[techweenie]

I think it's legitimate to ask for details of Kerry's Vietnam record, because Kerry has made it a part of his campaign.

All it takes is a little digging and you see the entire 'Swift Boat' attack is pasted together from the campaign dirty tricks book. People who gave Kerry glowing praise 35 years ago are now trying to backpedal. One guy is trying to discredit one of Kerry's five service medals, but his account is in conflict with the doctor's notes at the time. The leaders of the group are longtime Republican campaign managers and contributors, so I dismiss the book as backlash for Kerry's later disavowal of actions in Vietnam.

In fact, it's Vietnam veterans who played a large role in winning Kerry the nomination.

On the other hand, there's the article Mark linked to -- one of several -- questioning the recent behavior of GWB at a July 8 press conference. Behavior that combined with other actions -- such as the infamous 'pretzel incident' make one question, at minimum, the state of health of the guy. I put this up without endorsement, butr asking if we should ahve access to the current prescription drug intake of the President. Some may recall that Bush1 also was on mood-management drugs, which adds, i think, further legitimacy to the question.

As for the 'remote diagnosis' in the article, well, I saw that done many times when Clinton was in office, along with every conspiracy theory in the world essentially suggesting the Clintons were mass murderers. I think by comparison, asking about the mental state of the President is quite legitimate.