# Bush Bulge: Defibrillator? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 13, 2005, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-bulge-defibrillator/284521 "2005-01-13T06:40:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Danalan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/76d3ee/32.png) [@Danalan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Danalan)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2005, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-bulge-defibrillator/284521/1 "2005-01-13T06:40:17Z")
From [here.](http://houston.indymedia.org/news/2004/12/35839.php) The bulge in shrub’s back turns out to be a defibrillator vest. > [@](#): > > The president apparently uses a wearable defibrillator, a device to stop heart arrhythmia, as seen in photographs. He has had a sudden fainting spell and other symptoms of atrial fibrillation (AF) and has a genetic tendency for it. Some observers have noted neurological and psychological irregularities and other evidence of stroke, which is a possible result of AF. Some of these irregularities could be caused by Wernicke-Korsakoff’s, a disease of inveterate alcoholics. The president has an even stronger genetic predisposition for hyperthyroidism and some symptoms of it, including the heartbeat arrhythmia. Only his doctors know for sure. They’ve got some pretty good pictures of it, and some excellent analysis of the possible disease process. I always thought that fainting spell seemed kind of weird. So here’s another Bush lie – he has serious health problems, yet his last physical has him “in superb physical condition”. What is the problem these people have with telling the truth? ---
**Author:** ![Cinnamon\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@Cinnamon\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cinnamon_Girl)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2005, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-bulge-defibrillator/284521/2 "2005-01-13T07:15:21Z")
> [@Danalan](#): > > From [here.](http://houston.indymedia.org/news/2004/12/35839.php) The bulge in shrub’s back turns out to be a defibrillator vest. > > They’ve got some pretty good pictures of it, and some excellent analysis of the possible disease process. I always thought that fainting spell seemed kind of weird. So here’s another Bush lie – he has serious health problems, yet his last physical has him “in superb physical condition”. > > What is the problem these people have with telling the truth? Perhaps this explains the gamut of strange facial expressions Bush went through during the debates. He must have been receiving shocks. ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2005, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-bulge-defibrillator/284521/3 "2005-01-13T07:28:01Z")
> [@](#): > > What is the problem these people have with telling the truth? Because in politics, image is (almost) everything. Turn the question around: Why is it your business? (“He’s the PRESIDENT, we need to know EVERYTHING!” Yeah. Sure. Huge scandal.) ---
**Author:** ![Garfield226](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Garfield226](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garfield226)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2005, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-bulge-defibrillator/284521/4 "2005-01-13T07:56:36Z")
> [@Danalan](#): > > From [here.](http://houston.indymedia.org/news/2004/12/35839.php) The bulge in shrub’s back turns out to be a defibrillator vest. > > They’ve got some pretty good pictures of it, and some excellent analysis of the possible disease process. I always thought that fainting spell seemed kind of weird. So here’s another Bush lie – he has serious health problems, yet his last physical has him “in superb physical condition”. > > What is the problem these people have with telling the truth? Yeah, I’d definitely immediately dismiss the President’s physician’s analysis for a guy who watched him on TV for 90 minutes. ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2005, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-bulge-defibrillator/284521/5 "2005-01-13T08:06:20Z")
I thought it was revealed that Bush was wearing a kevlar vest… however, I tried to search for it and got inundated with anti-Bush, debate-conspiracy sites. No way am I digging through THAT sort of mess. ---
**Author:** ![clayton\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c57346/32.png) [@clayton\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clayton_e)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2005, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-bulge-defibrillator/284521/6 "2005-01-13T08:06:21Z")
This was [covered](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=293911), though your link mentions one doctor’s belief that President Bush has had a stroke (along with a photo that supposedly backs up this diagnosis). Is that at all a realistic assumption? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2005, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-bulge-defibrillator/284521/7 "2005-01-13T15:52:02Z")
> [@Danalan](#): > > What is the problem these people have with telling the truth? IIRC, FDR avoided being seen in public in a wheelchair. (Well, not that I can _recall_, since that was decades before I came along; but you know what I mean.) Fortunately for him, there was no broadcast television at the time. JFK had severe back problems from his run-in with the Japanese destroyer. I think he pretty much kept that under wraps. I don’t think **SPOOFE** and I agree very much on politics, but he has the answer. Image is everything, and weakness is to be hidden. It’s always been that way. ---
