Bush's real debate style cause?

[dougrhess]

The Atlantic Monthly had a good article on the two candidate's debate styles:
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/prem/200407/fallows

Fallows does a good job in pointint out how Bush's team has long feared Bush's facial expressions in debates and how Kerry comes across as patrician without a partician upbringing compared to Bush coming across as folksy with a partician upbringing.

Anyway...the interesting thing is this letter from a doctor in response to Fallow's article:

It points out that Bush's increasingly worse public performances could be signs of some health problems. Odd, I know, but I recall thinking this of DC's council chairman when I met with him a few times (he was a smart guy but seemed increasingly disorganized and abrupt) and turns out it he had a brain tumor. So, pajama crowd theory for the day (tongue firmly planted in cheek): is W's speech problem (like my typing problems!) indicitive of something else? ;-)

[dougrhess]

It's not a worthless article. Don't judge it by my reading and remarks on it. Read it and judge for yourself; and explain why.

Forgot the link to the letter. Here's the last paragraph of the letter. The whole letter is "subscribers' only."

"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. Slowly developing cognitive deficits, as demonstrated so clearly by the President, 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. It 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. President Bush's "mangled" words are a demonstration of what physicians call "confabulation," and are almost specific to the diagnosis of a true dementia. Bush should immediately be given the advantage of a considered professional diagnosis, and started on drugs that offer the possibility of retarding the slow but inexorable course of the disease.

Joseph M. Price, M.D.
Carsonville, Mich."

[dougrhess]

Dr. Price, and I'm assuming the same one, wrote a book described as this:

"Dr. Joseph M. Price, MD in his book 'Coronaries/Cholesterol/Chlorine', wrote that the cause of arteriosclerosis, resulting heart attacks, and strokes is none other than the chlorine in our drinking water. "


http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/003/378fmxyz.asp

Now, all "General Jack D. Ripper" jokes from Dr. Strangelove aside, maybe Dr. Price cannot be regarded as an expert on "pre-senile dementia," at least enough to judge this from a distance.

Does Bush have excellent verbal skills?  No.  Is this a sign of something?  No.

You win. ;-)  It's all tongue in cheek. As I said, it's fodder for the pajama crowd.

[dougrhess]

I agree with you JMF. Bush let himself get pushed around to easily. He should have attacked Kerry like an attack dog on the past lies the Democrats have thrown out to the media. For 3 years we have been hearing how Bush is a nazi and Hitler Jr. Bush should have destroyed Kerry like LBJ did to Goldwater in 1964. Bush needs to run a Daisy Girl style ad against Kerry.

Bush needs to run an anti-militarism ad?