Is George Bush mentally unstable?

[Cyrano]

Yesterday's NY Times Magazine section had an article on Bush written by Ron Suskind.

While the article was very, very long, three points came through loud and clear:

1. George Bush believes he's carrying out God's will.

2. George Bush makes all decisions based on gut instinct, not facts.

3. George Bush goes bugshit if anyone questions his decisions.

Mental institutions are filled with people who have one or more of these ailments. If this man wins/steals it again, we are sooooo screwed.

[leftofthedial]

1. yes

a sociopath

[liberal N proud]

2. OH, YEAH!

He is more whacked than Reagan was his last couple of years.

[aquart]

3. Yes. We knew that.

[Captain Obvious]

4. Incompetent and corrupt, definitely

He needs to go.

[SammyWinstonJack]

5. I don't think he has all his geese flying in a V.

:evilgrin:

[canuckybee]

6. good grief, just look at him

once you accept that he is off his trolley, it is so obvious. He speaks in short easily memorized sentences.....and speaks them whether he can work them in appropriately or not. He nods and bobs his head and grins like a trained monkey awaiting a reward for a job well performed. He is completely nuts. And someone is winding him up and telling him that God is speaking through him, and this is what god wants him to say. The historical biographies on this nut case are going to be fascinating.

[LuminousX]

7. Bush is sick

http://bushissick.com

[Ron Green]

15. This is required reading....check the Oct. 17 article. This is well done.

[w4rma]

8. Mad cow disease? (nt)

[TaleWgnDg]

9. may we have a url hyperlink, please?

. . . . .


edited to add: got it http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/17/magazine/17BUSH.html

[Stephanie]

19. Here you go, with excerpts:

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/17/magazine/17BUSH.html?oref=login

Without a Doubt
By RON SUSKIND

Published: October 17, 2004

Bruce Bartlett, a domestic policy adviser to Ronald Reagan and a treasury official for the first President Bush, told me recently that ''if Bush wins, there will be a civil war in the Republican Party starting on Nov. 3.'' The nature of that conflict, as Bartlett sees it? Essentially, the same as the one raging across much of the world: a battle between modernists and fundamentalists, pragmatists and true believers, reason and religion.

''Just in the past few months,'' Bartlett said, ''I think a light has gone off for people who've spent time up close to Bush: that this instinct he's always talking about is this sort of weird, Messianic idea of what he thinks God has told him to do.'' Bartlett, a 53-year-old columnist and self-described libertarian Republican who has lately been a champion for traditional Republicans concerned about Bush's governance, went on to say: ''This is why George W. Bush is so clear-eyed about Al Qaeda and the Islamic fundamentalist enemy. He believes you have to kill them all. They can't be persuaded, that they're extremists, driven by a dark vision. He understands them, because he's just like them. . . .

''This is why he dispenses with people who confront him with inconvenient facts,'' Bartlett went on to say. ''He truly believes he's on a mission from God. Absolute faith like that overwhelms a need for analysis. The whole thing about faith is to believe things for which there is no empirical evidence.'' Bartlett paused, then said, ''But you can't run the world on faith.''


Forty democratic senators were gathered for a lunch in March just off the Senate floor. I was there as a guest speaker. Joe Biden was telling a story, a story about the president. ''I was in the Oval Office a few months after we swept into Baghdad,'' he began, ''and I was telling the president of my many concerns'' -- concerns about growing problems winning the peace, the explosive mix of Shiite and Sunni, the disbanding of the Iraqi Army and problems securing the oil fields. Bush, Biden recalled, just looked at him, unflappably sure that the United States was on the right course and that all was well. '''Mr. President,' I finally said, 'How can you be so sure when you know you don't know the facts?'''

Biden said that Bush stood up and put his hand on the senator's shoulder. ''My instincts,'' he said. ''My instincts.''

Biden paused and shook his head, recalling it all as the room grew quiet. ''I said, 'Mr. President, your instincts aren't good enough!'''

[demokatgurrl]

10. Whaddaya YOU t'ink??????

[demokatgurrl]

11. dupe delete

[bluedog]

12. ya know

over the weekend I watched a bit on FOX and I think it was Neil some boy fatso who said to our Democratic person that bush never said he talks to God or something to that effect......I wish I could have called in and corrected the host because.......bush did say God speaks through him....remember when he talked to the Amish people?........I remember that quopte.but didn't sve the page or site it was on....

[troubleinwinter]

13. A MUST READ!!!

It is very long. Read the whole thing yesterday. Truly terrifying.

Link is here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x1088069

[The Magistrate]

14. Yes, Mr. Cyrano

The man is certifiable. He is a sociopath whose narcissistic disorder has lately flowered into full-blown Messianic delusion. Unfortunately, this particular addliction, albeit in milder form, is so widespread in our culture, where it is known as Fundamentalist Christianity, that proper treatment would involve fully a quarter of the adult populace....

"Sanity is statistical."

"LET'S GO GET THOSE BUSH BASTARDS!"

