Politico Magazine runs a long article by Alex Thompson today with the provocative headline: "Could America Elect a Mentally Ill President? Yes. In fact, we probably already did." The story discusses the possible mental issues, and documented consumption of drugs used to treat mental illness, of numerous politicians, including several presidents, among them JFK, LBJ and Nixon.
But here's the—excuse the expression—crazy thing. To illustrate the story, Politico features a large photo of Barry Goldwater. He is shown holding a finger to his lips, as if perhaps to suggest he wants to keep a secret. But of all the many politicians discussed in the story, Goldwater is one about whom no serious suggestion of mental illness or the use of drugs used to treat mental illness is made.
The only reason that Goldwater gets into the story is the fact that during the 1964 presidential race, LBJ's campaign smeared Goldwater with suggestions of mental illness, transforming his "in your heart you know he's right" slogan into "in your guts you know he's nuts." But there was never any serious suggestion that Goldwater suffered any mental illness, nor does Politico adduce any evidence to that effect. By featuring the Goldwater photo, Politico simply perpetuates the smear.
Note: ironically, the story discusses the fact that LBJ might have suffered from severe depression. But instead of using Johnson's mug, Politico chose to illustrate the story with the photo of a man that Johnson smeared with false mental-illness allegations.
