• Monkeys can distinguish unfair situations, researchers find
http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/monkeysfussoverinequality

Just goes so show that we have been mistaken in calling bush a chimp....

so depraved that their hearts and even their deeds are invisible to the rest of mankind.

I don't think Bush is capable of seeing the connection between his decisions and the consequences such as those described. He doesn't think in terms of "I'm responsible for these men being here in the first place," and it's this inability to take personal responsibility that scares me the most.

psy·cho·path (sī'kə-pāth')
n. A person with an antisocial personality disorder, manifested in aggressive, perverted, criminal, or amoral behavior without empathy or remorse.

I understand Bush doesnt want to appear any smaller than he already is, but it does seem to me that he could have at least kneeled next to some of the soldiers who lost their legs. So that he wasnt towering in superiority over them, but slightly more sympatico.

Does anyone really believe anything about this vapid, souless, excremental bastard is genuine?
If so, that is truly the definition of "Shock and Awe".

This is a spoiled upper class trust fund baby who spent his youth in drunken dissipation and his adulthood pretending he was something he is not nor ever will be. He's mean, cruel, callous, ignorant and not very bright....a curse to the nation and the world.
I honestly don't think he gives a flying fig about any one of those brave young people, he's doing this for the photo op and for temporary "feel goods."
What a Loser-- capital L.

You call this "leadership"? This f@#$ing monkey needs to be put back in his cage at the zoo.

He HAS no real emotions! This fucking guy has no idea that these wounded humans are HIS RESPONSIBILITY! But, no--Sociopaths FEEL no responsibility OR emotions!!!

I'll believe Bush is moved by the suffering of those he meets, but he seems unmoved if he doesn't meet them personally, and above all he doesn't learn anything. It's amazing how a man can be repeatedly moved and still be in the same place.

For the original Smirk, read Sinclair Lewis' "It Can't Happen Here".

But Smirk is only a symptom of a society-wide pathology which serves capitalism and fuels wars.

Celebrity politics is the kabuki theatre behind which the real criminal transactions take place.

If Bush showed any remorse in his visit, it would have been an admission of his guilt in sending those young men to an illegal, immoral war.

He needs to keep up the act to give the impression he did the right thing for the country, even as he sees the terrible cost.

How he can call himself a Christian is laughable. Christ wouldn't recognize him.

"For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish."

Bush is a sociopath. Period. He seems to lack any capacity for empathy whatsoever. Sadly, that is a quality he shares with far too many of his fellow Americans these days. I guess it's hard to cultivate empathy when you live in a nation built on Indian graves and slave quarters but can't reflect on that history because you're too busy watching the latest installment of the Saw franchise on your Super Size plasma screen.

This country is lost in a fog of rhetoric about whether we "support the troops." The question that should be asked of politicians who continue to fund the occupation of Iraq is the one posed by Ray McGovern of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity: "Do you support the cynical exploitation of genuine patriotism?"

Can't believe the level of depravation of these "leaders"

Note: PRIVATELY FUNDED FACILITY.

Bush will send people to get killed but not properly fund VA. Cannon fodder.

arjay8

psy·cho·path (sī'kə-pāth')
n. A person with an antisocial personality disorder, manifested in aggressive, perverted, criminal, or amoral behavior without empathy or remorse.

What that definition says isn't all of it. "Without empathy or remorse" may suggest to some people that the opposite feelings exist in their psyches. Not true. Those feelings of empathy or remorse aren't replaced with enmity or happiness. They feel NOTHING. What makes these people truly mad and frightening is that psychopaths are emotionally and purposefully hollow, devoid of feeling. Their center is an empty space, whereas in normal people, there are feelings, purpose, pleasant and unpleasant memories, a complex inner life that gives direction or shape to one's outer life. Psychopaths don't have such an inner life, at least not one that leads them to think and feel or have rational or passionate motives as other people do. Internally, they're like machines without life. They can't be reached or moved.

