Bush today v. Bush ten years ago

Physician sees 'presenile dementia' in Bush's faltering speech

By Jerry Mazza
Online Journal Contributing Writer


September 18, 2004—In a letter to the editor of Atlantic Monthly, October 2004, Joseph M. Price, M.D. of Carsonville, Michigan, comments that James Fallows' July/August Atlantic article on John Kerry's debating skills ("When George Meets John"), "was interesting, but most remarkable was Fallows's documentation of President [sic] Bush's mostly overlooked changes over the past decade—specifically 'the striking decline in his sentence-by-sentence speaking skills.'" Dr. Price understands Fallows' initial "speculations that there must be some organic basis for the President's [sic] peculiar mode of speech, a learning disability, a reading problem, dyslexia or some other disorder."

Quoting Fallows, Dr. Carson also agrees with him that "The main problem with these theories is that through his forties Bush was perfectly articulate." Yet, Dr. Carson stated he felt "that something organic was wrong with President [sic] Bush, most probably dyslexia, but . . . was unaware of what Fallows pointed out so clearly: that Bush's problems have been developing slowly, and that just a decade ago he was an articulate debater." He was as Fallows said, "artful indeed in steering questions and challenges to his desired subjects . . . [one] who did not pause before forcing out big words, as he so often does now, or invent mangled new ones." As Dr. Carson suggests, "Consider, in contrast, the present: 'the informal Q&A he has tried to avoid,' 'Bush's recent faltering performances,' 'his stalling, defensive pose when put on the spot,' 'speaking more slowly and less gracefully.'"

Dr. Price suggests that "not being a professional medical researcher and clinician, Fallows cannot be faulted for not putting two and two together. But he was 100 percent correct in suggesting that Bush's problem cannot be 'a learning disability, a reading problem, [or] dyslexia,' because patients with those problems have always had them." The doctor. goes on to say, "Slowly developing cognitive deficits, as demonstrated so clearly by the President [sic], can represent only one diagnosis, and that is 'presenile dementia'! Presenile dementia is best described to nonmedical persons as a fairly typical Alzheimer's situation that develops significantly earlier in life, well before what is usually considered old age."

Dr. Carson adds, "It [presenile dementia] runs about the same course as typical senile dementias, such as classical Alzheimer's—to incapacitation and, eventually, death, as with President Ronald Reagan, but at a relatively earlier age." Dr. Carson adds, " President [sic] Bush's 'mangled' words are a demonstration of what physicians call 'confabulation,' and are almost specific to diagnosis of a true dementia." His advice: "Bush should immediately be given the advantage of a considered professional diagnosis, and started on drugs that offer the possibility of r****ding the slow but inexorable course of the disease."

As the son of an Alzheimer's victim who passed at 80, I might add that my father exhibited some of Bush's recently reported explosive behaviors, starting at least 15 years earlier. This along with an inflexibility of opinion and attitude, a kind of relentless insistence that he was on the right side (not just the Republican right) of every issue we discussed. It was a set of behaviors that eventually made it almost impossible to speak with him, and led to his wife [my stepmother] leaving him, leaving myself as his sole caregiver. Ironically, it was only in this state of aloneness and incapacitation that he had some recognition of a very deep problem and that his survival depended on accepting medical care, accepting the medication that ameliorated some of his behaviors, and accepting me as a friend not the enemy.

As a layman and admittedly a liberal, I see in Bush, and in the Republican will to dominance, i.e. "new world order", an eerie echo of my own father's behavior. As a writer, not a psychologist or psychiatrist, I see in each case the need to control, generated by some deeper fear, anxiety or insecurity. In my father's case that need was generated largely by my father's father, who was an alcoholic, and kept the family in a state of agitated imbalance for decades. Even years after my grandfather was deposed by his sons as the head of the family, he remained an alcoholic and a disturbing presence for all. It's not surprising that my grandmother, a gentle, accepting woman, passed some 13 years before my grandfather did, at the age of 65, of her first and only heart attack, simply worn out.

