Bush opened the door to socialism...

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I can see your point about him being personable to some people - I just don't think he is a good leader. He doesn't seem to focus on the issues that mean the most to my family and myself, and therefore I will never support him. I also heard he was a C student or something, and I think Presidents should be more intelligent than that.

I also heard he got 2 DUIs - I think only a selfish person would drive drunk and put other peoples' lives in danger. I just don't trust the man in my gut. Simple as that. If he were my dopey neighbor next door who made corny, insensitive jokes I would probably like the man well enough, but I definitely don't like him representing America.

I just copied the link in its entirety, went up to my address bar, clicked Control V to copy it in, went to the end of the address bar and clicked "Go," and it's the second one down on the left-hand side, entitled, "The Torture Documents are in the Mail."

White House Diary of a Sociopath

August 16, 2005

As we read the marketing copy for The Sociopath Next Door: The Ruthless Versus the Rest of Us by Martha Stout, Ph.D (Broadway Books, March, 2006), we were reminded of an essay last year that the author E.L. Doctorow wrote on Bush. It included the following sentence: He [Bush] cannot mourn but is a figure of such moral vacancy as to make us mourn for ourselves. But is there more to what ails Bush from a mental health stand point?

Maybe the forthcoming book, The Sociopath Next Door, can help explore that question. Here is how the Broadway Books (a Division of Random House) catalogue describes the content:

We are accustomed to think of sociopaths as violent criminals, but in The Sociopath Next Door, clinical psychologist Martha Stout reveals that a shocking 4 percent of ordinary people have an often undetected mental disorder, the chief symptom of which is that that person possesses no conscience. They can do literally anything at all and feel absolutely no guilt.

One of their chief characteristics is a charisma that makes them more charming or interesting than other people, and tricky to identify. Sociopaths learn early on to show sham emotion, but underneath they are indifferent to others' suffering. They live to dominate and thrill to win.

We all almost certainly know at least one or more sociopaths already. To arm us against them, Dr. Stout teaches us to question authority, suspect flattery, and beware the pity play. Above all, she warns, when a sociopath is beckoning, do not join the game.

Ah yes, it appears, as Cindy Sheehan and countless others who have been on the receiving end of a sympathize publicly and smear privately Bush campaign know, this is a man who is truly disassociated from honest grief, pity or sympathy. He sees no relationship to his errant, narcissistic actions and their impact on people.

So we looked further into the issue and found out that the contemporary clinical term for being a sociopath is called APD (Antisocial Personality Disorder.) One can appear to be the most gregarious person in the world, but still be detached from sincere concern for the plight of others.

Just examine some of the essential characteristics of the APD/sociopath: It is under the DSM-IV�T Associated Features and Disorders [scale] that individuals with APD are described as lacking empathy and being callous, cynical, and contemptuous of the feelings, rights, and suffering of others. They may have an inflated and arrogant self-appraisal, display a glib, superficial charm and The fondest APD image of self reflects unrealistic notions of superiority. When they encounter evidence that they are only human, they will attempt to restore self-esteem by exerting power. Individuals with APD have learned that they can, or should be able to, ignore the needs of others, do whatever feels compelling, and seduce or bully others to avoid adverse consequences.

Although not every possible characteristic of the APD/sociopath may apply to George W. Bush, some ring so true, you feel your head is clanging inside a bell: These individuals are untroubled by guilt or loyalty and may develop a talent for pathological lying. Individuals with APD place their personal desires against those of others; they believe that they alone deserve every advantage and become adroit at feigning innocent victimization to absolve themselves from blame.

We might add that the emotional/interpersonal scale for assessing APD/sociopathology looks for indications of:

glibness and superficiality

egocentricity and grandiosity

lack of remorse or guilt, lack of empathy

deceitfulness and manipulativeness

shallow emotions

It is always nothing more than speculation to be an armchair psychoanalyst, but sometimes you just got to go with the evidence at hand. Bush is a guy who is packaged as the compassionate conservative, but acts like the mob boss who sends out his minions to stick shivs in the backs of anyone who crosses him, even if they are doing it in the service of America, of which he is supposed to be the leader.

Yes, there are sociopaths among us. One of them, it would appear, has weaseled his way, twice, into the presidency.

Afternote: Of course, APD/sociopathic behavior lacks subtlety, depth, and modulation. Individuals with severe APD appear to live in a presocialized emotional world; feelings are experienced in relation to self but not to others. Such individuals are unable to experience emotions such as gratitude, empathy, sympathy, affection, guilt, or mutual eroticism that depend on the perception of others as whole, real, and meaningful. Dominant emotions are anger, sensitivity to humiliation, envy, boredom, contempt, exhilaration, and pleasure through dominance.

