Serious Question: What Is The President On?

In a post in January, I remarked as an aside that I thought Bush often looks medicated during important speeches. Specifically, he looks like he is on some sort of anti-anxiety medication. He seems unnaturally subdued, in contrast to his usual energetic demeanor, and disengaged from his surroundings. It first struck me during the address to Congress immediately after 9/11. Now, independently of me and of each other, two other bloggers have noticed the same thing.

Susan Madrak notices it too:

Just caught some of the evening news, and I have to say, Bush is acting really strangely. I wonder what drugs they have him on? He's smiling inappropriately and trying to simulate earnestness. It's making me ill.

And Lambert at corrente :

I don't have a TV, so every so often I ask my Mom what was on the news, and today she said that Bush's eyes looked "strange." Not just that his eyes looked "nervous" but there was "something behind them." Then she had to think, and said what was behind Bush's eyes was "disbelief, as if he couldn't believe what was happening to him."

Now that I am looking for others' impressions of the same thing, I find it here, here, here, here, here, here and here. (I am not endorsing any of these other sites, but simply am citing them for the purpose of showing that others also think Bush looks drugged.) A couple of the sites specifically mention the anti-anxiety medication Xanax, but as far as I know none of them have any particular evidence he is taking that drug. (Coincidentally or not, Bush's niece Noelle was arrested for trying to illegally obtain Xanax.)

If my theory is correct, it makes sense we would be seeing signs of doping now. Bush is giving a press conference Tuesday night. They'd be getting him properly tuned starting today.

Maybe it also explains why Bush will only testify before the 9/11 Commission with Dick Cheney. Alone, under questioning, he might have some kind of breakdown.

Is this just partisan bias on our parts? Does anyone else think Bush looks like he's been drugged?

(And before anyone accuses me of consciously being partisan or joking, let me assure you I'm not. The possibility he is being heavily medicated scares the hell out of me. I would love to find out that he's not on anything, and he just looks strange sometimes while under stress.)

Update 4/14/04: I want to make clear this doesn't bother me simply because Bush may be taking some kind of medication. What bothers me is that he seems to be taking a lot of it. That implies, first, he is in enough of a bad way that he feels he needs a large dose. And second, it seems to be affecting his ability to comprehend what people are saying. Neither of those things are qualities the head of the executive branch of government should have.

Comments

[glenstonecottage]

Let ME be the first person to vote for: OXYCONTIN!

[Lara]

Remember the stink when his dad turned out to be on Haldol, a sleeping drug that was banned in the U.K.?

[Johno]

Ibogaine, just like Ed Muskie!

[Susie from Philly]

I vote for Paxil or Xanax.

[Jonathan from Boston]

I've been taking Paxil for months now. It does not make you dopey and "out of touch". In fact, it does the opposite. It allows me to focus and think far clearer.

[Mithras]

JfB-
Yeah, I can't believe it would be an antidepressant.

Also, I want to make clear this doesn't bother me simply because Bush may be taking some kind of medication. It bothers me that he seems to be taking a lot of it. That implies, first, he is in enough of a bad way that he feels he needs a large dose. And second, it seems to be affecting his ability to comprehend what people are saying.

[bushgirlsgonewild]

I’ve have noticed Bush getting MORE incoherent; since 9/11 he’s had to work harder (I mean hard; remember, he took a month-long vacation in August 2001 after only being on the job for six months) and from what I’ve read, he’s really never had to put in the kind of hours he’s had to in the last year. That might mean he’s having to take something to de-stress himself. Anyway, he’s always had that ‘dry-drunk’ persona, so it wouldn’t take much to really screw him up.