he wants, talk out of both sides of his mouth and stage a preemptive strike on critics who
say his position is immoral." [fn 36]
On Wednesday, May 29, Bush proposed a freeze on the purchase and production of
surface-to-surface missles in the Middle East. On this day Bush was again out on the golf
course, and questions about his health were raised once again by his ghastly personal
appearance, which was best conveyed by a photograph appearing on the front page of the
London Financial Times of Thursday, May 30.
After the beginning of June, references to Bush's atrial fibrillation and thyroid crisis
become exceedingly rare, a tribute to the power of the Brown Brothers, Harriman/Skull
and Bones networks. On September 5, Burton Lee announced that he had halted Bush's
daily doses of procainamide and digoxin shortly after the middle of August. But Bush
continued to take daily doses of coumadin to prevent blood clots, medication to replace
lost thyroid hormore production, and aspirin every other day, also to prevent blood clots.
This announcement came at the end of Bush's 29 day vacation in Kennebunkport. The
White House spin was that Bush "appears to have overcome weight loss and fatigue
associated with the thyroid condition, called Graves' disease, and treatment for it." [fn 37]
Then, in mid-September, Bush underwent a two-hour medical examination designed to
provide a "medical stamp of approval" for Bush's health as he prepared to run for re-
election in 1992. "I gotta prove I'm well," said Bush as he went in for the checkup.
According to Dr. Burman, "the president has been restored to his normal vigorous state of
good health." Lee said that all tests had showed Bush's heart functions to be normal; he
also claimed that there had been no recurrence of atrial fibrillation after May. Bush had
commented in August that the only thing that could keep him from running for a second
term would be a health problem. He now described his own condition as "100 percent.
Perfect bill of health." [fn 38] And that, as far as the regime was concerned, was that.
Despite the claims of Dr. Lee that political considerations played no role in his treatment,
it is clear that all statements by White House physicians about Bush's physical and mental
health must be regarded with the greatest skepticism; such pronouncements are likely to
be as reliable as the censored war bulletins of Operation Desert Storm. Was there still a
problem with Bush's health, including his mental health? The answer is an emphatic yes,
a yes buttressed by the observation of continued paroxysms of obsessive rage on the part
of Bush, who has not calmed down at all. Bush remains on an emotional roller-coaster,
complete with the snap decisions so typical of the hyperthyroid personality. In short,
Bush's thyroid and mental disorders have the most devastating implications for his ability
to govern.
The first question regards the nature and even the name of Bush's malady. According to a
leading Baltimore psychiatrist who could not be described as politically hostile to Bush, it
is clear that the man in the White House is suffering from the full-fledged symptoms of
Basedow's disease. The difference between Graves' disease and Basedow's is more than a
technical quibble: the term Graves' disease as used in the English-speaking world is
misleading in that it plays down the symptoms of mental disturbance which are more
explicitly associated with Basedow's disease. According to this specialist, it is pointless