004, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-becomes-a-doper/257281/8 "2004-07-28T16:20:03Z")
He blew up frogs with firecrackers as a youth, and he now dislikes the French. I see a pattern…
The Onion should be left to The Onion.
---
### Author:  [@clayton\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clayton_e)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2004, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-becomes-a-doper/257281/9 "2004-07-28T16:54:47Z")
I know he can function normally, or at least better while on his medication but I think it _is_ something the public should know and be able to discuss without _another_ “oh no I have nothing to add except I disapprove of this thread topic but for some reason I am still willing to bump it.”
He is in control of thousands of nuclear weapons. \*I \* want to know if his medication or lack of it would ever put the world at risk.
---
### Author:  [@Albert\_Rose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Albert_Rose)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2004, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-becomes-a-doper/257281/10 "2004-07-28T17:09:27Z")
This quote, from the end of the article, suggests to me that this is some kind of a joke:
> [@](#):
>
> “We have to face the very real possibility that the President of the United States is loony tunes,” he says sadly. “That’s not good for my candidates, it’s not good for the party and it’s certainly not good for the country.”
If this _is_ a legitimate story, I’m a fellow depression sufferer who wouldn’t be worried about his mental state (and I’m not a Bush supporter, for what it’s worth).
---
### Author:  [@RTA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTA)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2004, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-becomes-a-doper/257281/11 "2004-07-28T17:27:27Z")
> [@shelbo](#):
>
> that article reads like something out of the Onion.
The Onion’s funny. That article is more unsettling than anything. If true.
> [@Brutus](#):
>
> That’s some source you are putting faith in.
I guess we’ll all have to hold our collective breath, then, until someone more credible like World Net Daily or FOX picks up the scent.
> [@Liberal](#):
>
> Oh, great. Another no real Bush pitting.
When we pit Bush, you’re disappointed. Yet, when we don’t pit Bush, you’re disappointed … keep those cards and letters coming, **Liberal**. I know you will.
> [@clayton\_e](#):
>
> I think it is something the public should know and be able to discuss
It’s all I’m saying.
---
### Author:  [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2004, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-becomes-a-doper/257281/12 "2004-07-28T17:37:25Z")
> [@EddyTeddyFreddy](#):
>
> Phew! For a moment there, I thought you meant Dubya had forked over his $14.95 to…
>
> Now, if he had, which Doper do you think he’d be? Whose user ID might be hiding the Leader of the Free World[sup]tm[/sup]? :dubious:
**NoClueBoy** would be my guess…
---
### Author:  [@Avumede](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Avumede)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2004, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-becomes-a-doper/257281/13 "2004-07-28T18:19:06Z")
I’m keeping my eyes peeled for **WildestGeorge**.
---
### Author:  [@Dead\_Badger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Badger)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2004, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-becomes-a-doper/257281/14 "2004-07-28T19:43:51Z")
> [@clayton\_e](#):
>
> I know he can function normally, or at least better while on his medication but I think it _is_ something the public should know and be able to discuss without _another_ “oh no I have nothing to add except I disapprove of this thread topic but for some reason I am still willing to bump it.”
I don’t know if this is aimed at me, but I’ll respond anyway; I don’t disapprove of the OP, which doesn’t particularly advance an opinion, and I agree that this should be a subject that can be discussed. I just believe that the reasonable conclusion is that medical professionals who are willing to use their status to pronounce upon people they have likely never met, let alone treated, are utterly repugnant. As for the medication allegations, I just believe they are firstly inconsequential, and given the general style of writing in the article are likely being blown out of all proportion. Just as an example, consider this excerpt:
> [@](#):
>
> Although the exact drugs Bush takes to control his depression and behavior are not known, White House sources say they are “powerful medications” designed to bring his erratic actions under control.
So did the sources say his actions were erratic, or is this something added by the author? To me the use of quotation marks strongly suggest that the “erratic actions” part is the reporter’s interpretation, and not something that was actually said. Shorn of this, the quote becomes rather uninspiring. Yes, anti-depressants are powerful medications. Medications that a large percentage of the population take, without ill effects.
I don’t know what [capitolhillblue.com](http://capitolhillblue.com) is like (although I can guess its agenda), but just the way that article is written screams gutter journalism to me. And like I said before, defending Bush is pretty far from my first instinct; this sort of thing is just really tasteless.
---
### Author:  [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2004, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-becomes-a-doper/257281/15 "2004-07-28T19:53:37Z")
Family background, maybe? [Poppy’s medical history](http://www.doctorzebra.com/prez/t41.htm):
> [@](#):
>
> On Feb. 5, 1992 the White House announced that Bush would no longer take Halcion, a sleeping pill that had been banned in Great Britain and was ultimately withdrawn from the American market. There had been questions whether Halcion was responsible for the President’s “tangled syntax” or his illness in Japan.
Someone I know used to take Halcion regularly but couldn’t take the nightmares and the altered perceptions.
---
### Author:  [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2004, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-becomes-a-doper/257281/16 "2004-07-28T21:21:45Z")
Bush strikes me as being a clueless pawn of the right who truly believes what he is saying and simply parrots what he is told by the forces of the right wing. Contrary evidence is ignored and the thought of being wrong never even creeps into his mind. So if he were a member of this board, I’d say it was **december**.
If Cheney a member of this board, I’d say it was **Brutus**. Vicious, uncharismatic, and without a functioning heart.
---
### Author:  [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2004, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-becomes-a-doper/257281/17 "2004-07-28T22:17:34Z")
Many, many things in this article don’t pass the whiff test. Just how many “administration aides” would know whether Bush was taking anything, or specifically what he was taking? I doubt they’d be sending out a memo.
Given that the pool of people “in the know” would be a small handful of the inner cadre, why would they jeopardize their careers by blabbing to the press? The only reason a loyal Presidential staff member would do so would be if they were genuinely alarmed that the President’s mental state made him unfit for his job. In which case, if they were \* going \* to blab to the press, why would they choose a reporter from some inconsequential internet rag to do it to?
And while I’m not even close to being medical professional, it seems as though most drugs for treating depression nowadays are pretty innocuous from a mental acuity perspective. (Dunno about treatments for “paranoia and hostility”, but that’s a mighty vague diagnosis anyway.)
---
### Author:  [@Atticus\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atticus_Finch)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2004, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-becomes-a-doper/257281/18 "2004-07-28T23:36:47Z")
No, no, no. **December** was too intelligent to be Bush, and **Brutus** is too nice to be Cheney. Not that either of those statements is too great a compliment.
I’d say Bush was **Milum**. Incoherent, tended to make up words, aggressive, right-wing politics.
---
### Author:  [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2004, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-becomes-a-doper/257281/19 "2004-07-28T23:54:08Z")
I’d peg **milroyj** for Cheney-nasty, petty and heartless.
---
### Author:  [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)
#### Post date: [July 29, 2004, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-becomes-a-doper/257281/20 "2004-07-29T00:28:12Z")
Doesn’t look like the topic is going anywhere; maybe we can turn this into something fun…
And let’s diversify!
Who’s Michael Moore? Reeder? Not likely
Al Franken? elucidator? hmmm, maybe
Karl Rove?
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-becomes-a-doper/257281.md?page=2)