I'm concerned, people. Extremely concerned. About John MCain.

[Jackpine Radical]

I'm really very concerned about John McCain's mental status. He often seems confused, as happened when he mixed up Sunni and Shiite Muslims, forgetting that Iran is a Shiite country. Joe Lieberman had to publicly correct him.

On numerous occasions Senator McCain has manifestly lost his grip on the present, for example repeatedly referring to the Czech Republic as “Czechoslovakia.” This slip might not mean much in an ordinary citizen, but it is a startling error coming from an avowed foreign policy expert.

In addition to these apparent cognitive problems, he seems to be showing a distressing deterioration in his sense of decorum and propriety, as when he volunteered his wife for a topless contest, and when he jigged around singing “Bomb-bomb-bomb-Iran.” This loss of self-regulation is called “disinhibition,” and is common in certain types of dementia.

Psychologists divide memories into three categories: Episodic Memory (memories of personal experiences), Semantic Memory (general knowledge), and Personal Future (remembering what you are in the process of doing). When a demented man cannot remember something important, he will invent memories to fill the holes, and will not recognize that the invented memories are not accurate. Demented people are known to invent memories to fill in gaps in all three of these areas. This process of inventing memories is called "confabulation." Since a person cannot distinguish real from confabulated memories, the effect is to put them increasingly out of touch with reality as the process runs its course.

Sadly, Senator McCain shows significant problems in all three types of memory. As one example of a problem with his memory of personal history, he often recounts a story that when he was a prisoner of war, he gave his captors the names of the Green Bay Packers instead of informing on his comrades. Sometimes, though, he says he named the Pittsburgh Steelers.

As examples of apparently confabulated “fills” in semantic memory, he has asserted that Pakistan and Iraq share a border, which they do not, and that Vladimir Putin is President of Germany.

In terms of personal plans and commitments, he seems to have forgotten a number of things. He once vowed never to attack Social Security, but now supports privatizing it, claiming that this has always been his position. Likewise he now opposes abortion and wants to continue tax cuts for the rich, saying that he has always stood where he does now on these issues, even though he used to vehemently favor both abortion and raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans.

Can America afford to elect a leader who is already showing signs of mental deterioration​? Do we dare put someone in charge of our nuclear strike capability when we have evidence that he may not always be in touch with reality, and when we have already seen that he lacks control over acting upon whatever outlandish impulses might occur to him?

[dkf]

1. He can't hear or remember either.

ala Corsi book and Mom suing Cindy.

[terrya]

2. A President has to choose his or her words carefully.

Particularly in tense situations abroad.

Yes, I'm very concerned about McCain's "misstatements". I think it's proper and right to bring this issue up in the campaign.

[Ichingcarpenter]

3. This would be a great letter to your local paper

The tone is appropriate for almost all readers.

[Jackpine Radical]

7. That's what I'm intending, and why

I stayed away from the more inflammatory language and ideas I might otherwise have used.

[Ichingcarpenter]

13. I think the tone is appropriate you might want to add

some personal antidotal references like to some relative you might have had or know.

Nominated.

[Jackpine Radical]

30. Originally I made reference to the fact that I'm a psychologist

and have done a lot of dementia evaluations, but decided to cut that part because it sounded like self-trumpeting.

[REACTIVATED IN CT]

37. Great letter

But you should indicate that you are a psychologist. This is a letter from an expert and you should reveal your credentials

edited to add - I have no credentials other than 61 years of life experience and I've noticed something is amiss.

[Jackpine Radical]

41. In addition to feeling funny about self-promotion in this instance,

another real concern was with the ethics of diagnosing at a distance. Like Frist with Schiavo. As long as I'm shooting my mouth off as a sorta knowledgeable citizen, I'm on reasonably safe ground, but when I go throwing credentials around, I'm on ethical quicksand. Also, some of the stuff I cited, e.g. about his forgetting plans, was really a means of sandwiching in some digs at his hypocrisy and flip-flopping on unpopular positions rather than actually being something I'd consider to have diagnostic value. Sorta backing him (or would-be defenders) into a corner: "OK, which is it? Dementia or deceit?"

