Welcome to In the Agora, David. Looking forward to your contributions.

Thanks Ed.

Assessing mental health is a very tricky matter. I have a diagnosis of bi-polar affective disorder on the one hand, but on the other hand, the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) fails to ever raise that as an issue. The issue raised instead? That my personality indicates a vulnerability to addictions. However, I stopped smoking pot in '77 after four years of occasional but inhaling usage and rarely have more than one or two drinks every couple of weeks.

Personally, I have my own test. If someone listens to Rush Limbaugh purely to be entertained, they are probably mentally stable. However, if they take him seriously, they are probably mentally ill. :-)

I think George Bush has an odd personality (but then do so do lots of us) and IS insecure except as surrounded by cronies, but I don't see enough evidence to make any kind of judgment about the state of his mental health. In one of the debates, he looked awfully uncomfortable in his own skin, but any of us can have an off day.

There's handwriting analysis, which I was once intrigued by. However, the first book I read on the subject used Richard Nixon's handwriting as an example of the writing of someone who is open and honest.

What is "mental health" anyway? I think Ronald Reagan had some unhealthy mental attitudes with respect to a seeming inability to form close bonds to his children, but there is no evidence that such shortcoming limited his abilities as president.

Thomas Eagleton was forced from the McGovern ticket after his electro-convulsive treatments were revealed. In truth, however, Eagleton may very well have been more mentally stable than Nixon.

The mere rumor that 1988 Presidential nominee Michael Dukakis had been treated by a psychiatrist after the death of the candidate's brother was enough to cause a small earthquake among Dukakis advisors.

On his deathbed, GOP political operative Lee Atwater apologized for describing a Democratic politican he was working against as having once been "hooked up to jumper cables."

Personally, I'd be more worried about a seriously mentally ill politician who didn't seek professional help and successfully hid the affliction than one who openly admitted to a problem.

But people do want their politicans "hopeful." However, at some point if their performance doesn't match their hopeful demeanor, even they can be in trouble. Bush has, what, a 39% approval rating and even many of those are approving mainly to signal that they would consider a Democrat to do even worse.

Reagan wasn't popular because of his sunny disposition but because of the overall results he got. In fact, in 1982 while unemployment was still high, Reagan was rather unpopular even after having been shot the year before. A lot of Republican went down to defeat in '82 because of Reagan's relatively low approval ratings.

And yes, David, welcome.