Norm Coleman diagnosed with Bell's palsy

By GottaLaff

Toker Norm's making all the jokes before anyone else can, the ones we'd be too tasteful to make anyway:

Former Minnesota Sen. Norm Coleman, widely considered a potential candidate for governor next year, confirmed to CNN Friday that he has been diagnosed with Bell's palsy, a generally temporary condition that affects the nerves of the muscles on one side of a person's face.

"[I was] heading back to the Twin Cities, I'm getting on a plane taking a little sip of water, and realize I'm dribbling out of the left side of my mouth," Coleman told CNN in a phone interview from his home in St. Paul. "I'm smiling, but only half of my face is smiling, so I realize I think we have a problem here." [...]

"Bell's palsy, paralysis on the left side of my face," Coleman said. "The good news is that…I had a little movement, and by having a little movement it says the prognosis recovery is really pretty good."

Coleman said he expects a full recovery — the condition generally disappears within several weeks or months — but that in the meantime he'll have to endure "the two-faced politician jokes, and talking out of one side of my mouth comments."

Actually, a close friend of mine had this, and all her symptoms did disappear within a few weeks. But until that happened, she had the appearance of a stroke victim. It's not fun.