Bush's health

In the past, I've felt guilty about addressing this subject. Talking about a candidate's health seems...transgressive. And yet Bush himself invited such talk when he refused to get his usual physical, offering lame and unconvincing excuses for this phobic reaction toward doctors.

Besides, lots of folks noted that Bush seemed physically "off" in the third debate. Many said that he seemed to be drooling -- literally drooling. Others (including yours truly) felt that one side of his face seemed "locked in place," so that each smile emerged as a half-smile. He reminded me of Batman's old adversary, "Two-Face" -- and not just because W tends to say one thing and do another.

Who would have thought that Cheney would look healthier than Bush in this election?

Well, I'm not going to be the last blogger on the internet to discuss the health question.

Instead, I'll direct your attention to the only alternative theory to "Promptergate" that explains the mystery bulge -- the theory that Bush uses a portable defibrillator like the one pictured here.

The LifeVest was designed as an intermediate-term treatment option for people at high risk for sudden cardiac arrest (SCA)...

Patients with a high, long-term risk of SCA are often candidates for an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD), but this option is also expensive (up to $65,000) and requires surgery. According to Morgan Stanley, only one out of six US patients who need an ICD actually get one.

The LifeVest fills the therapeutic gap between hospitalization and an ICD. The LifeVest has the same important characteristics of both an ICU/CCU and the ICD; it continuously monitors the heart and is designed to provide prompt defibrillation when needed. LIFECOR®, Inc. believes that the LifeVest has the potential to become the standard of care for intermediate-term patients. And, in cases when an ICD is not feasible, it also can serve as a longer-term alternative.

Obviously, an implantable defibrillator would have required hospitalization, which no president could accomplish in secret -- and which no president would want to undergo in an election year. After re-election, of course, doctors could perform the necessary surgery.

The unnerving aspect of this "LifeVest" is its conformity to the mystery bulge photographs. By contrast, none of the "body armor" photos sent to me place the "bulges" in the right position. (Body armor really does clasp at the sides, despite what some right-wing apologists will tell you.)

The idea of a portable defibrillator also explains why the president's face looks "off," and why his people made his campaign appearances as stress-free as possible by assiduously weeding out all non-supporters.

I'll resist the temptation to make a crack about W being only a heartbeat away...

I will, however, direct your attention to this discussion from the Daily Kos (by way of the Kerry blog.)

Remember when W and Big John exchanged a few private words at the close of the third debate? We all wonder what was said. Lip-readers report that the conversation went like this:

Bush: Can I talk to you (later tonight)?
Kerry: ???
Bush: Where you gonna be?
Kerry: ???
Bush: ... We'll find each other.

(Kerry had his back to the camera.)

I was once romantically involved with a deaf lady, and I would not discount this report. A truly gifted lip reader can be astonishingly accurate.

Why would Bush want to meet with Kerry? One obvious reason occurs to me: John Kerry is the only person outside the Bush circle to touch the president's back. Kerry is the only one who would know that something odd was there.

The other possibility, of course, would concern a national security issue of some sort -- a prospect even more unsettling than our current speculations over the back bulge.

I can agree with the poster who noted that Bush looked sad, almost on the verge of tears. Nobody can prove the proposition -- not the way you can prove a geometrical theorem -- but in my eyes, the signs are present: Something is wrong with this man.

ADDITIONAL: This video shows Bush in a debate from ten years ago, and compares that performance with the sorry spectacle of recent times. The difference between then and now is startling.

From Americablog:

I think Bush may have had a stroke and no one is telling us. During the debate last night he was drooling, and if you look at the left side of his mouth (his left side, the viewer's right side), it markedly droops while he talks. MARKEDLY DROOPS. All of us noticed it at the debate party I was at, and several observers noticed it online. I spoke with another journalist friend after the debate and he said his producer mentioned to him after the second debate that he thought Bush was ill because he seemed to be favoring one side of his body when he walked. That was apropos of nothing, until last night when we notice the same thing with Bush's mouth.