**Author:** ![SilentButDeftly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/0ea827/32.png) [@SilentButDeftly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SilentButDeftly)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2005, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-bulge-defibrillator/284521/8 "2005-01-13T16:37:56Z")
> [@SPOOFE](#): > > Turn the question around: Why is it your business? (“He’s the PRESIDENT, we need to know EVERYTHING!” Yeah. Sure. Huge scandal.) For me, a candidate’s health is a factor (not the _most_ important one, but a factor nonetheless) in whether or not I’ll vote for him. If I found out that the President had definitely had a stroke in the past and that this increased his likelihood of a stroke sometime in the next four years, (just making up numbers here, IANAD) then I might think twice about voting for him… regardless of who the VP is, it could mean the possibility of the President being incapacitated as a result of his health for extended periods of time, or possibly death – either way, it means bumpy transition periods and a weak Oval Office. In my mind, it’s a relevant election issue. ---
**Author:** ![Regallag\_The\_Axe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/regallag_the_axe/32/445_2.png) [@Regallag\_The\_Axe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Regallag_The_Axe)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2005, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-bulge-defibrillator/284521/9 "2005-01-13T17:37:13Z")
> [@Danalan](#): > > What is the problem these people have with telling the truth? What is the problem you have with believing anything anti-Bush that pops up in the media? ---
**Author:** ![nivlac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3bc359/32.png) [@nivlac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nivlac)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2005, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-bulge-defibrillator/284521/10 "2005-01-13T17:53:03Z")
> [@Regallag\_The\_Axe](#): > > What is the problem you have with believing anything anti-Bush that pops up in the media? I think that **Danalan** was referring to the Bush people and not the anti-Bush media when he/she used the term “these people”. ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2005, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-bulge-defibrillator/284521/11 "2005-01-13T20:30:50Z")
Perhaps. But it was **Danalan** who decided that a guy who saw Bush on TV and decided that the [terrorist-loving,](http://www.indybay.org/news/2004/04/1676911.php) [soldier-hating](http://sandiego.indymedia.org/en/2004/12/hide_107068.shtml) [flag thieves](http://nyc.indymedia.org/newswire/display/112165/index.php) at Indymedia were the right hosts with whom to post his “theory” was a good source of factul information. ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2005, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-bulge-defibrillator/284521/12 "2005-01-13T21:17:02Z")
Defribrilator, eh?? What’s his running theory on Cheney’s [bulge](http://www.wonkette.com/images/omg.jpg)? ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2005, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-bulge-defibrillator/284521/13 "2005-01-14T00:12:00Z")
> [@Johnny L.A.](#): > > JFK had severe back problems from his run-in with the Japanese destroyer. I think he pretty much kept that under wraps. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John\_F.\_Kennedy](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_F._Kennedy) > [@](#): > > In 1937, Kennedy began taking steroids to control colitis. By 1938, he had developed osteoporosis of the lower lumbar spine. 1. The extent of the injury from destroyer incident was due to an existing condition for which the Army had previously rejected him. 2. The original cause of the problem was not revealed at the time; it was all attributed to the destroyer incident. But it was hardly kept under wraps; quite the reverse, in fact. It was well-known that the straight-backed rocker he used was because of his back problem; it became an icon of his presidency. And I remember clearly a color picture in Life or Look of him at the White House pool wearing his back brace. ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2005, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-bulge-defibrillator/284521/14 "2005-01-14T08:28:57Z")
> [@](#): > > For me, a candidate’s health is a factor (not the _most_ important one, but a factor nonetheless) in whether or not I’ll vote for him. Fair ‘nuff, I suppose. Me, I determine my choice of President based on whether he steps off the Air Force One stairway with his left foot or right foot (kiddin’). But I just think of good ol’ FDR… he somehow managed to run the Free World without being the hardiest of human specimens. And didn’t Woodrow Wilson spend a month communicating only with eyeblinks? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2005, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-bulge-defibrillator/284521/15 "2005-01-14T09:17:48Z")
The president’s back-bulge is an iPod… … but no ordinary iPod; this one has been upgraded with nanobioneurosilicon so that it can store the president’s personality, emotions and - perhaps most oddly - his immortal soul. In the case of an assassination, the unit can be attached to a new, vat-grown body by means of Apple’s patented bioaudioneuronetic earphones, which are only available in iPod white. ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_Ellis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/977dab/32.png) [@Michael\_Ellis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael_Ellis)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2005, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-bulge-defibrillator/284521/16 "2005-01-14T14:58:02Z")
OMG INDYMEDIA SAID IT SO IT MUST BE TRUE!!!111111111one ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2005, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-bulge-defibrillator/284521/17 "2005-01-14T18:44:29Z")
> [@Bear\_Nenno](#): > > Defribrilator, eh?? What’s his running theory on Cheney’s [bulge](http://www.wonkette.com/images/omg.jpg)? Who would have thought that Cheney dressed left?