Capitol Hill Blue - Sensational story, Drudge-ish credbility

[Mediocre]

Capitol Hill Blue broke a story yesterday that, if true, would have profound effects on the upcoming election; President Bush being put on antidepressants.

However, seeing as how CHB has had credibility holes the size of Mt. Fuji in the past, I think the odds of it being "true as advertised" are incredibly low.  Still, such a potentially contentious issue merits investigation.

The story is here:

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.

“It’s a double-edged sword,” says one aide. “We can’t have him flying off the handle at the slightest provocation but we also need a President who is alert mentally.”

 
Angry Bush walked away from reporter's questions.
Tubb prescribed the anti-depressants after a clearly-upset Bush stormed off stage on July 8, refusing to answer reporters' questions about his relationship with indicted Enron executive Kenneth J. Lay.

“Keep those motherfuckers away from me,” he screamed at an aide backstage. “If you can’t, I’ll find someone who can.”

Bush’s mental stability has become the topic of Washington whispers in recent months. Capitol Hill Blue first reported on June 4 about increasing concern among White House aides over the President’s wide mood swings and obscene outbursts.

Although GOP loyalists dismissed the reports an anti-Bush propaganda, the reports were later confirmed by prominent George Washington University psychiatrist Dr. Justin Frank in his book Bush on the Couch: Inside the Mind of the President. Dr. Frank diagnosed the President as a “paranoid meglomaniac” and “untreated alcoholic” whose “lifelong streak of sadism, ranging from childhood pranks (using firecrackers to explode frogs) to insulting journalists, gloating over state executions and pumping his hand gleefully before the bombing of Baghdad” showcase Bush’s instabilities.

“I was really very unsettled by him and I started watching everything he did and reading what he wrote and watching him on videotape. I felt he was disturbed,” Dr. Frank said. “He fits the profile of a former drinker whose alcoholism has been arrested but not treated.”

Dr. Frank’s conclusions have been praised by other prominent psychiatrists, including Dr. James Grotstein, Professor at UCLA Medical Center, and Dr. Irvin Yalom, MD, Professor Emeritus at Stanford University Medical School.

The doctors also worry about the wisdom of giving powerful anti-depressant drugs to a person with a history of chemical dependency. Bush is an admitted alcoholic, although he never sought treatment in a formal program, and stories about his cocaine use as a younger man haunted his campaigns for Texas governor and his first campaign for President.

The line which I bolded is what interests me the most.  It implies the doctors themselves had some form of information about the antidepressants in order to comment on the topic of this article.  So, I contacted Justin Frank, and he told me that he never spoke with CHB, and all quotes directly attributed to him were just from publicity blurbs for his book.  So, the "doctors worrying about the wisdom of giving powerful antidepressant drugs" to Bush would have to be the other two named; since they're in my time zone, I can go about figuring out how to contact them after work.

Right now, I'm pegging the probability that this is true at about 5% -- but I think it's a damn interesting story to watch.  It's been less than 24 hours since it first came out, so we'll see if the mainstream media investigates and picks up on it.[/url]

[schild]

Angry Bush walked away from reporter's questions.

If his name was "Angry Bush" I'd vote for him in the upcoming election.

[HaemishM]

can impair the President’s mental faculties and decrease both his physical capabilities and his ability to respond to a crisis

Nothing from nothing leaves nothing.

[Mediocre]

Also following in the same vein of Drawing Partisan Conclusions From Incomplete Data:

Bush claims to have sobered up and said "no more alcohol" before he became governor of Texas.  A joke from his National Urban Leage speech:

I see some friends like Willard who is -- I don't know if you remember, Willard, but we were on the porch of the governor's mansion in Texas. I'm not saying you drank all my beer, but -- (laughter.) Never mind. (Laughter.) That's unfair. (Laughter.) But thanks for having me.

Proves absolutely nothing.  But it's one of those "interesting connections" moments.

Edit:  He was born in 46, and according to what I read gave up drinking at age 40, so 1986.  He became governor of Texas in 1994, eight years later.

Just strikes me as odd.

[SirBruce]

You don't think alcoholic Governors or Presidents should have alcohol in their kitchens to serve the thousands of guests they entertain every year?

Bruce

[angry.bob]

If his name was "Angry Bush" I'd vote for him in the upcoming election.

What about Angry Bob? I'd be at least as competent as he's been and I'd have the extra benefit of sprinkling profanity into the shit that I didn't think about before it came out of my mouth.

Actually, I guess he's got that covered to. All said, that name hits too close to home.

[SirBruce]

Although GOP loyalists dismissed the reports an anti-Bush propaganda, the reports were later confirmed by prominent George Washington University psychiatrist Dr. Justin Frank in his book Bush on the Couch: Inside the Mind of the President. Dr. Frank diagnosed the President ...

Talk about misleading reporting.  No, the reports were NOT confirmed by the psychiatrist.  That's like saying a rumor is confirmed by someone else who heard the rumor.  Furthremore, this is a psychiatrist who has aparrently made a diagnosis of someone whom he spent no time with and who was never in his personal care, something which is a violation of medical ethics.