[blm]

11. absolutely....and a pretty damed restrained framing...especially for JackRad. ;)

.

[Phredicles]

4. Please, the appropriate phrasing is, "I'm concerned, MY FRIENDS..."

:evilgrin:

But yeah, the man's another in a long series of clueless rightwing nutbags, starting with Ray-gun.

[terrya]

9. It isn't just cluelessness.

I mean, when you see this sort of thing as a pattern, you might begin to think "Alzheimer's disease". Perhaps that's harsh, but I don't want some situation where we have a President McCain, while a handful of aides are actually running the country. There are some people who might cry "cruel and unfair!" in any type of discussion about McCain's mental stability, but it is a valid issue to discuss.

[Chloroplast]

23. He is slipping and it has to be said.

There's no need to protect a man that is slipping away before our eyes. I don't know if it's Alzheimer's or dementia but something isn't right about the way he can't remember things that have come out of his own mouth let alone things he is 'experienced' in. I don't want a President that believes the Cold War is still going on nor do I want a President that has such extensive health issues; the White House isn't ClubMed and I'm not going to smile, coo and 'awww!' whenever he slips up. I hope I am not coming off as an ageist; I'm not. I just know far too many men and women that are McCain's age and older and they're sharper than tacks. Sorry but we the public have every right to be concerned about the mental health of a Presidential candidate.

[Earth Bound Misfit]

5. K & FRIKKIN R!!!!

"Can America afford to elect a leader who is already showing signs of mental deterioration​? Do we dare put someone in charge of our nuclear strike capability when we have evidence that he may not always be in touch with reality, and when we have already seen that he lacks control over acting upon whatever outlandish impulses might occur to him?"

Well stated. EXCELLENT POST, Thanks


:kick: :headbang:

[Epiphany4z]

6. I thought

these kind of memory problems where a pre requisite to be the republican canidate...they just do not like there choices to be to with it...ala-Raygun and da boy king GW.

[Jackpine Radical]

8. Senile dementia in Raygun's case,

alcoholic and drug-related brain pickling in Dubya's case.

[Cosmocat]

10. It is BIZARRE ...

that they seem to go out of their way to pick idiots ...

He is a zombie, but at least Mitts has all his faculties ... Same with Huck ...

But, SOMEHOW, these idiots picked someone slipping into senile dementia, and now are uniting behind him and in all earnestness painting someone who is 100 times more capable of doing the job they are running for as the one who is incompetent ...

As for the OP, it is just flat SAD, that we have one of our two major political parties that is very much capable of foisting someone who IS in PROGRESSIVE SENILE DEMENTIA into the presidency and into being the most powerful man on the planet ... With a flacid MSM MORE than willing to ignor the fact entirely ...

For those who somehow missed it, the Sturgis meltdown ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skElJ8LF-Sc

[Disturbed]

12. McLame is "lame, petty, small-minded" Asshole, like his buddy

“Hypocrisy, my friends, is the most obvious of political sins — and the people will punish it,” John McCain

[liberaldem4ever]

14. I wonder about the Presidential debates

How is McCain going to hold it together if he gets a question that makes him mad or that he can't remember the answer to? Do you think his handlers can prepare him enough?

Also, how is he going to look standing next to Obama? He is quite a bit shorter than Obama, and McCain is looking so feeble and elderly lately. I guess it is possible that they could sit at a table, but not for every debate.

I think the Obama/McCain debates are going to be very interesting.

[Diane R]

15. I wonder if they'll wire him, like they wired little Bush?

[liberaldem4ever]

22. They might try to wire him and feed him answers

If they think they can get away with it. I hope he has to answer everything on his own with his own words, so the American people can see the Real John McCain. That man is certainly not someone who should ever be our President.

[nc4bo]

28. Both candidiates should appear at the debates nekkid. ;) problem solved. nt

[CoffeeCat]

I firmly believe...

..that Bush has been wired since his early days in politics.

