Bush finally going to take physical

According to the AP, Bush is going to take his physical this Saturday.

In the article, the usual reasons for the delay are given, though none of them explain why it's taken until a month after the election for him to schedule the physical.

And they go on and on about how healthy the prez has been in previous years.

I suspect that Bush just simply doesn't like doing physicals - much like most males in the country.  And I think that his problems are unlikely to be uncovered in a physical. It would take a full-scale mental exam to find out why he's so pigheaded and un-empathetic.

Excerpts of  article in extended entry.

Bush to Undergo Physical on Saturday
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published: December 9, 2004

Filed at 10:25 a.m. ET

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush will undergo the fourth physical of his presidency on Saturday at the National Naval Medical Center, the White House said Thursday.

Bush normally has his annual checkup in August. White House press secretary Scott McClellan said the four-month delay was the result of a hectic campaign travel schedule this summer and fall as the president was running for re-election.

...

``The president is someone who remains in great physical shape,'' McClellan said.

After the physical, Bush is to remain at the Bethesda, Md., medical center to visit with Marines and sailors recovering there from injuries suffered in Iraq and Afghanistan, McClellan said

•  off topic:

  Anyone know how long it takes for Coke to leave a person's system?

  Off topic speaking, of course...

  by cookiesandmilk on Thu Dec 09, 2004 at 07:52:54 AM PDT

  •  asdf

    Hard drugs like cocaine and even heroin leave the body fairly quickly, while marijuana can stay in the system for weeks, depending on how heavy a smoker someone is.  It's one of the arguments I've heard against random drug testing.

    by magic1 on Thu Dec 09, 2004 at 08:11:54 AM PDT

  •  3 days

    give or take a day for personal biology and/or dose size.

    by Achlis on Thu Dec 09, 2004 at 08:27:30 AM PDT

    •  re

      Wow, only 3 days?

      I thought it was more like one election cycle :0

      by cookiesandmilk on Thu Dec 09, 2004 at 08:36:37 AM PDT

  •  Lasting effects?

    Are there permanent mental side effects like increased megalomaniacal tendancies?

    by white blitz on Thu Dec 09, 2004 at 08:58:23 AM PDT

    •  lots

      There are often permament physiological and psychological changes due to long term drug abuse.  Paranioa, meglomania, and an inability to chalange one's own assumptions and thought processes are VERY common.

      by Achlis on Thu Dec 09, 2004 at 09:39:01 AM PDT

  •  Cocaine stays in hair much longer

    from PubMed:

    Admitted cocaine users (38), that were 18-70 years of age and reported to have refrained from using cocaine in the few days to months prior to the test, were compared to 10 controls who claimed never to have used cocaine. All had negative urine tests for cocaine and benzoylecgonine by thin-layer chromatography. Cocaine and benzoylecgonine were extracted from unwashed hair and tested by established immunoassays. RESULTS: The hair test was positive in 37/38 cases (97%) and in none of the controls. There was significantly more cocaine in black hair than in brown or blonde hair per mg of cocaine dose reported to have been consumed, highlighting a potential bias when interpreting test results in individuals with dark hair. There was a statistically significant correlation between reported dose used and hair concentrations of cocaine.

    
    

    by MonkeyBoy on Thu Dec 09, 2004 at 10:22:34 AM PDT

•  he probably......

  ....just doesn't want to cough while the doctor holds his balls.

  or maybe it's that finger-up-the-ass part he doesn't like.  

  men make excuses to skip physicals all the time; i doubt this president is much different.

  by anna on Thu Dec 09, 2004 at 08:46:48 AM PDT

  •  re

    But unlike most men, Junior has a DUTY to take it. Like the spoiled boy he is, he pushed it off "cause he did not wanna" take one.

    There are also questions as to why he did not want to take one in the first place during the election. It took a day. he could have done it back in june or august on his "vacation"

    by cookiesandmilk on Thu Dec 09, 2004 at 08:50:44 AM PDT

•  Physical

  I think he's been putting it off because his doctor is finally going to make him get that radio-receiver-shaped tumor removed from his back.

  by Spiral Stairs on Fri Dec 10, 2004 at 11:48:45 AM PDT