Forgive me, but I am going to step where angels fear to tread.

[Pacifist Patriot]

I am going to bring something up that has long been considered a sacred cow and essentially off limits. I may insult or offend some people and for that I truly apologize. I mean absolutely no disrespect to veterans and do not suggest that prisoners of war are unfit for positions of responsibility once they regain their freedom. However, if the McCain campaign insists on bringing up his experience as a POW I feel it is a fair topic of discussion and exploration.

I am not a trained psychologist. My preparation for pastoral care and counseling is as a generalist. I must be familiar with personality theory, recognize the signs of pervasive and progressive mental anguish and instability and have basic diagnostic skills that signal me when it is appropriate to refer for specialized care and treatment of mental disorder and disease. I certainly welcome the input of those who are better trained and more experienced than I.

Now that I have dispensed with the disclaimers I will share my concern. Five years of torture and captivity constitutes severe mental and physical trauma. The strongest, healthiest bodies and minds cannot fail to be affected by the experience. Considering what I have had shared with me by a range of hurting individuals who have suffered varying degrees of abuse, trauma and hardship in their lives I find it difficult to accept that McCain would emerge from his experience virtually unscathed.
I confess I am unfamiliar with his biography beyond the rudiments disclosed in his speeches and discussed by the pundits. Has he availed himself of psychological care?

My personal opinion that GWB is afflicted with Narcissistic Personality Disorder or perhaps Antisocial Personality Disorder has made me extremely sensitive to the mental health of the man or woman leading our country. I do not believe a psychological profile is part of the physical examination released to the public which is a pity in my opinion.

Should the long-term mental and emotional repercussions of five years of captivity and torture that occurred decades ago be considered when evaluating fitness as president of the United States? It seems silly to bring it up now after a thirty-year career in the legislature, but in my opinion, the stakes are higher when you are considering the Chief Executive rather than one man in 535.

I think it counter-productive and extremely ill-advised for the Obama/Biden to use it as an overt campaign tactic, but should it be a topic of discussion among we the people?

[LiberalFighter]

1. A pysch exam won't happen. Republicans by nature would fail.

A psych exam should be part of the medical exam considering the position sought.

[bdamomma]

4. it should become made mandatory after

having such an unstable man in the WH for 8 years.

[CashGap]

2. Our ticket...

We have to be very, very VERY careful with this. Look at your narcissistic personality disorder comment. Look at our POTUS and VPOTUS candidates. YIKES!!! We don't want to be shot with our own gun.

It's the nature of politics. We have Obama (NPD), Biden (NPD), McCain (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and maybe NPD), and Palin (clueless, maybe NPD, maybe some other delusions).

We don't see Obama's NPD because it's not up to Kerry or Bush's level, but that doesn't make it normal.

What mentally healthy person would pursue this job?

[Cassandra]

5. I'm not sure it's narcissistic to have confidence...

in your abilities based on real talent (as opposed to showing up those with the talent). Anyone running for President has to think a lot of him/herself but Bush, McCain (and Nixon and Reagan in the past) seem to be spending a lot of time working out their demons as well.

[CashGap]

8. You forgot Ford...

If we are going to be consistent (All Repub pres's have NPD, no Demos) then you need to keep Ford on the list.

[Cassandra]

11. You are mis-characterizing what I said...

I think deliberately. Ford may have had some personality disorder but I wasn't aware of one beyond wanting to be right all the time, which is a common enough preference. Bush and Nixon were working out severe feelings of inadequacy, Reagan had been talked into liberals being the root of all evil and McCain is still humiliated by his experience and is anxious to make someone pay. What behaviors do you see as evidence of Democratic psychological problems?

[Pacifist Patriot]

6. Please do not confuse assertiveness and confidence with personality disorders.

NPD is a serious mental disorder. While I absolutely agree with you that it takes a tremendous level of self-confidence that most of us do not have to seek the highest office in the land, that doesn't mean everyone who runs has NPD.

[grasswire]

10. welcome to DU

And I disagree with your assessment of Obama and Biden as NPD. I'm not sure you know what NPD entails. One can be a narcissist without being NPD. NPD is pathological. Run of the mill narcissism (vanity) is not.

[Cassandra]

3. My favorite book explaining this.

http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~altemey/

He says that RW authoritarianism is a psychological need rather than an ideological position. Which would explain why the Republicans keep nominated psychologically damaged candidates.

[jberryhill]

7. Has he availed himself of psychological care?

Yes, and he won't release them.

He let reporters "look at" them once, but his treatment was prior to PTSD being in the DSM.

The reporters were looking for PTSD, and didn't find it, because it wasn't called that when McCain was under treatment.

[babylonsister]

9. I think your concerns are very valid. Rec'd. nt

[nichomachus]

12. Actually the GOP has covered this quite extensively

in the 2000 primary when they spread the word that John McCain was mentally ill as a result of being tortured in Vietnam.

http://www.bartcopnation.com/dc/dcboard.php?forum=8&topic_id=522&az=show_topic

Bush Waged Nasty Smear Campaign Against McCain in 2000
Bush Supporters Called McCain “The Fag Candidate.” In South Carolina, Bush supporters circulated church fliers that labeled McCain “the fag candidate.” Columnist Frank Rich noted that the fliers were distributed “even as Bush subtly reinforced that message by indicating he wouldn’t hire openly gay people for his administration.”

