and Graves' disease. [fn 49] Of course, lead-lined goblets and other drinking vessels used
by the wealthy during the Roman Empire have sometimes been cited as a factor in the
notable mental instability of many emperors.
In early August, Bush met with a group of perception pimps and other political advisers
at his Camp David retreat. Pollster Bob Teeter was there, along with Robert Mosbacher,
who was on the inside track to chair the campaign. Also present were Brady, Quayle,
Sununu, William Kristol of Quayle's staff, and media expert Roger Ailes. A few days
earlier, Bush had stated that "only a health problem" might make him drop out, but "I
don't have one right now. On the same day, Burton Lee had certified Bush as being "in
excellent health." [fn 50] By late October, the Bushmen were already holding $1000-a-
plate fundraising dinners, complete with Bush, Quayle, Mosbacher, and other heavies of
the regime. Bush was running, with a vengeance.
Comparing the evidence adduced here so far about the etiology and symptoms of
Basedow's disease with Bush's pattern of activity in 1988-1991, three general conclusions
are suggested:
- Since 1987-88 at the latest, George Bush has exhibited a marked tendency towards
obsessive rage states, often expressed by compulsive public displays of extreme anger
and lack of self- control. These obsessive rage states and the quasi-psychotic impulses
behind them may be regarded as the probable psychological trigger for Basedow's
disease, a psychosomatic, autoimmune disorder. - There is much evidence that important decisions, including most notably Bush's
decisions militarily to attack Panama and Iraq, were substantially facilitated by these
obsessive rage states. - There are indications that Bush's inability to kill or capture Saddam Hussein, combined
with his inability to destroy the Baath party government of Iraq, frustrated of one of
Bush's obsessive compulsions and may thus have contributed to a hyperthryoid crisis and
the emergence of atrial fibrillation in early May of 1991. Alternatively, the accumulated
tensions of the Gulf crisis, possibly in some combination with other events, may have
been sufficient to precipitate Bush's hospitalization.
The question that remains to be considered is whether Bush can be considered cured of
the mental and physiological disorders involved with his hyperthyroid crisis. The answer
is that Bush demonstrably continues to exhibit those symptoms of rage, irritability,
uncontrollable outbursts, compulsive and frenetic activity, and impulsive decisions which
we must conclude were part of the trigger for Basedow's disease in the first place. During
the first six months after Bush drank his cocktail of radioactive iodine, and he did not
become any more tranquil. His agenda has remained packed, and his sports calendar
frenetic. He still tends to make unpredictable snap decisions. He had often lost control of
his emotions in public, most often through rage, but also through weeping and other
forms of affective upheaval.