Bush pathology (Brain damage or just Personality?)

[troublemaker]

I am hard pressed to say anything good about as incapable a man as Bush, but he is, by all accounts, a good poker player. I genuinely admire that trait. It's a useful skill in life, but a dangerous skill when it's the only thing in the world you're good at.

I'm aware of the many theories of Bush neuropathy; Bush may well have 'dry drunk syndrome' or any of a dozen other neurological disorders. Like JFKs Addison's disease and Reagan's Alzheimer's, we may someday down the road find out what's wrong with W's brain.

But leaving neurology aside, there are things we know about W that paint an alarming picture. 1) He has a highly addictive personality. (All alcoholics do; it's an a=a deal) 2) He likes adrenaline. (All fighter pilots, even draft-dodging fighter pilots, like adrenaline.) 3) He's a good poker player. Run those three traits by any mental health professional and their first question will be, "Is this person an addictive gambler?" The question has weighed heavily on my mind ever since it became apparent that, as George Soros has correctly stated, the Bush Presidency is a bubble caused by a few insane long-shot gambles paying off and creating an illusion of competence. Fortunately for the world, though tragically for a number of American families, Bush's lucky steak seems to have ended, and as any gambler can attest, when your lucky streak goes bad it goes REALLY bad. (If only he was just playing with his own chips... why are we bankrolling this idiot?)

Now, via Timothy Noah (SLATE's best contributor, IMO) we have this promise of eventual synthesis of competing views of Bush the Degenerate Gambler vs. Bush the Brain Damaged Simp; questioning whether the addictive gambler's characteristic lack of any perspective on the stakes and the real world consequences of losing is itself linked to neurological dysfunction:

The healthy subjects quickly shifted to a cautious strategy, while those with injuries stuck to their original strategy, even as their losses piled up.

http://slate.msn.com/id/2101597/

[BlueEyedSon]

1. Old-ish news (May 3)

"At some time in the past, according to both (redacted) and (redacted) the President suffered what one of his aides called "a very minor seizure" and as a result of this, the President has a very difficult time following any unscripted conversations. For this reason, his staff carefully and aggressively protect the President from "unexpected" questions that he is not capable of answering."

"The President takes oral medication at least twice a day according to (redacted) because of an unspecified "indisposition' and this subject is strictly off limits for any casual staff conversation."

More: http://www.tbrnews.org/Archives/a889.htm

[demnan]

2. Get your war on had it right

Birdcage liner.

[Warpy]

3. Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome

It's a global neurological deterioration suffered by old drunks who don't fry their livers first. There is no way that someone can drink as heavily as Bush did for as long as Bush did (DOES?) without suffering a great deal of damage to his central nervous system.

Read it at http://www.healthcentral.com/mhc/top/000771.cfm

If this aint Bush, what is?

[starroute]

5. It would certainly explain some of his more blatant lies

It's been a real puzzle how he could claim he saw the first plane hitting the WTC on a tv set in the school hallway, or how he could assert so confidently that Saddam refused to let inspectors in. Most liars at least take some pains not to say things which are that easily refuted. But if Bush genuinely can't remember major events and is simply making stuff up to fill in the gaps (and then believing it himself), that would explain a lot.

Of course, the other puzzle is why the media hasn't called him on any of this. Are they in on the story and covering for him? Are they afraid of losing access if they make waves? Are they so cynical that they assume all politicians will say anything that's convenient and that it isn't worth making a fuss about?

The elaborate brain-deadness of the media takes far more explaining than the simple brain-deadness of an old drunk like Bush.

[CompassionateLiberal]

4. This might explain why W....

- Can't stand on a Segway without falling
- Chokes on pretzels, trips and falls face first on tables
- Falls off a mountain bike

[Lisa]

6. One would think he'd be an abysmal player ...

Look at the way he snortles to himself just before he's about to deliver a joke! (And I could easily imagine W losing his temper and cussing out everyone.)

Al Gore would probably be a lot better at not telegraphing his emotions.