I offer this information, painful as it is to remember, for whatever light the personal life can shed on political life. And I might add, in the anger, the sheer hate and viciousness of the Grand Old Party's behavior, I see hardly anything grand, but rather obsessively self-aggrandizing to the point of pathology. I am fully aware there are those who would say this is what it takes to survive in politics and in the world. I see it as a giant step back in our development, both as a nation and a species. It would be wonderful to move forward in a somewhat more humane atmosphere, one that would mitigate the contagion of anger and hate that has spread to the world. With all our differences, we are still one human family, sharing a physiology, consciousness, a need for love and safety, the need to procreate and protect our young, and to relish the joys of the immediate as well as the extended family, our brothers and sisters of the world.

If this seems like a foolish optimism, a soft-toothed liberal pipedream, consider the alternatives, which we are living every day. The proliferation of war, of weapons of mass destruction, of divisive fundamentalism (east and west), of aggressive unilateralism as opposed to a binding multilateralism. The end game on this Grand Chessboard is not a Pax Americana (an American Empire) as envisioned first by Zbigniew Brzezinski and now by PNAC (the Project for the New American Century), but a world in shambles, pocked by pocket wars, decimated by regional and national poverty and disease, a world of haves and have-nots, walled in or walled out by mutual fear and disrespect. Rather than crossing the human divides, we are widening them, like so many tribes stranded on ice floes in a roiling ocean. If we are to survive as a species we need to reach a common higher ground. The right choice, like voting or not, like which candidate is the sane one to vote for, is ours, and at this point not just a privilege, but an existential necessity.

Jerry Mazza is a freelance writer who resides in New York City. Contact him at gvmaz@verizon.net.

http://www.onlinejournal.com/Special_Reports/091804Mazza/091804mazza.html

 

I think Dr. Carson should go back to medical school before making a statement that anyone should be started on drugs.

Confabulation is absolutely not the word any physician would use for the situation described (perhaps neologism). Furthermore, "confabulation" is not even considered in the diagnosis of dementia (DSM IV).

It is incredibly irresponsible of Dr. Carson to advise medication in this situation when it is painfully obvious that Dr. Carson does not understand the actual intricacies of an Alzheimer's diagnosis.

 

but Dr. Carson did stay at a Holiday Inn Express, last night.

 

I won't speak to the doctor's credentials, or his political leanings, but studies (I don't have links handy... google) have shown that drugs like Lipitor may have an affect on delaying the onset of Alzheimer's. So, the gentleman isn't speaking entirely out of his hat.


Keep D&D Civil!!

 

How do you know, do you have access to his implanted credit card microchip records???

 

I agree, along with some other expensive medicines, studies have shown to reduce the length to complete incapacitation when dealing with Alzheimer's.

My point is that he should not be so quick to label someone with early onsent Alzheimer's when the one fact to back up his diagnosis does not fit the criteria.

This is like someone telling you that you have a stomach ulcer because you had a fever, and you should be treated with medicines for the ulcer. Thats why I think Dr. Carson made an irresponsible statement.

 

Oh, there is no question that it was irresponsible. I agree completely. I read this earlier today about Senator Jim Bunning of Kentucky (yes, the former baseball pitcher) being accused of having a mental health problem of some sort. Here's the article, for those who aren't registered:

Kentucky Sen. Bunning in Flap Over His Health
Reuters
Thursday, October 14, 2004; 2:50 PM

LOUISVILLE - Kentucky's largest newspaper on Thursday urged Republican Sen. Jim Bunning to answer questions about his mental health because his behavior as he seeks a second term is troubling voters.

But the 72-year-old Bunning's campaign manager called the request disgraceful and said the former baseball player is as sharp and fit as he was when he pitched a perfect game for the Philadelphia Phillies in 1964.

The Louisville Courier-Journal in an editorial published Thursday said Bunning had been blaming everyone but himself for what may be a slip in the polls.