Speaking fluidly, while you are listening to the wired information--and making it look seamless, is a
skill. It takes a lot of training and practices. No doubt, Bush has had information fed into his
head since he was back in Texas.

This isn't the case with McCain. It's obvious from his blunders and his terrible speech patters that
he is not being helped.

They can't start with the wiring now. They know that.

I think he'll probably have every advantage in the debates--from knowing the questions to having
the media coddle him. That's how he won't look like the complete, feeble fool that he is.

[CoffeeCat]

43. duplicate

..that Bush has been wired since his early days in politics.

Speaking fluidly, while you are listening to the wired information--and making it look seamless, is a
skill. It takes a lot of training and practices. No doubt, Bush has had information fed into his
head since he was back in Texas.

This isn't the case with McCain. It's obvious from his blunders and his terrible speech patters that
he is not being helped.

They can't start with the wiring now. They know that.

I think he'll probably have every advantage in the debates--from knowing the questions to having
the media coddle him. That's how he won't look like the complete, feeble fool that he is.

[MarjorieG]

16. For two, they're sitting, I think.

[inna]

40. McCain is 5'6" (no kidding!), Obama is 6'2"

not only McCain is an extraordinarily weak candidate "objectively", but if elected (god forbid), he'd be the oldest first-term president and the second shortest president of all time.

"Also, how is he going to look standing next to Obama? He is quite a bit shorter than Obama, and McCain is looking so feeble and elderly lately."

[Orsino]

17. Why blame mental problems, when simple laziness explains it all?

He's one of the most corrupt members of Congress, and didn't run for office to work. He probably resents being made to think on his feet when his sense of entitlement tells him he shouldn't have to. Can't I just sit in a chair and collect a check, he might whine to himself, as I've always done?

And Mr. Electricity knows that the MSM will prop him up, no matter how many times he screws the pooch. He's working exactly as hard as he has to, which is to say not.

[retread]

18. All who defend and praise the "achievements" of this group of thugs

appear to exhibit signs of mental deterioration. It's part of the job description.

[fortyfeetunder]

19. Murka did it before, at least twice!

And I wouldn't put it past many Murkans to choose McCain over Obama.

It's an unfortunate reflection of how some of the electorate think, shallowly, without in depth knowledge of current issues and how it would affect them.

[Cleita]

20. We all have figured out by now that the nomination for President within the

Republican Party goes to the most electable sock puppet. My instincts tell me that it's the chair people of those RW think tanks, whose fingers prop up those puppets, who are the real President when a Republican gets elected. It just seems more than coincidence that every time we get a Republican President that those same people start populating our government at every level. None of them are concerned about McCain because they will be the ones in power. He is the front guy.

I think maybe we should start investigating all those Morlocks, who lurk in the darkness, to get the goods on them and run them out of public office and those consulting firms they are involved with. I'm certain that every single one of them is guilty of criminal activity, treason and scurrilous moral behavior. It's time those activities are exposed to the light of day and that at the very least they are discredited. Although at the most I want to see them do prison time and as felons and be stripped of their ability to ever enter public life again.

It seems to me that there are plenty of journalists who probably aren't fully employed who could start putting something like this together by developing sources and yes writing articles that I'm sure "Mother Jones" and "The Nation" would be willing to publish for starters if the facts are correct. I think that the Morlocks have resigned themselves to the fact that Obama will probably win in November. They plan on turning lemons into lemonade by running not stop smears on an Obama administration the day after the election until he gets blamed for everything Bush did to the military, the economy, foreign policy and the environment. It's going to be necessary to put them on the defensive instead and then in flight while he is in office, so that they are gone by 2012.

[Jackpine Radical]

32. Oh, I agree with you entirely.

[csziggy]

21. That would be an excellent email to send out to all our Republican friends

Showing how worried we are about their hero.

