READER CHARLIE NILSSON seems to have solved the Kerry Daisy mystery.

Now if we could just answer the question “Why?”

UPDATE: Lou Dolinar emails with some speculation:

Hmm, lets see:

Oversized flower pull to help grasp zipper.

Complaints of aches, joint pain and weakness (see Link).

Loss of appetite

“Fabulously fit” becomes clumsy on slopes, falls down.

Outbursts of anger (Frustration with failing body or Prednisone use?)

Surgery/ For what?

Won’t release medical records.

I’m betting on rheumatoid arthritis. Perhaps you could run a contest.
(Link)

I think I’ll pass. But if the Kerry camp doesn’t want to see this sort of speculation, it might want to be more forthcoming, especially given Kerry’s history of lying about health problems. (As the Post article linked above notes: “Kerry lied to the Boston Globe when asked whether he was sick.”)

ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Adam Maas is skeptical of Dolinar’s theory:

It’s doubtful, simply because RA is an illness which rarely strikes men, and even mild suffers will avoid activities like snowboarding, which is hard on the joints.

My mother has severe chronic RA and she’s never had much problem doing up jackets either, and her hands were hard hit.

I think the Daisy is either Bad Taste or one of those Family Gifts you get stuck with.

Hmm. At least there are treatments for Rheumatoid Arthritis.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Now readers are talking Marfan’s Syndrome. Er, whatever. Given doctors’ difficulty in diagnosing illness when the patient is right in front of them, I’m not convinced that non-doctors are especially good at diagnosing patients who aren’t. But this sort of speculation and worry will only grow if Kerry doesn’t make a clean breast of it, especially in light of his past behavior where medical issues are concerned.