Disclaimer: This is not intended as a Bush Bash Fest and maybe it isn’t even a debate; maybe it should be in IMHO—if so, I hope it gets moved.
I just ran across this story and I don’t really know what to make of it. If it is true, in whole or in part, wouldn’t this be a matter of concern to the nation?
Is there any truth at all to the allegations and/or diagnosis?
A President’s health is always a concern. What it means in this case is not clearly a useful debate topic.
Is it true? Hang on, no doubt McClellan will be asked that soon enough. If it’s one of his typical longwinded evasions, we’ll know.
The article notes that if this is true, it will be the news story of the year? Why would this be? “Some old guy has heart problems” isn’t exactly shocking. Is it a big deal that he has tried to conceal it? I shouldn’t think so, since the whole political culture seems to support concealing things like that, especially around election time. Does he have a duty to tell the american people of everything going on with him healthwise?
Why would this be such a big story.
I just got through about half the article but those pictures sort of give the whole page a sort of “hard to accept” feel, for whatever reason. It may be possible he is wearing such a device. It could be that the wire seen was a mic wire, and the bulges seen are bullet proof vest bulges (except for the one in the truck, although that could easily just be a shirt bulge.)
Anyways, it is indeed a concern to the nation if he has a heart problem. Wouldn’t be the story of the century though. We’ve had many Presidents who have concealed medical problems, and some that were extremely serious (Wilson for example was completely incapacitated after the Senate refused to ratify Versailles, and his wife de facto was President.)
This problem won’t affect his mental ability, so therefor it is of no concern while he is still alive and in office. If he has a heart attack and dies, then the Vice President would take over, something our Constitution specifically provides for, so that shouldn’t be a big problem, it is government functioning as usual. The Presidency is about the Federal Government, the state, and the people, not one man. Although it will get a huge amount of play in the media if our executive dies in office, obviously.
Well I read the rest of the article. The comments about effects on his psychological health, and the medical diagnoses doubtfully come from any serious physician of any type. I don’t know many MDs that would give a lot of validity to diagnosis made on someone they have never personally examined and also never even read over their medical files.
A co-worker of mine is a recovering alcoholic and celebrating 30 years of sobriety. He describes Bush’s appearance and speaking difficulties as typical of a “dry drunk”. With his extensive experience with AA, I take that evaluation seriously. In the first debate, Bush clearly was suffering from something. The article cited has many intelligent guesses, but all that even the best doctor can do is hazard a guess without conducting an examination. Not much to debate here, it’s clear that something is not quite right with the man but only his doctor knows for sure.
True. Neither is “the President is taking precautions with his health.”
If he just came out and said it, no. If he hid it and it came out, it’d be a bigger story. Still nothing close to the story of the year.
You could argue he does, yes. The President’s annual physical always gets some minor news coverage, and all candidates are subject to some health scrutiny. I’m not sure the law requires it, but those things are always made public. Cheney, Kerry and McCain all had health issues that got press.
The guy has wreaked so much havoc that I can’t spare an ounce of sympanthy for him, and if he goes we just get more of same via Cheney, so I find myself curiously uninterested.
And yet you just couldn’t resist commenting. Maybe you’re the sick one.
As to the OP, the alleged hardware on the President was revealed after the election to be his bulletproof vest – apparently it attaches in back. The other stuff is just standard whacko conspiracy theorist babble. The President had his regular physical just this month and is in “superior” physical condition.
I don’t believe it. Why would Bush need to wear a bulletproof vest on his ranch? Surely that property is well secured. Why would one wear a bulky item such as that in such a hot place unless one needed to? A heart device makes a lot more sense than a bulletproof vest. And if a bulletproof vest, what are the cables?
The cables connect to the batteries that power the forcefield on the vest. Duh. :rolleyes:
Why would Bush need a bulletproof vest on his ranch? Uhmmm, to stop bullets from some over-zealous Bush-hater? The Secret Service is not going to simply declare however many acres of boonyland ‘secure’.
P.S. Do I have to put on the the Magic Conspiracy Goggles to see the cables, or do you have a good picture you can link to?
Especially since it will be the return of the Zero-Year curse, which managed to skip Reagan.
The last photo in the cite linked in the OP has the cable circled in green.
Do you think anyone is able to set foot on the Bush ranch? I don’t. When Bush is there, and probably when he isn’t, that perimeter is secure. Furthermore, why would he need to wear the vest in the debate? Surely the entire crowd went through security screening and the only weapons there were the Secret Service.
First I heard of it. Cite? I’m usually good at keeping up with this stuff.
But it didn’t, since he seemed to be showing the early symptoms of Alzheimers before he left office! The way these things work is that if you find contradictory evidence it has to be twisted into seeming like it SUPPORTS the theory. (where’s the tinfoil hat smilie when I need it?)
If the Secret Service could get away with it, I have no doubt they’d have the President (no matter who the President is) sleep with a bullet proof vest. I can certainly see them, er, encouraging, the President to wear one at the debates. Look at how those folks attempted to crash the RNC…and think about guys like Bin Laden waiting in the wings planning gods know what. So I don’t think its that much of a stretch that they’d want him to wear one at the debate. As to his ranch…well, again, if he’s going out riding I can see them wanting to take the precaution of putting a bullet proof vest on the President…better to be safe than sorry, and I think the Secret Service has had enough of Presidents (and Presidential Candidates like Kennedy) getting killed or shot on their watch. Can’t say I blame them either.
Personally my own Occams Razor says that a bullet proof vest is a more reasonable explaination than Bush has a serious heart condition that no one knows about. He seems pretty fit to me, and he’s relatively young and active. Plus it does the heart good to push baby ducks into a pond full of croc’s, or boil the occational puppy or kitten…or randomly deny some poor family their welfare check (he does this with a dart board I hear), or plot with manic glee the invasion of another poor, innocent nation for fun and profit. Hell, think of all the fun he’s having!! 
-XT
But did Kerry wear a vest at the debates? I think not. It seems to me that if the Secret Service would insist that Bush wear one, that it would also insist that Kerry do the same.
The Hill had the story right after the election, when most peoples’ attention was turned toward weightier matters.
My understanding is the Secret Service doen’t ‘insist’…they cojole instead. Kerry might have told them basically no…he didn’t think he needed it. After all, frankly he’d be the lesser target in a room with Bush. He didn’t exactly raise the ire of the majority of the right wing nutballs…something you can’t, with a straight face, say that Bush didn’t do. Also, guys like ObL could give two shits about Kerry…while plotting gleefully to wack GW.
-XT