Bush Bulge: Is POTUS hiding a serious heart condition from the public?
I ran this post Saturday morning, but because weekend traffic is low, I’ve decided to bump it up to the top of the page (at least until Wednesday).
WHETHER IT IS from prior cocaine abuse or from a hereditary heart condition, is it possible that Pres. Bush is so at risk for sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) that he has now donned a wearable defibrillator?
Shouldn’t the American people be fully informed about their President’s health? This would be especially relevant during an election campaign; and doubly so, given that the Vice-President also has a history of heart ailments as well.
How long will it be before an enterprising White House reporter asks the White House these, and other, questions point-blank?
Don’t click away until you’ve looked at the photos…
What is the evidence?
First of all, there is no denying that Bush is wearing something under his clothing. These three pictures are from each of the three debates.
…and there’s this picture from the ranch.
Then there’s this picture of LifeCor’s wearable defibrillator — LifeVest.
Is this definitive proof that Bush is wearing the LifeVest? No. Especially since there has been no prior indication that Bush has a heart problem.
However, we do know that President H.W. Bush suffers from atrial fibrillation. And studies have shown that “having a parent with atrial fibrillation (AF) strongly increased an offspring’s risk of developing this heart rhythm disorder, according to a study of participants in the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute’s (NHLBI) Framingham Heart Study.”
Atrial fibrillation can lead to mini-strokes. Many observers have commented on the marked decline in Bush’s verbal ability over the last ten years or so. Some have even gone so far as to suggest that (at the final debate on Wednesday) one side of Bush’s face showed evidence of droopiness.
Then there are all the apocryphal stories of Bush cocaine abuse. Whether these rumors are true or not, it is not uncommon for men who have serious heart problems in their 30s-50s have had a history of cocaine/methamphetamine use.
Speaking of cocaine abuse, the Reggie Lewis story comes to mind. Lewis played pro-basketball for the Boston Celtics in the early 90s. He was in top form. Then he had a couple of incidents where he fainted and fell down. Then, a couple of months later, he was suddenly dead of heart failure. Whether Lewis died from a heart damaged by cocaine — as many doctors suspected then and now — cannot be definitively shown. The official autopsy stated that his heart was weakened by a common-cold virus.
But the fainting and falling part sounds familiar, doesn’t it? How many times have you heard the story of Pres. Bush fainting after “choking on a pretzel?”
For those who might be thinking that the SCA-prone Bush would not (could not, should not) engage in the kind of physical activity he is known for, well, LifeCor promotes their product as enabling the wearer to engage in exactly that kind of activity. That’s one of the benefits of the product.
OK. Wouldn’t all of this already come out? Like in the results of his annual physical? Well, it might if he had actually submitted to his annual physical this year. So far, Bush has not.
Does any of this prove that Bush has donned a wearable defibrillator? Nope. But don’t you think there’s enough evidence now to convince someone to ask some very specific questions?
I’m just saying.
P.S. “Dick” Cheney donned a wearable defibrillator prior to receiving an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD).
(HT to Kevin Drum, kos, Jolly Reaper.)
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