Randi Rhodes dismissed a caller who raised a VERY good point

[LastDemocratInSC]

A caller at about 3:30 raised a VERY good point with Randi Rhodes and she dismissed him, and took him to task a bit, because she didn't understand what he was saying.

The caller (Mike in Colorado?) pointed out that some of the drugs commonly prescribed for mild epilepsy can affect speech at times and cause hallucinations. This is well known. The caller was saying that this might explain some of the Resident's famous personal conversations with deities and some of his behaviors over time - remember the pretzel thing?

My wife is an ICU nurse and during the Resident's speech on the evening that the Iraq war began in 2003 (bombing the resort where Saddam was supposed to be) she said that Bush looked absolutely drugged to her. She sees this everyday. She studied his face in the closeup shots and said that his lack of facial expressions (she called it low affect) and slow, slurred speech pattern were a sure sign that he was on either an anti-psychotic drug or something for epilepsy.

The caller on Randi's show today was connecting the dots and she didn't let him finish. He was saying that the Resident may have a mild form of epilepsy and that the treatments for this could cause some of the strange things he often does. Many patients are treated only when their symptoms require it - this would account for the fact that he seems so changeable.

It's something worth thinking about.

[truthspeaker]

1. Ambien can also cause hallucinations

Powell once said everyone at the White House takes Ambien. It's a sleeping aid categorized as a "hypnotic" that can cause unusual dreams or hallucinations as a side effect.

[klook]

5. So everyone at the White House takes drugs

that "can cause unusual dreams or hallucinations as a side effect." Now that explains a lot!!

[Misinformed01]

2. He's drugged

I am an ex-paramedic, and I promise you...the man is on some sort of prescription. It is hard to tell from just TV what it is...anyone's guess is as good as mine.

Stephanie

BTW...if the jerk is re-selected, I will have to be medicated too.

[supernova]

3. The results are still the same

doesn't matter what the reason for it is.

If he does have to be medicated, sorry for that. But we are paying the price for his dellusions of grandeur.

IT MUST STOP!!

[SheilaT]

4. For what it's worth,

back during the Watergate era, a couple of nurses I knew were convinced by Nixon's behavior that he was taking some kind of serious medication. Thorazine was the one they considered most likely.

My point is, we have no way of knowing. It's highly unlikely anyone in a position to know for certain will spill the beans.

It's also possible that he's simply deranged enough to behave like that without medication.

Unmedicated schizophrenics have very odd behaviors, hear voices, and so on.

[supernova]

7. St Teresa, as in "The Ecstasy of"

was also probably an epileptic.

Look, I'm not against people communing with the Almighty, if that's what they percieve is happening. How wonderful for them.

But I do draw the line when that experience becomes dangerous to the rest of us who have to share the planet with a nutball.

[linazelle]

6. I don't see how looking at somebody can help narrow down

drug use to anti-psychotic or epilepsy medication. Drugged? Now that's another story. Had you said he just looked generally drugged, I'd understand but going from drugged to specific medication is a huge leap. It's like saying you could look at Rush and tell he was taking Oxycontin.

[ender]

19. with certain drugs...

you can most definitely tell what they are on. Neuroleptics/anti-psychotics are most definitely one of them, as are anti-seizure drugs.

generally, you can get it down to a "class" of drugs, maybe not the specific one, but in the ballpark.

i've been guessing a neuroleptic for a while now... the slurred speech is pretty indicative... the only thing that i dont see is the huge amount of weight gain, but i'm sure that he has access to medicine that could prevent that.

[BlueEyedSon]

8. As previously posted on DU....

"Vice President Cheney is the de facto President of the United States. When he arrives at the White House for one of his "briefings" of the President, all employees are cleared from the West Wing and especially from the Presidential office suites. Cheney arrives in an escorted armored limousine surrounded by his own personal, heavily armed bodyguard and is always shown directly into the President's office. It is reliably reported by redacted that Bush has a thick pad of lined, yellow note paper on his desk, placed there by redacted just before the Vice President arrives."

"After Cheney's departure, the notes taken by the President are transcribed by redacted and prepared as talking points for the President..."

"At some time in the past, according to both redacted and redacted the President suffered what one of his aides called "a very minor seizure" and as a result of this, the President has a very difficult time following any unscripted conversations. For this reason, his staff carefully and aggressively protect the President from "unexpected" questions that he is not capable of answering."