BUT they have watched others carefully and have learned all the social forms. They can say the right things, smile when appropriate, cry when appropriate, make plans that encompass something in the external world they think might be a good idea. They just don't have any inner impulses that make these formulaic actions valid or whole. And they fail, over and over again, just as George Bush has, at everything they attempt. Because of their charm and seeming sincerity, they usually pay no consequences for the failures because those close to them are always rescue them upon being convinced by the psychopath that he or she WILL succeed the next time.

I am torn between thinking Bush is a clinical narcissist or a psychopathic personality. I think they can coexist, so maybe he's both.

Title of the article should be "bush is evil, and without conscience." Damn shame it seems that he wont be facing any consequences for his evil anytime soon either... The SOB deserves to be locked in a cage until he dies, then buried behind prison walls.

It is unfortunate that there was not more exposure in this country given to the graphic, disturbing photos of Bush's visiting the disabled troops printed recently in The Daily Mail in England. If the sight of these limbless, faceless soldiers does not shock and awe our citizens nothing else ever will with the possible exception of photographing men suffering genital amputations.

I think he's a Narcissist. I believe he is fed by seeing the damage he is responsible for, such as the burned soldiers. Filled with the wonder of it all. The Narcissist is satisfied with being either famous or infamous. I think it's all the same to them. To have an effect, to have power over others, IS the end result.

So our intrepid little man of a president goes to a private hospital for severely injured VETERANS OF A WAR HE STARTED OVER LIES and has a nice little PR EVENT staged for HIS BEHALF. How moved was he? Probably about as much as Condi visiting Bethleham last month. Then she went shopping.

These are some truly bad human beings.

Oh and without even checking you just know these troops getting the private care are all card carrying members of the ACLU., the Democratic party and CommonDreams.org, each and every one. Not. I bet there isn't a democrat amongst them.

God Bless them all for their service, but I'm afraid it has all been for naught. Sigh.

ALL psychopaths are narcissists. Bush is a classic psychopath, right down to his juvenile bahaviors, distorted sense of entitlement, and semantic aphasia, which most people excuse as malapropisms. I truly believe psychopathy is the greatest pandemic of our time. I encourage everyone to read Dr. Robert Hare's excellent book, Without Conscience: The Disturbing World of the the Psychopaths Among Us. Go to www.hare.org for more information.

Per Dr. Katherine Ramsland, "Dr. Hare has published numerous articles and book chapters on psychopathy, as well as two books: Psychopathy: Theory and Research (1970) and Without Conscience: The Disturbing World of the Psychopaths Among Us (1993, reissued 1999). He addresses international audiences on every facet of psychopathy, from personality assessment to risk factors to psychopaths among us. While they may appear to be normal members of society, they're anything but. In fact, Hare believes, they are society's most destructive and dangerous type of person." His recent book, Snakes in Suits, profiles the corporate psychopath on the job--also an interesting read.

Yes, Bush fulfills the criteria for diagnosis of Antisocial Personality Disorder and Narcissistic Personality Disorder. Interestingly, these traits are common in politicians, police, preachers and prostitutes.

Bush has done an outstanding job as an employee of the ownership class.

skippyagogo41 & Giovanna

You reminded me (by stating it!) that I neglected to say that the inner life of a psychopathic individual also is without conscience, maybe not suprising when the psychopath is "feelingless" and without integrated purpose. Conscience requires an inner impulse or purpose to enhance the wellbeing of others based on many factors (perhaps some are even instinctive and are based on self-survival). Psychopaths don't HAVE inner impulses or puposes relating to the wellbeing of others. Absent this basic benignity, they are very destructive to others.

