<http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/video1/BushTenYrs4MB.mov >
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A week or so before the presidential debates I listened to James Fallows being interviewed on National Public Radio.
Several audio clips of Bush were played including a sample of the material viewable from the link. The difference between Bush, then and now, was even more dramatically obvious when you only had the audio to consider.
At one point the interviewer, apparently struck by this obvious loss of sharpness, asked Fallows about the possibility of pre-senile dementia.
Fallows dissembled a bit and hurried to say it wasn't likely (though how you could know this for certain without being privy to Bush's medical records, I don't know). He offered an alternative explanation: Bush felt very comfortable in Texas but is a fish out of water (in a sense) in Washington. This lack of a homey feeling makes him stumble.
With that unpleasantness neatly placed out of the way, the interview moved on to the topic of Kerry's debating skills.
I don't blame Fallows for not wanting to fill the vacuum of solid, publicly available data with speculation but the swiftness with which he put forward that (rather weak I think) Bush-is-just-uncomfortable idea was interesting.
.d.