He's Not The Only One!

Al-Qaida's No. 2 calls Bush an alcoholic

CAIRO, Egypt - Al-Qaida's No. 2 said President Bush was an alcoholic and a lying gambler who wagered on Iraq and lost, according to a new audiotape released Tuesday.[...]

"Bush suffers from an addictive personality, and was an alcoholic. I don't know his present condition ... but the one who examines his personality finds that he is addicted to two other faults — lying and gambling," al-Zawahri said in the audiotape.

Which is not inconsistent with an unrecovered alcoholic, which Bush certainly is. But this is not the first time the claim that his addictions are affecting him has been made:

The September 21, 2005 issue of the tabloid National Enquirer cited unidentified "family sources" as saying that in the wake of the crisis caused by Hurricane Katrina, Bush had been caught by his wife drinking. The article also quoted Justin Frank, a Washington D.C. psychiatrist and author of Bush on the Couch, saying, "I do think that Bush is drinking again. Alcoholics who are not in any program, like the President, have a hard time when stress gets to be great."

And then there's this:

A year ago, this web site discovered the White House physician prescribed anti-depressants for Bush. The news came after revelations that the President’s wide mood swings led some administration staffers to doubt his sanity.

Although GOP loyalists dismissed the reports an anti-Bush propaganda, the reports were later confirmed by prominent George Washington University psychiatrist Dr. Justin Frank in his book Bush on the Couch: Inside the Mind of the President. Dr. Frank diagnosed the President as a “paranoid meglomaniac” and “untreated alcoholic” whose “lifelong streak of sadism, ranging from childhood pranks (using firecrackers to explode frogs) to insulting journalists, gloating over state executions and pumping his hand gleefully before the bombing of Baghdad” showcase Bush’s instabilities.

So maybe Al Zawahiri isn't too far off the mark...certainly, Iraq has and will drive many other men to drink. And worse.