[DianaForRussFeingold]

24. Needs to be sent to Newspapers,everywhere!

:scared: Thank you so much--for putting my concerns into perspective. :patriot:
:hug: You are a very talented writer. :yourock: :kick:

This needs one more Recommend-"What If Obama Said This?"-
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x6641851

'The most spine chilling McCain video you will ever see; http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x170260

[Vinca]

25. This post brings up a serious, serious issue that is currently

being treated like the plague by MSM. Think of Reagan with Nancy standing behind him coaching him. In retrospect, it was probably early stage Alzheimer's. McBush, on the other hand, seems to slip in and out of some senile dementia-like state. Now he forgets lawsuits concerning the first wife, too.

[99th_Monkey]

26. All America needs is another NeoCon basket-case Prez, who can't complete a real thought out loud.

but who is in lockstep with his behind the scenes owners & handlers.... bumbling into catastrophe after catastrophe
to feed the Disaster Capitalists black-hole coffers ad nauseum.

[Skidmore]

27. Can we use this text in e-mails to people we know?

[Jackpine Radical]

31. HELL YES!

That's why I wrote it, and why I wrote it with the tone that it has.

[opihimoimoi]

29. The GOP got so Confused and Flummoxed....they went with the ole man...not really realizing

The Flaw level was so HIGH...

In their corner is the Racist Card, the Fear Card, and the GOP Media, the Lobbyists, the Stolen Minds, and their base.

Too Easy....Opps, here come Uppity....goes to Europe and acts like a King....big splash...now Uppity is winning???

The GOP Masters gonna try but their hearts not in it....let Bush get hanged by the Dems who wish to prosecute....Bush is being thrown under the Bus....and he don't even knows it

[DU GrovelBot]

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[Jackpine Radical]

34. Thank you for your insightful contribution to this thread.

[Faryn Balyncd]

35. John McCain has clear evidence of MCI (Mild Cognitive Impairment) - - pre-Alzheimers

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/mild-cognitive-impairment/DS00553

[Occam Bandage]

36. He's demonstrating pre-senile behavior. As someone who recently lost a loved one

to Lewy-Body Dementia, I have to say that John McCain's behavior patterns are scarily familiar.

[nc4bo]

38. Completely unrelated coincidence that his son Andrew Mccain sits

on the Board of Directors of the Banner Health Alzheimer's Institute.

Andrew and his wife as well as Sen. and Cindy Mccain gave donations to this clinic at the end of 2007 (according to their FallFriends magazine).

McCain's mommy seems to have a very clear and level head on her shoulders for someone her age - just going by her comments made in the press alone whereas her son, John - not so clear.

Pure coincidence and could be just a pet project for the McCain's AND provides no proof that McCain's mental judgement is sound or unsound.

and that is all.

[Lorien]

39. My neighbor is a British journalist who was on the McCain beat during the

primaries. He honestly didn't think that he'd be the nominee because A). He hardly had any supporters, and B). he seemed "confused, spacey and befuddled" every time he interviewed him. I'm guessing that the GOP/ PNAC sees him as another sock puppet.

[hootinholler]

42. Well on the Packers/Steelers thing...

He was in Green Bay country when he said the Packers and in Steeler country when he said the Steelers. Personally I take it as a bald faced lie.

All that not withstanding, yes I agree he is loosing his mental acuity and further I assert he is suffering from PTSD.

-Hoot

[Jackpine Radical]

45. I intentionally left the reader to make a choice of interpretation--

demented or lying?

As I indicated above, this was not a serious diagnostic effort. It is intended to make the wavering voter go "Hmmm."

[HCE SuiGeneris]

46. He is not "loosing".

I'm sorry, but this error bugs the crap out of me.

[hootinholler]

47. Ok, lost. n/t

[Coexist]

44. .

[Frank Booth]

48. These videos all document McCain's dementia.

He's definitely gone round the bend. People don't recover from this -- it's just steadily downhill from here on out. For some it's more gradual than for others.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWX5u69hmzY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Q8obHEULLg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfkKk2C1W1c

[DailyGrind51]

49. I hope he has his "Captain Queeg" moment on camera before the election!

Maybe, during the debates, someone could give him some steal bearings to roll around in his hand?:crazy: