Joe Biden's Health--Part Deaux

Here's The Skinny As I Know It...


So I'm sitting here in our hotel room this morning on the last full day of my latest "working coastal vacation," perusing Drudge and the other usual websites and blogs trying to keep up with what's going on, when I jump over to this blog and check the Sitemeter statistics and find that I was blasted yesterday with people stopping by looking for information about Vice Presidential Candidate Joe Biden's rumored "health issues."

Amazing what brings in the readers...and I hope a few of you that entered this site for the very first time looking for information on the condition of Senator Biden's body stayed around to look at the issues I was actually writing about over the past few days and will possibly elect to stop back by every now and then to see what's going on in the cracks and crevasses of my demented, tortured, hyperactive (and Ritalin deprived) middle aged mind.

Unfortunately, I knew nothing as of this morning about Biden's body (other than it apparently having one head, one torso, two legs, two arms, ten fingers, ten toes, and other protrusions and orifices beyond the scope of this essay this morning.)

That said, I thought it only fair since people were Googling about Joe and finding me that as a service I direct them to where they were really trying to go, and possibly gain their return here in the future if they like what they see.

To that end, I did a little research this morning and found out that in fact the good Senator has had his own personal run-ins with doctors and the US health care system his party so desperately wants to control give away Nationalize reform.

The first reference is copyrighted and cost a few bucks to view the entire story but here's the link to the February 12, 1988 story about Biden suffering from and being hospitalized for "neck pain."

Then there's this February 23rd, 1988 NY Times story about Biden having been diagnosed and having surgery for a "Berry Aneurysm" in one of the arteries in his neck feeding blood to his brain.

Following that 8 hour surgical procedure and nine day hospital stay, in mid March of that same year he was re-admitted to the hospital for treatment of a suspected post-surgery blood clot in his leg.

He left the hospital on March 25th "thin and full of good cheer" "despite a setback that has delayed a second operation on an artery in his head..." (viewing entire article costs $2.95)

Here's a FOXnews story which offers this summary while talking about South Dakota Senator Tim Johnson's similar surgery:

"According to CQ Today, a Capitol Hill magazine, several lawmakers have been derailed by illness and unable to vote, but have not given up their posts and eventually returned to office. Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., suffered an aneurysm and had brain surgery in February 1988. He returned to office seven months later and is still serving. [emphasis mine--VRR]"

Next, on March 9th, 2005 Senator Biden underwent emergency surgery in Naples Florida to have his Gall Bladder removed. This same article reports that the aforementioned blood clot in the Senator's leg actually moved to his lung, and as a result he had a "filter" installed to prevent future occurrences. (I actually had a similar "filter" installed in a big vein in my abdomen last February and appreciate the value of the procedure.)

So there you have it Ladies and Gentlemen...the results of a good hour's worth of effort which in the end only points out that Biden is in fact a typical human, and like most of us he has had previous problems with the organic machine God gave him to live in and operate while residing here on earth in the 20th and 21st centuries.

I can no more vote for him than against him using this data as the deciding factor than I believe that anyone should discount John McCain's ability to fulfill his term if elected president because of his age.

As to what if anything Obamarama's campaign might be planning regarding a personnel change in the Vice Presidential slot, I think that Senator Joe's mettle might just over-ride any purported physical fragility (which should have been vetted prior to the announcement of his inclusion on the Dem's ticket).

But then again--since when have the facts gotten in the way of expedience and "winning" when it comes to politics?