Bush Apparently Had Lyme Disease
by Pamela LeaveyI saw an AP piece on this on Wednesday. The WaPo has picked it up now. Apparently Bush had Lyme Disease a year ago. On a need to know basis, apparently the White House didn’t think the public needed to know.
A report of the president’s recent medical examination said his case had “complete resolution” and was “without recurrence” since being treated last August. The illness, an infection carried by deer ticks that is prevalent in the Northeastern United States, had not been previously revealed.
While untreated Lyme disease can cause arthritis, an abnormal heart rhythm and problems with the nervous system, those complications usually can be prevented by taking antibiotics at an early stage of the infection. The medical record did not describe the details of the president’s therapy.
Up to 15 percent of people treated for Lyme disease later complain of symptoms such as fatigue and muscle pain. Whether that is a consequence of the infection is uncertain and a matter of controversy. Chronic pain and tiredness are extremely common in adults; whether people who have had Lyme disease suffer from those problems in higher numbers is unknown.
Thw White House could have used the opportunity to alert the public on Lyme Disease, it’s symptoms and treatment. Instead at the time they found it, they kept it secret. Color me perplexed… Just another little tick about the Bush Administration… Secrets.
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I’m not perplexed. Go ahead and color me grateful. Grateful that we didn’t have to endure the following, at the time:
1. Criticism that W has not done enough to wipe out Lyme Disease.
2. Outpourings of praise and admiration for the tick that took on the White House.
3. Theories about Cheney planting the tick.
4. Speculation that Lyme Disease and retardation are related.
5. Concerns the tick may have contracted something dreadful himself from exposure to Bush.
6. Suggestions that Congress elevate the tick to the status of the National Insect.
7. Accusations that “Lymegate” was trotted out to distract from Katrina, Baghdad, GOP sex lives, and the latest Zogby results.
8. Calls for the Lyme Alert status to go orange.
9. Speculation that Rove concocted the whole thing to make Bush a sympathetic victim.
10. Subcommittee hearings about whether the disease may have been contracted during secret Bush meetings with Bin Laden in the backwoods of Afghanistan.
11. Inquiries into why Fox News was the first to go public on this.
12. Criticism of the Surgeon General for not being all over the potential Lyme Disease outbreak.
13. Scientific inquiries about global climate change making Earth more hospitable to ticks.
14. Outrage that Cindy Sheehan’s mosquito bite during her camping adventure in Texas did not get the same attention in the sheepdog media.
15. Legislative proposals by Murtha and Byrd to create a Lyme Research Center in PA and a Lyme Treatment Clinic in WVa.
16. Leaked reports that Valerie Plame would have been working on tick-generated germ warfare had her cover not been blown.
17. Rumoring that Condi may also have Lyme Disease and theories about what’s been going on between them there in the woods.
18. A series of articles about how, in the absence of universal health coverage, many will contract Lyme Disease and have no chance to get the treatment afforded to GWB.
19. Scientific bloviating re: stem cell research as the answer to Lyme Disease that Bush & Company ignored because the religious right.
20. Gloating that “he brought it on himself” by stealing the election, and thereby he was where he was when he got infected instead of being somewhere else as a private citizen.
And more.
Poor Tick. Now he has the blood of a complete idiot coursing through him…….look out for a tick devising a way to attack other ticks in the wrong location for the wrong reason…innocent soldier ticks will die to support his stupid lack of planning and his ego….
RE: Allison Picarelli Says:
Holy smoke, a trool with a guilty conscience! But, you forgot:
1. The tick probably had something to do with 9/11.
2 Or, the tick was a terrorist in disguise.
3. Or, the tick inflitrated from Iraq to attack him. (That’s why we have to fight ticks over there so we don’t have to fight them here.)
4. Or, this incident just proves that ticks are a threat to National Security.
5. Or, the incident would have been reported earlier, but it was privileged information.
6. Or, we were trying to tick-tap their means of communication to prevent future attacks on Americans.
Well, I guess the list could go on, but you get my point….
ALLISON YOU ARE A HOOT…HOW TRUE, HOW TRUE!
VietnamVet:
I’m new to this board, so what’s a “trool”? I imagine it’s a troll who is also a tool, in which case kudos for creating a very useful add to the blogiverse lexicon.
At any rate, there are plenty of things to be upset with Bush about, and the list keeps growing. But I wouldn’t put the Lyme Disease Coverup in the top 500 “Bush-centric Things to be Perplexed About”. On top of which, the story strongly implies it probably wasn’t even Lyme Disease anyway. Are there bedbugs in the White House? America needs to know prior to 2009, and take action, so they don’t aggravate the next occupant.
Found the site via Memeorandum, and I should probably avoid hanging out here because I’m just tired of Bush, would just as soon he limped offstage quietly, and thus am equally tired of Bushbashing. So my cynicism is showing big time.
Signing off…..
Allison
We’re all tired of Bush. I loved your list. I thought it was a great satirical look at our media coverage.
Granted the story isn’t one of the worst secrets the Bush Administration has kept, but it’s still worth noting that it is one of the many.
Allison Picarelli
Here is one definition of a troll: (Sorry, I mispelled it myself in the post.)
“An Internet troll, or simply troll in Internet slang, is someone who intentionally posts messages about sensitive topics constructed to cause controversy in an online community such as an online discussion forum or USENET groups in order to bait users into responding.[1] They may also plant images and data on networks that others may find disturbing in order to cause confrontation.”