He had a 17-point lead over his Democratic opponent in a September poll and Republicans are counting on a win to retain their one-seat control of the Senate; but a recent Democratic poll found Bunning's lead cut to eight points.

The editorial said Bunning has never been "a warm and fuzzy guy" but his attacks on opponent Daniel Mongiardo "and the outrageous statements he has made in his rare public appearances are giving voters pause."

Bunning and Mongiardo debated earlier this week, with the senator participating by a video hook-up from Republican headquarters in Washington where he used a TelePrompTer for his opening and closing statements. The editorial questioned whether he did that "to avoid stumbling into another gaffe."

After the debate Bunning accused his opponent's staff of physically assaulting his wife in Kentucky last summer, leaving her "black and blue" -- a charge the newspaper called "the most outlandish so far." His opponent said the charge was "sad" and not true.

SON OF SADDAM HUSSEIN

Earlier Bunning said his Italian-American opponent's physical features made him look like a son of Saddam Hussein -- a remark for which he later apologized.

"Is he, as he ages, just becoming a more concentrated version of himself: more arrogant, more prickly? Certainly that would be a normal occurrence," the editorial asked.

"Or is his increasing belligerence an indication of something worse? Has Sen. Bunning drifted into territory that indicates a serious health concern?" the newspaper said.

It said Bunning should hold press conferences throughout the state to answer any questions about his fitness. Statements released from his doctors that his blood pressure and cholesterol are normal, it said, are "important information. This time, however, the concern isn't about physical health."

Campaign manager David Young said Bunning "hasn't been this sharp and in shape since he pitched his perfect game. It's disgraceful that The Courier-Journal has jumped in bed with (his) liberal opponent to spread malicious rumors and innuendoes about his health."

"I guess this is what happens when a newspaper becomes irrelevant to not only Kentuckians, but now apparently to facts and reality," he added.

The newspaper earlier in the week in another editorial said Bunning exhibited a "bizarre belligerence" in the debate that continued a pattern including falsely claiming a union endorsement, surrounding himself with extra security.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A32715-2004Oct14.html


Keep D&D Civil!!

 

not funny, #07934--- uh...i mean...not funny, Oski. carry on.

 

Well that explains this...

link

Bunning used prompter

By Michael Collins
Post Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Jim Bunning's re-election campaign conceded Tuesday that the senator used a TelePrompTer during his opening and closing remarks during a television debate with his Democratic opponent, Daniel Mongiardo.

Bunning campaign manager David Young said the TelePrompTer use was permitted under the terms of a debate agreement worked out in advance between the two campaigns. Mongiardo's campaign, however, called the device "an outrageous violation of the agreement."

"Jim Bunning is so out of touch with Kentucky voters that he has to use a TelePrompTer as a crutch to address their concerns," said Mongiardo campaign manager Kim Geveden. "Jim Bunning cheated in the debate, just as he is cheating Kentucky's working families."

Young countered that Mongiardo's campaign is trying to turn the debate into "a circus issue" to avoid a discussion about other issues.

"They were never serious about the issues and how they affected Kentuckians," he said. "Instead, they obfuscate and spread rumors about Sen. Bunning's health. For a doctor to do that, it is especially despicable."

The hour-long debate, taped on Monday for broadcast on television stations around the state beginning tonight, was a somewhat rancorous event, with Bunning apologizing for saying last March that Mongiardo looked like one of Saddam Hussein's sons and then accusing Mongiardo of spreading false rumors about his health -- allegations that Mongiardo denied.

The debate was supposed to be a face-to-face matchup between Bunning, a former professional baseball pitcher who is running for a second term in the Senate, and Mongiardo, a physician and state senator from Hazard.

But a last-minute change found the candidates in separate studios 500 miles apart and responding to questions via satellite.

Over the weekend, Bunning's office informed Lexington television station WKYT, where the debate was to be taped, that the senator needed to be in Washington on Monday to cast several important votes, including one on a $10 billion buyout for tobacco farmers.