McCain Slurs Included Illegitimate Children, Homosexuality And A Drug-Addict Wife.
Among the rumors circulated against McCain in 2000 in South Carolina was that his adopted Bangladeshi daughter was actually black, that McCain was both gay and cheated on his wife, and that his wife Cindy was a drug addict.”

Bush Campaign Used Code Words to Question McCain’s Temper.
“A smear campaign of the ugliest sort is now coursing through the contest for the presidency in 2000. Using the code word "temper," a group of Senate Republicans, and at least some outriders of the George W. Bush campaign, are spreading the word that John McCain is unstable. The subtext, also suggested in this whispering campaign, is that he returned from 5 1/2 years as a POW in North Vietnam with a loose screw. And it is bruited about that he shouldn't be entrusted with nuclear weapons.”

Bush Supporters Questioned McCain’s Sanity.
“Some of George W. Bush's supporters have questioned Republican presidential candidate John McCain's fitness for the White House, suggesting that his five years as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam drove him insane at the time.”

[Pacifist Patriot]

15. Wow! I confess to not paying attention to the Republican primaries in 2000.

How amazingly odd (not) that this is not a louder topic of conversation today.

[abumbyanyothername]

16. I don't think we can do it

Only McCain seems to be capable of running both with and against Bush at the same time.

[Straight Shooter]

13. It's not a sacred cow to me. I consider his POW years to be his greatest liability.

No way on God's green earth would I ever want a president who was tortured for six years. I saw what Vietnam did to my father, my brother, my ex, some friends, and they all served one tour of duty and came home. None of them were tortured. I'm sorry he went through what he went through, but I don't consider it "heroic" to survive being a prisoner of war, at least it's no more heroic than a woman who is abused by her husband but stays for far longer than six years for the sake of the children, (and many of those women eventually die at the hands of their abusers).

Long-term torture debilitates the mental processes. Combine that with McCain's advanced age, and you've got someone who is literally not fit to be president. Look at how easily McCain succumbed to Stockholm syndrome when browbeaten by the bush campaign in 2000. Then he embraced his enemy who humiliated him and his family, and he adopted his enemy's tactics, in order to survive politically.

[Pacifist Patriot]

14. Precisely what I'm getting at. Thank you for saying it so well.

My dad served a tour in Vietnam. He returned relatively unscathed and has had a healthy and productive life. But I know darned well it changed him and the experience does impact his decision-making.

[Straight Shooter]

18. You said it much better than I, with more diplomacy.

My father went to Vietnam when I was 10 years old. I remember being at the airport, waving to him as he walked to the plane which would take him there. His hair was a beautiful shade of chestnut brown. When he came back from Nam a year later, we met him at the bus station. His hair had turned completely gray. Not only that, he never laughed again. It's weird, but all these years later, I can't remember him ever laughing.

My brother came home with a severe drinking problem. He was an MP over there. Hated it. After several years, he abandoned the bottle and set about building a good life for himself. But he rarely "opens up."

No one can convince me that McCain survived intact. That's total BS. His POW experience is one reason the GOP Powers That Be chose Palin for him. Because they know she can dominate him and call the shots. He's so focused on being president, he doesn't care if he has even a shred of integrity left by the time the game is over.

There is a veil over the eyes of many American voters.

[progressivebydesign]

17. McCain had already earned the name "McNasty" in high school.

He went into the military as an asshole. It's ingrained in his personality. He has legendary anger issues that far predate his service. Google that..

[Straight Shooter]

20. Palin got the nickname "Sarah Barracuda" in high school, too, didn't she?

Because of her maliciously aggressive style of playing.

As we move forward from high school, the experiences of life can bring out the best or the worst in us. McCain and Palin have decided to deliberately nurture their worst traits.

[Triana]

19. I think this is a valid concern and have touched on it before myself....

..I think ANYONE running for POTUS should have to undergo psychiatric examination and testing.

Hell, I applied for a job w/ the CIA years ago and *I* had to undergo it - rigorous physical and psych testing. But someone who wants to be POTUS or VP doesn't?

:wtf:

[CitizenPatriot]

21. GOP is NPD

there have been numerous articles on it lately.

Dems don't fall into that category. We have other issues, but that is not one of them:-)

Dems are independent thinkers. GOP is cult-like.
Dems are intellectuals. GOP are proud to be LIVs.
Dems debate. GOP scream.

etc.

[suston96]

22. Good point. Also known as the "Manchurian Candidate" syndrome. Very scary indeed.....nt

[Prophet 451]

23. I think it has to be a discussion

Personally, I would disagree with assessing GWB as Antisocial Personality Disorder although NPD is a distinct possibility (along with fairly severe father issues).

Regarding McCain though, I think it must be considered. McCain was, as he never fails to remind us, tortured for over five years. He obviously harbours some ill feeling towards his captors and their nation (understandable) but he also seems to view it as a kind of shield. The idea that he's faced the worst a man can (besides death) and come out the other side seems to have led, as it sometimes does, to a kind of calousness for those suffering other hardships which are, to his mind, lesser than his own. PTSD is an obvious consideration. I don't know if he's ever had treatment for that but given his experiances, he almost certainly should have done.

[AuntPatsy]

24. You would think we as a country could discuss what is a very real problem in this country...

but the government has ensured that to discuss such is taboo....and that in itself is more than sad for the future of our country...drugs drugs drugs...and more drugs, that is their contribution to a very real and important issue that needs to be heard.