The heart matter was one thread in the Bulgegate story last October, the flap about the bulge seen on the back of President Bush's suit jacket during the presidential debates. The bulge story made the rounds of the blogs, networks, and even international news and then died out with the election.


Dan Kennedy reported on an Indymedia "article [that] has appeared on a variety of anti-Bush Web sites — including, perhaps most prominently, the Daily Kos. Hallmark’s piece begins plausibly, noting the bulge’s resemblance to a certain type of portable defibrillator strapped onto the back called the LifeVest. He also points out that both of Bush’s parents have Graves’ disease, a form of hyperthyroidism that can cause the sort of potentially fatal cardiac arrhythmia that a defibrillator is designed to reverse. Indeed, the former president landed in the hospital with an arrhythmia in 2000." The entire article is at: www.bostonphoenix.com/boston/news_features/dont_quote_me/multi-page/documents/04383304.asp


The media dropped the story, and possibly the ball, after the 2004 election. It has resurfaced as a story about President Bush's ability to carry out the duties of his office, even before his inauguration for the next four years.


If the story is true -- and the truth will come out if the illness gets bad enough, maybe sooner -- then it means the American people were sold a bill of goods, damaged goods -- a "Ticker Ticket," the "Cardiac Kids" -- and that the media failed to follow the ball, just as they did in the runup to the Iraq war.


It also means that Mr. Bush could be more dangerous to world peace than anyone imagined. Imagine a George W. Bush who is not merely motivated by family ambitions for money and power but by organically caused dementia -- DANGEROUS HANDS ON THE NUCLEAR BUTTON.


Any really big story is too hot for the mainstream media (major newspapers and TV networks) to handle, until it is thrust upon them. Sometimes we have to wait for the historians to pick up after the reporters.


Anyway, Dan Kennedy's considered by many to be the best media critic in the country. The original Indymedia story is at bellaciao.org/en/article.php3 .