I think we've brung' em on and found our man's true nature.

As for the rebellious side against the status quo that sometimes manifests itself in an APD/sociopathic personality, one need only remember that the mission of the Bush Administration, as one insider told the New York Times, is to mold reality to the will of the Bush/Cheney worldview through the use of unrestrained power. They don't accept reality; they seek to alter it as they wish. Furthermore, Bush's contempt for working with the world community is an indication of sociopathic behavior on an international level. His disregard for the standard conventions, courtesies and rules of governance is also an indication of rebellion against existing institutions and organizational precedents.

Finally, his unrelenting willingness to descend into the gutter and embrace the treasonous and slanderous activity of Karl Rove is a clear indication that he is among the 4% of Americans who hide their sociopathic pathology behind a thin veneer of cordiality and amiability.

Just remember how he sneered and smirked every time he put someone to death in Texas. This guy gets high off of having the power to send people to die, and even higher off of using it.

they're on these boards, too, sans the charm that was described in the article you posted.

I was particularly struck by the following and how it applies to so many on these boards:

he is not even President yet and his campaign and followers are practicing big-time intimidation. That reporter in Florida had the guts to ask Biden a hard question, the campaign says no soup for you! Cancelled the rest of the scheduled interviews. Said they would not be given access in an Obama administration. A maxed-out contributor to Obama's campaign ordered a background check on Joe the Plumber...just an average American who asked Obama a hard question. People have been threatened when they say anything negative about him. What are these people going to do if they get REAL power? Food for thought.

Socialism refers to a broad set of economic theories of social organization advocating state or collective ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods, and the creation of an egalitarian society.

So it's okay to consistently call Obama a socialist and not Palin? Do you even look this stuff up or is that just you being Mavericky?

An economics professor at Texas Tech University , Lubbock , TX said he had never failed a single student before but had, once, failed an entire class. The majority of that class had insisted that socialism worked and that no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer. The professor then said ok, we will have an experiment in this class on socialism.

All grades would be averaged and everyone would receive the same grade so no one would fail and no one would receive an A. After the first test the grades were averaged, everyone got a B. The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied little were happy. But, as the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too, so they studied little. The second Test average was a D! No one was happy. When the 3rd test rolled around the average was an F.

The scores never increased as bickering, blame, name calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for anyone else.

All failed to their great surprise and the professor told them that socialism would ultimately fail because the harder to succeed the greater the reward but when a government takes all the reward away, no one will try or succeed.

if you're going to make a statement gt don't beat around the bush. Just come right out and say it.

1. Any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods.

2. a: A system of society or group living in which there is no private property. b: A system or condition of society in which the means of production are owned and controlled by the state

3. A stage of society in Marxist theory transitional between capitalism and communism and distinguished by unequal distribution of goods and pay according to work done.

Notice that socialism is predicated on the concept of collective/governmental ownership of private property. Here are a couple of links for you. Looks like Obama is pretty much into private ownership. The list below is of title to various economic stimulus plans. They pretty much seem to be centered around free enterprise concepts. Now show me your links where Obama has indicated abolishing private ownership and replacing it with government collective ownership, if you don't mind.

�I believe that America's free market has been the engine of America's great progress. It's created a prosperity that is the envy of the world. It's led to a standard of living unmatched in history. And it has provided great rewards to the innovators and risk-takers who have made America a beacon for science, and technology, and discovery. We are all in this together. From CEOs to shareholders, from financiers to factory workers, we all have a stake in each other's success because the more Americans prosper, the more America prospers.�� Barack Obama, New York, NY, September 17, 2007

Provide $10 billion in Relief for State and Local Governments Hardest-Hit by the Housing Crisis to Prevent Cuts in Vital Services

(and I don't want to see socialism), what do you think the Bush administration has done? Buying interests in banks, etc.

I also know quite a few wealthy folks and some who are just well-to-do. All grieve their losses in the stock market and they are all RABID REPUBLICANS who supported John McCain. They HATE Obama. They "get it." They hate him because they believe he is going to raise their taxes so he can lower taxes on the working class. All of them have been part of the working class. The wealthiest one is a widow who married her money. They aren't afraid of "Robin Hood," they're afraid of having to give back some of the windfall Bush gave them with his tax cuts.