"Bye Bye Bryson"

This is from the CQ Roll Call Daily Briefing e-newsletter I receive, and I liked the way they worded it. When I heard this story on the news, my first reaction was that he was probably drunk and that the seizures story was a convenient cover. Did anyone else feel that way?

"A personnel announcement here a decade ago described a senior editor departing on 'a leave of absence from which she is not expected to return.' That HR-driven rhetorical contortion may well emulate what the White House has in mind now for John Bryson.

Just after 10 last night, the suddenly most famous Commerce secretary in years declared that 'effective immediately I am taking a medical leave of absence so that I can focus all of my attention on resolving the health issues that arose over the weekend,' when he crashed his Lexus three times into two cars within five minutes, lost consciousness and then was cited for felony hit-and-run before being hospitalized. His statement declared ominously that he would be away from his Cabinet post work 'during the period of my illness.'

Administration officials have no apparent interest in explaining whether Bryson has a brand new seizure disorder, has been having epileptic episodes for some time without the West Wing or the Senate knowing about it, has a more profound medical problem that’s only now manifesting itself — or has other challenges that have not yet come to light. They won’t even say that the seizure Bryson described yesterday happened before he started his San Gabriel Valley bumper car spree. But what seems abundantly clear is that the White House (which was kept in the dark about the incident for more than 24 hours) has very little campaign-season empathy or patience, and wants this story to fade to oblivion right away. And that means that, if the 68-year-old secretary does not resign, he is highly likely to remain officially out of commission through the election, after which he’ll either be a lame duck or replaced for a second Obama term."