After last-minute haggling by the two campaigns, the debate went off on schedule, with Mongiardo participating from the Lexington studio and Bunning speaking from a studio at the Republican National Committee headquarters in Washington.

Almost immediately, there was speculation that Bunning had relied on a TelePrompTer during part of the debate.

Besides Bunning, only two other people -- a cameraman and Bunning campaign aide Rick Robinson -- were allowed inside the Washington studio while the debate was under way.

Robinson's role was to hold up cue cards signaling to the senator that his allotted time for answering questions was nearing an end.

A reporter for The Kentucky Post was allowed to watch the debate from the studio control room. A TelePrompTer screen visible inside the control room was cued up with the text of Bunning's opening and closing statements and was rolling as the senator delivered those remarks.

However, it was not immediately clear whether the TelePrompTer was visible to Bunning inside the studio.

The TelePrompter wasn't in operation during the debate's question-and-answer session.

Young acknowledged Tuesday that the device was visible inside the studio and that Bunning used it during his opening and closing remarks.

The machine was not in use at any other time during the debate, Young said.

The two-page agreement outlining the guidelines for the debate doesn't directly address the use of TelePrompTers. It says only that candidates could not rely on "props, signs, charts, graphs, photos, audio or video playback, or other demonstrative items."

The pact did give the candidates the option of using notes.

The Bunning campaign contends that the TelePrompTer was permissible under the guidelines. "The agreement said we could use notes, and whether or not that was the prepared notes in front of him or elsewhere, notes are notes," Young said. "They were not answers (to questions)."

The Mongiardo camp, however, argues that the TelePrompter was a "prop" and was thus prohibited under the agreement.

"It's an aid," Geveden said. "It's designed to prop up a candidate. It's misleading, it's deceiving, and it's an outrageous violation of the rules. It was cheating. The question now becomes what else was going on in that room during the debate."

Young countered the Mongiardo camp violated a clause in the agreement that allowed each campaign to bring four people into the Lexington studio during the debate. Mongiardo's guests were allowed inside the Lexington studio, while Bunning's were relegated to a nearby conference room, Young said.

Geveden said the decision to bar Bunning's guests from the studio was made by WKYT because Mongiardo's representatives weren't allowed inside the Washington studio with Bunning.

Jim Ogle, senior vice president for news at WKYT, told the Lexington Herald-Leader: "There was nothing in the rules that specifically prohibited" using a TelePrompTer.

"But I think it was despicable. It more than violated the spirit of the rules."

 

There's a long article on Salon.com that details Bunning's bizarre behavior which leads people to speculate that all is not well with him. Worth a read if you are intersted.

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2004/10/12/bunning_kentucky/index.html

 

tumeric is supposed to be good for alzheimers, and nicotine. so bush should start smoking and eat lots of indian takeout.

what is it with republican presidents and losing it in office?

 

I was floored watching that ten year old tape- good god, I had no idea he used to be articulate! I figured he always sounded stupid. What happened to that guy? And furthermore, he looks a lot more than ten years younger- time has not been kind.

 

I don't think the looks thing is specific to Bush, I believe it is a consequence of having one of the highest stress jobs in the world. Reagan aged DRAMATICALLY over his 8 years, as did Clinton. Bush I didn't see quite as marked a change, but even the difference in his looks was noticable.

 

Hey Andy! Did you get the package?

 

Yes, I did. My wife was more excited than I was (it was a surprise for her). I will send a check out tomorrow. Send an email to my moniker at gmail dot com when you have a chance so that I have a reminder.

Thank you very much, BTW.

 

no worries mate! Anytime you can.

 

Is it just me or does that look like a gay cop version of Wierd Al Yankovich?

BTW, the package referred to was The Daily Show's "America." But thanks for the inference that I am some kind of terrorist.

 

Damn Andy! They found out! Better destroy all evidence now!