[SammyWinstonJack]

28. Certifiable, as is the rest of his evil cabal

:crazy: The Looney Tunes Administration!

[Jessica]

16. Agreed. Quite Unstable.

Hello all - This is my first post here. :hi: Guess I'm a late bloomer. Anyway, I posted about this article on another board - as I found this to be quite disturbing. For anyone who cares, this is what I said:

The New York Times Magazine featured an article about President Bush's unwavering faith in God -- and his blatant disregard for reason because of this faith. In it, Ron Suskind reveals a President who relies on instincts, gut reactions and faith for important, sweeping decisions. For me, the article explicitly explained Bush's *I'm so shocked you're even questioning me* facial expressions during the debates -- It's because he believes God works directly through him ... and to question him is to question God's Will.

I was raised in a Baptist church and I also work in the political field -- which gives me an understanding of the importance of maintaining the separation of church and state. People in my church, and in church's across the nation, have a blind devotion to this President because they believe God is finally in the White House. In my humble opinion, this is a scary belief. Don't get me wrong -- I want my President to have faith in God. But I think a frightening line has been crossed.

The article is quite long, but worth the time. Here are a few excerpts:

"All of this -- the ''gut'' and ''instincts,'' the certainty and religiosity -connects to a single word, ''faith,'' and faith asserts its hold ever more on debates in this country and abroad. That a deep Christian faith illuminated the personal journey of George W. Bush is common knowledge. But faith has also shaped his presidency in profound, nonreligious ways. The president has demanded unquestioning faith from his followers, his staff, his senior aides and his kindred in the Republican Party. Once he makes a decision -- often swiftly, based on a creed or moral position -- he expects complete faith in its rightness."

"Every few months, a report surfaces of the president using strikingly Messianic language, only to be dismissed by the White House. Three months ago, for instance, in a private meeting with Amish farmers in Lancaster County, Pa., Bush was reported to have said, ''I trust God speaks through me.'' In this ongoing game of winks and nods, a White House spokesman denied the president had specifically spoken those words, but noted that ''his faith helps him in his service to people."

"Can the unfinished American experiment in self-governance -- sputtering on the watery fuel of illusion and assertion -- deal with something as nuanced as the subtleties of one man's faith? What, after all, is the nature of the particular conversation the president feels he has with God -- a colloquy upon which the world now precariously turns?"

[Cyrano]

18. Welcome to DU, Jessica.

[newyawker99]

24. Hi Jessica!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Texas_Dem]

17. Yes.

[ksoze]

20. Toss up between him and anyone who would vote for him

[drdigi420]

21. he not only believes in a god, he thinks he speaks to him

of COURSE he's a lunatic!

geez

[grasswire]

22. we used to lock people up...

...who said God talked to them.

Now, as Suskind concludes, the fate of the world rests on what George THINKS God says to him.

Lunacy.

Lunacy.

As we know, God didn't tell George the truth about Saddam.

[Shadow30]

23. Yes,I do believe Bush is unstable...

...I think in time this will be played out in Bush's post presidential life in very severe way that cannot be covered up,if he loses,if he wins....it will be played out to an even greater extent in his public life and we are fucked.I really think there may come a point were Bush will not be seen in public any more because he will be behind closed doors ranting like a madman,talking to people that aren't there,thinking himself the ruler of the world and so forth.

[Jacobin]

25. He has a messianic complex, clearly

He's also narcisstic and has drug and alcohol abuse problems that are untreated.

Besides that he is a fucking goofball.

I won't say he's insane because when he is being tried for war crimes at the Hague, I don't think he should be institutionalized. He should be jailed for life.

[Jackpine Radical]

26. Which of those traits is inconsistent with

Narcissistic Personality Disorder?

A pervasive pattern of grandiosity (in fantasy or behavior), need for admiration, and lack of empathy, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by five (or more) of the following:

has a grandiose sense of self-importance (e.g., exaggerates achievements and talents, expects to be recognized as superior without commensurate achievements)
is preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love
believes that he or she is "special" and unique and can only be understood by, or should associate with, other special or high-status people (or institutions)
requires excessive admiration
has a sense of entitlement, i.e., unreasonable expectations of especially favorable treatment or automatic compliance with his or her expectations
is interpersonally exploitative, i.e., takes advantage of others to achieve his or her own ends
lacks empathy: is unwilling to recognize or identify with the feelings and needs of others
is often envious of others or believes that others are envious of him or her
shows arrogant, haughty behaviors or attitudes

[Mr_Spock]

27. We here know he's crazy, try telling that to a deranged red-neck who likes

Dumbya. Yeah, you get the picture.

[121898]

29. Is this what you want to say?

So because the president disagrees with our point of view then he is mentaly unstable? Isn't that what we say to them when they question our patriotism when we disagree? Is this really what you want to say to those who might be leaning away from the president? Is this an effective way to win people over to your point of view? I think it makes you look fanatical and silly and in the end people will only keep away from your line of thought.