John McCain's Rage - Democratic Underground

GoddessOfGuinness

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Wed Oct-29-08 12:34 AM
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John McCain's Rage

Edited on Wed Oct-29-08 12:51 AM by GoddessOfGuinness

This article appeared in the 10/20 issue of American Conservative. It's well-worth the rather lengthy read as well as a forward to friends...fence sitter or otherwise.

http://www.amconmag.com/article/2008/oct/20/00014/

Is there more to John McCain’s rage than just bad temper? A psychotherapist puts the candidate on the couch.

By Jim Pittaway

He has been called McNasty and Senator Hothead, but John McCain has called his fellow senators far worse. Newsweek reported that he “erupted out of the blue” at Budget Committee Chairman Pete Domenici, saying, “only an a--hole would put together a budget like this.” He called Sen. Chuck Grassley a “f---ing jerk” and capped a profane tirade during last year’s amnesty debate by screaming “f--- you” at Sen. John Cornyn. Then there was the scuffle on the Senate floor with Strom Thurmond when the South Carolina senator was a less-than-spry 93.

No one is immune from his outbursts. A pair of Arizona physicians, Robin Silver and Bob Witzeman, went to meet McCain to discuss their concerns about a telescope project he wanted to fund. “He jumped up and down, screaming obscenities at us for at least 10 minutes,” Silver told CounterPunch’s Jeffrey St. Clair. “He shook his fists as if he was going to slug us.”
(snip)

History provides many examples of rulers with such traits. In fact, John McCain shares just about every important characteristic of temperament, attitude, and behavior with most of the Plantagenet kings, who embodied the characteristics of the knight errant that he evokes as virtues.

Under the Plantagenets, the long-suffering people of England were stuck with nearly 300 years of virtually continuous, ruinous, and fruitless wars of almost no conceivable purpose beyond demonstrating that they were boss in France. (It turned out they weren’t.) Similarly, McCain buys unconditionally into the idea that a diverse world—particularly the Islam-believing, oil-producing component—must recognize that the president of the United States is in charge.
(snip)

This is where it gets frightening. Coming into the presidency of the United States at this time in our history with frustrations and disinhibitions derived from TBI and PTSD constitutes a perfect storm. We have seen how the essentially normal (if not particularly impressive) brain and psyche of George W. Bush became obsessive, error-prone, isolated, and even delusional when confronted with the awesome power and duties of the presidency. The responses of an unhealthy or damaged brain to the ego-distortions, pressures, complexities, and especially the decision-making powers of the presidency are the stuff of horror fiction. No points of agreement on policy or program can justify that kind of risk.

A PET scan is a value-neutral picture of the human brain in action that any properly trained neurologist can evaluate through scientific method—no bias, no subjectivity as would be found in the notes of some shrink or in an article like this. A scan of John McCain’s cranium would answer all these questions. He will never submit to this, but our descendents may wish we had insisted.