Maybe George Bush is in early stage Alzheimer's too

I remember being outraged every tiime Ronald Reagan would answer questions about Iran-Contra by saying "I don't remember". Although no one has ever come right out and said it, it became clear later that he may well have been speaking the truth, given the slow progression of Alzheimer's Disease and how quickly he was diagnosed after leaving office.

It's often seemed as if George W. Bush has some kind of neurological impairment. Others have also noticed the deterioration of his ability to speak from the time he debated Texas Gov. Ann Richards in 1994. Some have speculated that he has Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome, often associated with alcoholism. In an interview reported Tuesday, he seemed a bit more willing to talk about the extent of his alcohol abuse, though he still shows signs of "I can quit any time I want to" syndrome, which makes it difficult to believe that the stresses of even a bubble presidency wouldn't drive him back to the bottle.

But whether he has a form of delayed alcohol-related dementia, or early-onset Alzheimer's, such an excuse is the only non-nefarious reason for him to be so unable to recall so many things:

The only substantive thing White House Press Secretary Dana Perino offered up about the matter on Friday was a carefully parsed denial of any direct involvement by President Bush himself. "He has no recollection of being made aware of the tapes or their destruction before yesterday," Perino said.

That's what's known in Washington as an assertion of plausible deniability -- particularly given Bush's history of leaving such matters to his vice president. And he's not even saying he wasn't involved, he's just saying he doesn't remember.

Yesterday, Bush used almost the same phrasing during an interview with ABC News's Martha Raddatz: "My first recollection of whether the tapes existed or whether they were destroyed was when [CIA director] Michael Hayden briefed me," he said, adding: "There's a preliminary inquiry going on, and I think you'll find that a lot more data, facts, will be coming out... That's good. It will be interesting to know what the true facts are."

There is, however, plenty of data the White House could and should share with the public right now, starting with the disclosure of who in the White House knew about the tapes, what they knew, and when they knew it.

So which one is it? Is the man mentally unable to carry out the duties of his office, or is he stonewalling? Because it's one or the other, and we have a right to know either way.