I took your post to be directed at Democratic advocates, rather than a satire. If I read it wrong, my apologies.
By the way, my post was not intended as Bush bashing per se; it was simply directed at some of the antics that he and his administration have resorted to over these past years.
Take care.
Well Vietnam Vet, I guess you’re going to have to post another correction. (Although I personally loved “trool.” With Allison’s permission, I think I’ll keep it.
You misspelled “misspell.”
Hart Williams
Well, I never was the world’s best speller! But, sometimes I manage to get the point across, despite that handicap. Take care.
I think “trool” ranks up there with “bloogers“.
[...] our ass in rehab? I say no, no, no (DListed) Another Bush secret that really ticks me off (Dem.Daily) posted by Mestew on 08.10.07 @ 1:00 am | [...]
VietnamVet:
Your list is cool, by the way … shoulda mentioned that before. It points out how BushCo routinely uses everything possible to keep “us” nervous. Valid point.
My post WAS a little “trollish” but hopefully not so much in a confrontational way as in a poking fun way. Kind of in the “Onion-like” spirit, I’d like to think.
We’re always flirting with paranoia in our collective political reactions, it seems, no matter what the event or decision or action… both “sides”. We’ve become politically unhinged.
At the risk of alienating Pamela, I think her claim of being perplexed that she/we didn’t know Bush itched is illustrative. I doubt she is really perplexed; I speculate she’s faux perplexed. We all know, after 7 years, that Bush talks about what he wants to talk about, just as he hears what he wants to hear. We all know that’s not going to change, either. We’re married to GWB. We’re about to get divorced. It’s pointless to complain any more about his leaving the toilet seat up.
Does Bush floss his teeth daily? If not, does he have an obligation to tell us? Leads to heart problems, you know. Does he have a pack of Marlboros in the bedstand? Personally, I couldn’t care less.
Fact of the matter is, if the news story is to be believed (and THAT’s a whole OTHER matter, I realize), it’s not even clear that Bush HAD Lyme Disease. Actually, by reading the story one comes to the conclusion he probably didn’t. So to say that he “apparently” did is what? Misleading, I guess, and for what purpose?
One of the few things I like about Bush is that he doesn’t prattle on about himself and take himself too seriously. I do like that in a leader. He’s not self-absorbed like too many of us, especially politicians, are. I am reminded of LBJ showing off his scar. It looked like any other post-operative scar, so what was the point of that?
So, in this case, I have NO problem with W deciding not to put himself in the Lymelight over something as de minimus as an insect bite. (Sorry, couldn’t resist).
Bloogers and Trools, oh my! Let’s not overlook what is important here. That damned tick was not a sucker of stupid instead of blood! Now that’s waht we need, critters that suck the stupid out.
Allison,
I agree with most of what you have posted, but could take issue that Bush does not “prattle on about himself.” Did you miss the write up where he was observed beating himself on the chest while exclaiming “I am the President.” Or the one where he declared himself “the decider.”?
You’re right, though, his tick bites don’t warrant much, except maybe a litle comedy, which we all need at times.
Peace.
“Did you miss the write up where he was observed beating himself on the chest while exclaiming ‘I am the President.’ Or the one where he declared himself ‘the decider.’?”
Well, at least in those instances he was being mostly truthful. It would have been completely truthful if he’s said, “… in those instances where Mr. Cheney can’t make up his mind (should that ever happen), I am the decider.”
Allison
Definitely “faux perplexed.”
As a person who has lyme disease I can tell you that many people do not understand just how serious an infection of this nature can be. Many who have received the “standard” treatment find at some point that their life is in ruins. Genetics, immune system, stress, the strain of the borrelia infection (there are 300 world wide but only 2 are tested for) and the type and number of co-infections and many more factors play into whether a person recovers or becomes severely ill.
There is a huge political battle going on in regards to lyme disease with many of us stuck in the middle. People become disabled and even die from lyme disease. Some become severely affected in their ability to think. There are dozens of horrible symptoms that one can develop with this life changing illness. Unfortuntely I know from personal experience.
There is a huge polical battle going on as to how to treat lyme disease with the Infectious Disease of Society trying to dictate indadequate treatment.
In addition to all of this, there are other infections that can and do get passed with a tick bite. If those are left untreated (and it sounds like no one even tested for them in Bush) the short course of antibiotics that he received will do little to cure him. At some point, days, weeks, months and sometimes even years after the initial infection, he will become sick with a chronic hard to treat illness.
Lymed
Thank you for chiming in here about this. I have read that Lyme Disease can be very serious for many and that it often goes undetected or treated properly. I would imagine that Bush having the “best” doctors in the country treating him, they tested him for the possibilities. What I do wonder is they were 100% honest about his prognosis.
Bush’s treatment was based on a clinical diagnosis from his practioners, as it should be – NOT his blood test results. The rest of us would have had to rely on blood test results produced by junk labs that routinely miss obvious and active lyme.
Health insurance providers and others continue to support and mandate diagnostic tools that don’t accurately detect lyme – even though more accurate and sensitive tools are available. They cover useless treatment plans such as 2 weeks of antibiotics and discriminate against and harass those practioners who know how to improve the health of lyme patients such as lyme-literate and alternative care practioners.
I was sorry to hear President Bush has lyme. As we know, lyme causes thinking problems – even for presidents. I think all consumers should have access to prompt, safe and effective treatment – just like Bush. Too bad greed, ignorance and profit gets in the way of health in ‘American health care’.
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