Anyway, I wish GHW and Barbara Bush had kept GW away from politics or spoken out firmly against him to those clamoring for him to run for any political office. They have to know what he's like. But I guess they fell into the rescue pattern once again. They weren't alarmed enough about his behavior to see that anything was wrong with him. Or at least admit it. He is a brutal terror released on the world, even if he can be charming and folksy.

ddell

I hate to say it because we'd ALL like GW to realize what he's done and feel remorse, but I don't think he's able to do that. Literally, I don't think he can help it, and that's a terrible thing to think when you live in a world where the norm is comprised of people who have consciences. Good and evil or right and wrong don't exist in the internal world of a psychotic.

This is one reason many psychotic personalities are kept in institutions or are so often in and out of jail. They do not have the normal means of directing their behaviour from internal conviction in ways that do not harm or alarm others.

I really think this is where GW belongs with his delusions of grandeur, self-centeredness, and God telling him to do these terrible things to others.

I think that where GW belongs is in the midst of those millions of us who have come to know him and despise him. He would be torn to pieces like the Nazi jailers who were delivered unto the prisoners they had tormented for years. Few times in human history has one person been quite so responsibile for the spiritual, psychological, physical and financial destruction of so many.

DON'T BLAME BUSH
Blame for this ill conceived & misguided war, the irreversible damage to the environment resulting from his manipulation of science and related deception, and the detrimental effects of his outrageous tax policies cannot be blamed on Bush.

Instead, the real blame lies in the ignorant/apathetic voters who helped his team steal two elections, our legislators for tolerating such abuses, and the five Supreme Court Justices who violated our trust by placing politics before principle--handed him the presidency.

VETERANS CARE

The deprivation of care for many of our wounded and deserving veterans, who will be scared for the rest of their lives from this ill conceived and misguided war, is not only a violation of trust--but is contemptuous. As the worlds richest nation, we have always had the means to prevent and alleviate such dreadful injustices. The unprecedented profiteering that has accompanied their sacrifices only adds to the outrage.

Responsible parties should be tried for criminal neglect–this includes those the top.

I have dealt with guys like Bush in my past. They are so grossly incompetent, yet they think they are doing the right thing. What compounds the problem is when their supporters convince them they are doing the right thing, yet the supporters are myopic too. The problem with Bush is he will never realize the egregious errors he has made causing untold damage unless he spends time in a jail cell reflecting upon them. Even then, he will have trouble figuring them out if he ever does. The problem is incomptence begets incompetence. GHW was "shocked" when critics attacked W's presidency, claiming that it is "grossly unfair." Well, Papa, the apple does not fall far from the tree. Obviously no one will fire W, and sadly we must endure another 13 months of his poisonous modus operandi.

I had an interesting discussion with my history class today about dictators, narcissism, and power. Student's were asking why dictators are so narcissistic and paranoid about other people planning coups? Among the variety of answers included the insatiable appetite for money and power, and what happens when dictators get too much money and power. I encouraged them to read Chalmers Johnson's trilogy on Empire.

To conclude, the entire Bush family is hemlock. They are poisonous and everything they touch, they poison. But ultimately it comes up to the voters to strongly push for qualified people to replace these outmoded incompetents currently occupying office in D.C. The other night in the freezing cold, two young women were going door to door, business to business asking people to sign a petition pushing for Dick Cheney's impeachment (and this mind you, is in a predominantly Republican city). I told them to keep going, to canvas the area and get the word to people that they are not the only ones who would like to see impeachment. There indeed is a groundswell out there, and we need to keep building the momentum. I think if we were able to more effectively coordinate and communicate with each other so that all of us know as best as we can how many people are going door to door, how many people want to vote for someone other than a Republican or Democrat, and most importantly, realize that there are many of us, the solution is to get people to run independent and make sure people know the names of those candidates, the platform, and to vote for them. That is how we will send a clear message to the Republicans and Democrats. And I strongly am considering running as independent for Congress in 2012, but have not made an official announcement yet. I will take no corporate donations, and truly represent the peoples' interests. I will not stand on a stage and make empty promises, telling voters what they want to hear only to do nothing so I can get reelected. Even if I serve for one term, I will not engage in "business as usual" and instead, do what is right for this country. I am not afraid to point out the truth and act upon it. We are direly in need of those types of people to lead this country, and soon, I may be asking for your vote to begin making that happen.