Bruce

[daveNYC]

You don't think alcoholic Governors or Presidents should have alcohol in their kitchens to serve the thousands of guests they entertain every year?

Bruce

No.  That's like leaving a loaded gun in the middle of a prison, eventually something bad will happen.  Most alcoholics know that they have a problem and do whatever they can to avoid aggravating it.

[Dark Vengeance]

No.  That's like leaving a loaded gun in the middle of a prison, eventually something bad will happen.

See, I was thinking the exact same thing about putting this thread on a forum read by SirBruce, geldon, and Hyu.

Nothing good can come from this.

Bring the noise.
Cheers.............

[Arcadian Del Sol]

If his name was "Angry Bush" I'd vote for him in the upcoming election.

What about Angry Bob? I'd be at least as competent as he's been and I'd have the extra benefit of sprinkling profanity into the shit that I didn't think about before it came out of my mouth.

Actually, I guess he's got that covered to. All said, that name hits too close to home.

Three words: Major. League.Asshole.

[Alluvian]

No. That's like leaving a loaded gun in the middle of a prison, eventually something bad will happen. Most alcoholics know that they have a problem and do whatever they can to avoid aggravating it.

My Dad is an alcoholic.  He would mostly abuse cheap wine because it was, well, cheap.  He did the AA thing and has not had a drop since I was 1 or 2 years old.  While growing up we always had wine in the fridge for my mother who only drank when company was over (a glass or two).  We always had a dozen or so coors light (my uncles favorite beer) on the bottom shelf.  In the cupboard we had a half full bottle of brandy.  It was the very bottle that my dad was drinking when he decided to quit.

What the fuck is wrong with having alcohol around an alcoholic?  Maybe some can't stand it, but fuck, alcohol is all over the place.  It is shoved in your face at any high end party, at any wedding reception, at sporting events.  If you are an alcoholic that can't stay sober around booze because you become some raving madman near the stuff than you better fucking live in a bubble inside a vault.  An alcoholic simply chooses not to drink the stuff.  Having it available should not be any problem, because alcohol is always available if they wanted it.  I guess alcoholics can't go shopping either because they would buy beer.  Bah.

There is nothing at all odd about that statement Mediocre pointed out.  And again, Bruce is 100% right.

[edited because I messed up who posted the moronic fucking idiotic innuendos about Bush possibly owning alcohol]

[SirBruce]

No.  That's like leaving a loaded gun in the middle of a prison, eventually something bad will happen.  Most alcoholics know that they have a problem and do whatever they can to avoid aggravating it.

Wouldn't the same logic to any employee in the White House?  Or in the entire government?  There must be thousands of alcoholics who are public servants.  Shall we pass a law to protect them from "second-hand drinking"?

What's next, banning bread to avoid tempting those on Atkins?

Bruce

[daveNYC]

I said it was stupid, I didn't say it should be against the law.  Although at the rate the Atkins stupidity is spreading, I wouldn't be suprised if bread ends up going the way of the dodo.

[SirBruce]

Nice dodge of the question.  Fine, you don't want to outlaw any of the stupidity... but again, do you think it's stupid to have alcohol in any government building that could have alcoholics working there?  Or does this only apply to the White House?  And, again, is having bread in the kitchen stupid if the President is on Atkins?

Bruce

[daveNYC]

Nice dodge of the question.  Fine, you don't want to outlaw any of the stupidity... but again, do you think it's stupid to have alcohol in any government building that could have alcoholics working there?  Or does this only apply to the White House?  And, again, is having bread in the kitchen stupid if the President is on Atkins?

Bruce

Jeasus fucking Christ!  How much booze do you usually keep around whatever shithole you call an office?  The White House is a residence, if the guy who lives there is an alcoholic and want's to keep a bottle of the good stuff around, that's stupid too.

Die, die, die, die, die!!!

[SirBruce]

I'm sorry, the White House (and the same is true for many Governor's mansions) is more than just a residence.  It's also an office, as well as a public space for entertaining guests.  Your scheme would say it is stupid to serve of alcohol at any of the state functions or parties held there, or dinner parties, or after-hours drinks, or anything else for that matter, simply because someone (or is it just the President?) there is an alcoholic.

I don't see how the same reasoning doesn't apply to any other temptation such as bread or cigarettes or pretty young interns.

Bruce

[Big Gulp]

No.  That's like leaving a loaded gun in the middle of a prison, eventually something bad will happen.  Most alcoholics know that they have a problem and do whatever they can to avoid aggravating it.

Why?  I'm an ex-smoker who craves a cigarette at least 5 times a day.  I haven't smoked for two years, but I keep a pack of cigarettes in my place just as a reminder that I don't need the goddamned things.

I know more than a few ex-smokers that do the same thing.  And sorry, but governors and presidents need to entertain dignitaries left and right.  It'd kind of be bad form not to serve drinks to those dignitaries simply because you have a problem with hooch.