And not one of those new-fangled digital contraptions that only a kid can figure out!

Posted at June 13, 2008 10:43 PM in response to Chess Clock Debate

Russert's death leaves an empty space against the sky of television news. Rest in Peace.

Posted at June 13, 2008 5:32 PM in response to Tim Russert

Russert's interview of Doris Kerns Goodwin was one of the most enjoyable things I ever watched on television. Rest in Peace.

Posted at June 13, 2008 5:01 PM in response to Tim Russert Has Passed Away

No one cares about that flipping guy anymore.

...until he bombs Iran.

Posted at June 13, 2008 1:38 PM in response to Is Bush hitting the bottle?

Not that motherhood will deter McCain. His "joke" about "why Chelsea is so ugly" was about the worst and most misogynist attempt at humor I've ever heard by someone of his national standing, yet even the Clintons gave him no grief over it. It ranks with Huckabee's "joke" at the NRA convention about Obama diving to the floor. Public reaction to people who make remarks like these should be strong enough to effectively remove them from candidacy for public office. Yet the media and much of the public give them a pass.

Posted at June 13, 2008 11:26 AM in response to GOP to make Michelle Obama a target and my response

The objective is to give McCain a pass for any instances of confusion or memory lapse that would not be afforded to a younger candidate, for fear that any comment would be considered age-related and hence out-of-bounds, but also to deflect attention from the issue at hand (what McCain said) to talk about campaign tactics instead - a double pass!

In all the pundit blather about whether confused is a loaded term, no one has asked him how he intends to get to a state where our troops are safe in Iraq, how we would pay to keep them safe over the next 100 years or so, how did he come up with the year 2013 as a likely date for withdrawal, how Iraq differs culturally and politically from Europe in their potential attitude toward the indefinite presence of American troops in their country...

Posted at June 13, 2008 2:03 AM in response to There They Go Again -- Pundits Using Political Party's Talking Points

In addition to age-related changes in reasoning abilities and memory that happen to most of us, some are additionally impaired by changes in the brain due to increased permeability of the blood-brain barrier, either hereditary or related to medications.

(I'm not a doctor and didn't even stay in a Holiday Inn Express last night, so I would welcome a real medical opinion on this)
Remember that McCain's medical records were scheduled to be released a month or so earlier than they were. I think the delay may have been related to the fact that his doctors switched his cholesterol med around that time from one with at least anecdotal links to mental confusion to one with fewer mental-related problems. His good cholesterol (HDL), necessary for long neuronal connections that are essential to complex thought, was low initially and decreased further under his medical regimen.

It could well be that his handlers wanted a little time to pass after discontinuing the cholesterol-lowering drug that was getting so much attention at the time and instead release his medical records without prior notice later and when a lot else was going on so they didn't get the kind of coverage they would have gotten had they been released when originally scheduled. I saw no coverage of the cholesterol-confusion issue at the time, though I didn't have time to follow it closely. There's a lot at stake for pharmaceutical companies, which have redirected their efforts from less profitable drugs like antibiotics that are used infrequently to drugs like cholesterol-lowering meds that are taken daily by millions of people. Media attention to McCain's situation could cause lots of people to reconsider the trade-offs of drugs they take.

Blood-brain barrier permeability works both ways: good things can move out of the brain, while toxins can move in, obstructing normal functioning of synapses. I think McCain could well be experiencing the effects of both processes, to a degree that it would impair Presidential decision-making. I agree with other TPM posters who have predicted that this impairment will be acknowledged before November and McCain will be replaced with another Republican candidate, with much less time for vetting.

So yes, I think his impairment is serious, and especially so when combined with his course reversals on most issues (made for political reasons) - it really seems that he can't keep his new positions straight.

Posted at June 11, 2008 1:37 PM in response to Is John McCain Going Senile?

He's incapable of complex, abstract thought. A doctor should weigh in on this, but look at how low his good (HDL) cholesterol is, probably the result of taking medication to lower his bad (LDL) cholesterol. We need HDL in the brain to mediate those long neuronal connections involved in complex thought. When cholesterol-lowering meds pull it out of the brain (through the blood-brain barrier), mental acuity suffers greatly. Increased permeability of the blood-brain barrier associated with some of the cholesterol meds also result in leakage of foreign materials into the brain, disrupting neuronal activity.

This is related to the points above about memory and confusion, but the cholesterol info in his med report gives a solid basis for concerns about his general mental acuity.

Posted at June 10, 2008 1:11 AM in response to 100 Reasons McCain is Unfit to be President

Does anyone know if Clinton is releasing her delegates? Does she plan to have her name placed in nomination as a symbolic (if divisive) gesture?

Posted at June 7, 2008 4:06 PM in response to Thank You, Senator Clinton

Is there any advantage in continuing to contribute to Obama rather than the DNC? Does that give any him additional leverage in dealing with the old-line party?

Posted at June 7, 2008 11:27 AM in response to DNC needs us - please go contrinute today.