Howard Dean went to counselling for anxiety attacks, and was taking psychotropic drugs by prescription while under a doctor's care around 20 years ago.

When was it again that the Republican nominee was a drunk? Did he get a prescription for the drug he was taking regularly? How long did his condition persist before he sought treatment? Is this really where the Republicans want this campaign to go? If it isn't, then they had better shut this down right now.

Dean takes the occasional sleeping pill. The fact that he understands the value of sleep and suffers from occasional insomnia does not render him unfit for high office.

Dean doesn't need to sue. He need only point out that he isn't the only one with a history. I wonder if that would qualify as "Bush-hatred", or if the label only sticks if he names the exalted name.

Re: the "panic attack" in 1991: The salient subordinant phrase is: "Reacting to news of Gov. Richard Snelling's death in August 1991". Snelling's death was sudden and a big surprise. Shock is a normal response, but it wasn't a long-lasting one. Let's look at a more complete report here. An excerpt:

Zind: McLain asked a staff member to call Lieutenant Governor Howard Dean and tell him of Snelling’s death.

Dean: "It was just a shocking moment, believe me, not one that I’m ever likely to forget."

Zind: At the time, Dean was still practicing medicine. When the call came, he was seeing patients that morning at his Shelburne Medical Office.

Dean: "The first thing I did was go back and finish up with a patient I was with, cause I wasn’t going to leave a patient high and dry and then call my wife who was able to come in and see the rest of my patients, she had, it was on her day off."

Zind: Marselis Parsons drove from the Snelling home to Dean’s office. He found a state trooper posted in the reception area. Parsons watched through an open door as Dean made calls.

Parsons: "He was beginning to make the transition. He was asking to talk to various people from former Governor Salmon to former Governor Hoff. And was talking to a number of people in the Snelling cabinet. ... He stood there in a blue shirt, I remember, and the perspiration stains ran from his armpits all the way down to his belt."

Zind, Steve. "Shared Legacy: The Snelling-Dean Years. Part One: Transition." Vermont Public Radio. Transcript available at www.vpr.net/vt_news/stories/sharedlegacy/shared1.shtml

Mastering shock is OK. Not experiencing any is spooky.

Thanks for the link, Frank! Once again, a reminder that NewsMax finds the news that's unfit to print. ;)

Regards--
Mary Anne