"The President takes oral medication at least twice a day according to redacted because of an unspecified "indisposition' and this subject is strictly off limits for any casual staff conversation."

http://www.tbrnews.org/Archives/a887.htm#001

[napi21]

9. Yes, she did. I was listening. But Randi had a valid point.

There are so many bad things that are provable, or under investigation right now, why are you bringing some new speculation into the picture.

I suppose it could be true that he is on medication for something, but that is next to impossible to prove since each year he has a physical his Drs. always say he is in great shape. Without one of his Drs. admitting to a lie, this medical stuff is just speculation.

Randi added that if I let people start that kind of talk on my show, you're going to hear "did you hear the crazy stuff that was on that insane liberal talk show the other day" on all the conservative shows. If you have no foundation for REASONABLE suspicion, and no proof, don't bring it on my show."

Obviously I am paraphrasing the above, but that's the gist of her comments. I can see her point too.

[Az]

10. Epilepsy itself can cause

profound religious experiences. After seizures a persons emotional wiring is completely overwhelmed. Things can take on profoundly different relevance to someone just after such seizures.

It was while researching epilepsy that it was discovered that you can create so called religious experiences in the lab by triggering a part of the brain to short out.

[skooooo]

20. Oh yeah, read Dostoevsky's "The Idiot"...

...all about this.

[mouse7]

11. Randu said attack Bush with facts, not speculation.

Randi Rhodes was right on this. Randi Rhodes said to attack Dumbya with what's proven, not with what people are speculating about, and said there is PLENTY to attack Dumbya with that's proven. She gave the fact that Bush says God talks to him as an example.

She said he's already admitted to insanity right there and did it with his own words in major media outlets.

[Az]

14. If he admitted insanity

then why can we not speculate as to what form his insanity takes?

[xultar]

12. Randi was right...Who gives a RATS ASS why GWB is hearing voices

The fact is

He is hearing voices....

Work on that.

People with more mental capacity sand less mental illness than Bush are considered looney and locked away. Yet, his ass is running the most powerful nation in the world.

That is a problem.

[Az]

17. You do know

that many sects of Christianity claim to hear god speak to them. Its a real issue in psychology. Do you keep a religious person in the institution if they claim to hear god speaking to them?

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

21. Reminds me of a joke Lily Tomlin did

Probably others too, but I heard it from her:

When we speak to God we call it prayer.
When God speaks to us we call it schizophrenia.

I'm agnostic, so I don't call my inner voice God. But I don't vilify people who do.

The real issue is separation of church and state. Bush can listen to God all he wants, but if God tells him to ignore the Constitution that he took an oath to uphold, Bush should resign.

[xultar]

23. I'm not saying that, I'm saying that because hes RICH and a BUSH

he isn't locked up.

When people with lesser means $$$ and family ties, with more mental capability (smarter) with less mental illness( GWB is a loney bird even without the Jesus speak) are put away and GWB isn't.

That isn't fair

Bush speaks to God we go to war. My neighbor speaks to God and they lock him up.

That ain't fair.

[rocktivity]

13. If he has epilepsy, he should admit it!

No one can help him otherwise. My sister, her daughter, and one of my nephews are dyslexic. I wouldn't want someone telling THEM they couldn't be president, but I wouldn't want them pretending they didn't and making people they were REALLY nuts, either. My sister has stomach problems to this day because studying stressed her out so much. But once the problem was targeted, she breezed through college and pharmacy school. Same thing with my niece and nephew--they struggled in school until they were diagnosed, and now they're doing great.

:headbang:
rocknation

[Warpy]

15. Tell her to research Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome

There is no way Bush could drink as heavily as he did for as long as he did without lasting neurological damage, and this is what she is seeing, on top of his natural congenital dullness.

[robbedvoter]

16. Randi deals in facts not speculations. Enough facts out there.

Epilepsy may be a mitigating circumstance - why construct an irrelevant argument?

[Az]

18. She just insisted that she believes god is talking to him now

Sounds like speculation to me.

[librechik]

22. that should have been revealed in the physical they released to the public

on inauguration. It wasn't.

Besides, I don't believe it. I'm such a b tch I probably would have cut him off too!