Best regards,
Claudius

We have several thousand of our soldiers killed, many thousands wounded, both physically and mentally, and around 5000 suicides every year. All of that anguish that his self aggrandizing war has caused, and yet Bush goes strutting around oblivious to the lives he has destroyed and is still trying to put down anyone who does not treat him like king of the world. The saddest thing is that many people continue to blindly believe that he is protecting this country, when in reality we are in a much more dangerous position than before we invaded Iraq. One hates to speculate about what all could take place in the next year as there seems to be no limits to what Bushco will try.

I am grateful for the psychological sophistication of folks that have commented so far. You guys are far ahead of Derrick Jackson, and actually have made his essay appear rather naive.

I'm contemplating and following up on some of the ideas above, such as Giovanna's mention of Robert Hare's work on psychopathy.

Giovanna, I agree 100% with your astute observations:

"Bush is a classic psychopath..... I truly believe psychopathy is the greatest pandemic of our time."

Also a mournful hat's off to JBPM, who nailed our situation exactly:

"Bush is a sociopath...He seems to lack any capacity for empathy whatsoever. Sadly, that is a quality he shares with far too many of his fellow Americans these days.

"I guess it's hard to cultivate empathy when you live in a nation built on Indian graves and slave quarters but can't reflect on that history..."

Justin Frank has also done a very thorough job of using a psychoanalytic framework to "profile" GWB (which is, of course, just what our intelligence agencies do with other world leaders). I found "Bush on the Couch" to be simultaneously illuminating and scary as hell.

For starters a more mature society would introduce the study of psychology at about the same time kids are learning geography and "his-story." This should be a "given."

As other folks have already intimated, we as a country have a great deal of work to do - owning our own psychopathy (even if very mild in many people). If/when we take responsibility for our "shadow side" we will be much less likely to be taken in by politicians ranting about "The Enemy."

Has anyone read up on Dry Drunk Syndrome? Plus, there's a personality modification consequence for long-term abusers of cocaine.

Dry Drunk syndrome causes heavy drinkers who stop drinking to become easily irritated, confused, indignant, and self-righteous. They lose the crutch that was their source of outward confidence and their social lubricant. Katherine van Wormer has an interesting piece on it here: http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0127-11.htm

The psychopathic behavior comes from a combination of "blinking" (rapid decision-making without regard to the consequences) and too much power wrapped up in one man. Plenty of kings have launched massive trails of death and destruction simply because they could. Perhaps this is more the nature of absolute power corrupting absolutely than personality disorders, although narcissism would seem to fit in.

I'm not a psychoanalyst, but it would appear Bush is not psychologically capable of grasping the consequences of his actions. And even where he takes responsibility, there seems to be a complete lack of remorse for making the wrong decision--as if he doesn't think he could ever make the wrong one (narcissistic).

The alcohol and cocaine abuse is probably the major factor causing his issues. Recovering addicts will always feel raw inside; they often seek out spirituality to fill the gap. His faith may anchor his recovery but also delude him into thinking God is on his side. Pope John Paul had to correct him vis-a vis Iraq: "You don't go with God"!

Why didn't GHB or Babs stop him? Psycopathy is either inherited or instilled. Either way you can look to the White Queen of Death, his mother (and Daddy-o too, of course).

You all have presented some very excellent observations. I would not be surprised if we have yet to see his worst. It may be possible that the Democrats are quite aware of his disorder and are too afraid of him to do anything. Personally, I wouldn't be too eager to approach a person who is incapable of discerning the consequences of his actions, and a propensity to casually employ tactics that result in massive loss of life, limb, and physical destruction on a very large scale. So, we can wait out the next 13 months sitting on the edge of our chairs hoping he leaves without putting on a show, or take a page from the book of Courage and really rattle his cage.