A PSYCHIATRIST'S ANALYSIS OF BUSH AND CHENEY IN DEBATES

by BenjaminFranklin, Thursday, October 07, 2004, 10:50

A psychiatrist, with years of clinical experience,
who works for the local government, offered the following
clinical analysis of the conduct of President Bush
and Vice President Cheney in their respective debates.

On Bush: The President clearly suffers from a severe
paranoia that causes him to greatly fear situations in which he
is exposed to people hostile to his delusional viewpoints. Bush
entered the debate exhibiting this paranoia, which caused him to
enter a thick "shell mode", rendering him incapable of responding
to events or personalities. "Bush was in his own world, his own
protective psychological shell. To 'get through to the other
side' [to make it through the debate--lsw], he essentially
blotted out all reality, proceeding from some kind of programmed
response to prompts; when the expected prompts did not occur, he
could not formulate responses and was reduced to mumbling repititions of memorized formulations."

The source said that the debate format
-- especially the lack of any audience response
that might have been positive to his mumblings -- locked him
deeper into this shell. In this state, Bush was completely
unaware that his infantile reactions were being witnessed by
millions, nor did he have any control over them. "It would not
have mattered even if the lights went off while he was speaking,
his paranoid fear had left him so unaware of the world outside his shell."

Individuals such as Bush, the source stated, despite their
bravura, need to be constantly reassured, and absent that
reassurance, tend to fall apart. This type of psychopathological
behavior is characteristic of a person "who is easily manipulated
by those who offer reassurances, who reinforce their delusions."

The source said that Bush is a clinically pathetic case, who
cannot think about any actions or decisions in a stressful
situation, but must act from within a paranoid shell, who is the
easy prey of strong-willed people, on whom he must depend.

On Cheney: This man is a sociopath -- he is devoid of both
conscience and access to his emotions, other than pure rage. As
such, it is the most dangerous type of disorder, since such
people are not human in any way that a normal person can
understand: they might look human, but are incapable of relating
to people as human beings. This is clear from his eyes and facial
expression: the glare lets us seek through the mask, to the
intense rage beneath it. Edwards was freaked out by this -- it is
unlikely that he had ever sat down so close to this type of
sociopath. Think what must be going through his head as he looks across the table at this monster.

That is the way such people try
control others, with an intense effort to impose their will
through using that monster-like characteristic of their
personalities. Cheney's behavior is cold-bloodedly rational,
uninfluenced by truth, or even the response of the other person(s).

"I feel sorry for Edwards -- someone sat him across a
small table from a killer, who sits there glaring at him. One can
provoke such an individual by standing up to him as one stands up
to a bully, by countering his assertions and lies, but you have
to be prepared for the horrible rage that will explode outward. I
guess he wasn't prepared for that, but I think that, regardless,
many people will come away terrified of Dick Cheney."