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Is Bush Mentally Ill? Newsweek Says Yes to 'Pathological Certainty' Theory
NewsBusters ^ | Tim Graham

Posted on 05/15/2007 2:11:08 PM PDT by RatherBiased.com

Is President Bush mentally ill? Sharon Begley is a senior editor for science at Newsweek, which apparently entitled her to conduct a tired psychoanalysis of President Bush and his state of denial about the war in Iraq, suggested earlier in his life by his comforting his mother as his sister Robin died of leukemia at age three, and his alcohol abuse as an adult. < snip >

In an article titled "The Truths We Want to Deny," Begley, a longtime Newsweek writer overcame the awkwardness of diagnosing mental illness from a distance:

Denying the evidence of your eyes is the most extreme form of the coping mechanism called denial. But denial comes in milder forms as well. Parents refuse to believe their child is on drugs; that baggie under his bed contained oregano. A husband maintains his wife cannot be cheating; those late nights she spends with a friend are purely platonic. A wife denies that her husband is gay; he's just been too tired for sex with her these last few years.

And a president who insists that a war will succeed despite setback after setback? It's risky to put a politician on the couch, but that has not kept President Bush's critics from charging that he is "in a state of denial" about the situation in Iraq, as Sen. Harry Reid said last month. USA Today editorialized that Bush is "in denial about the insurgency that has plunged [Iraq] into civil war."

This could all be dismissed as psychobabble, except for one thing. Psychology researchers, including some who advise politicians, have reached the same conclusion."I do think there is denial on Bush's part in his running of the war," says Kerry Sulkowicz, clinical professor of psychiatry at New York University Medical Center.


(Excerpt) Read more at newsbusters.org ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: bds; bush; bushhate; dementalillness; mediabias; newsweek
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To: RatherBiased.com
Denying the evidence of your eyes is the most extreme form of the coping mechanism called denial.

Yes, he's not denying the evidence of his eyes because he sees what is actually going on in Iraq. It is the drive-by media who don't want to see what is going on there and are eager to characterize it in a way that is consistent with their worldview. Ignoring reality in favor of maintaining one's worldview is insanity. It's not Bush that is insane.
41 posted on 05/15/2007 2:54:34 PM PDT by aruanan
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To: RatherBiased.com
I wonder how Sharon Begley would have psychoanalyzed FDR in February, 1943.

Would she have judged him in "denial", after the American forces had been outclassed by Rommel's Panzers at Kasserine Pass? And after the Battle for Guadalcanal had been won at a stunning cost, suggesting the blood it would take to defeat the Japanese in the Pacific.

Should FDR have called "Kings X" at that point?

Silly bitch.

42 posted on 05/15/2007 2:54:59 PM PDT by okie01 (The Mainstream Media: IGNORANCE ON PARADE)
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To: RatherBiased.com
Could NewsReek sink any lower?

Leftist political garbage as usual, but this is really abysmal.

43 posted on 05/15/2007 2:55:38 PM PDT by Bullish ( Reality is the best cure for delusion.)
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To: nmh

“Hillary denies that Bill is a philanderer; he’s just been too tired for sex with her these last few years”. There, I fixed it!;)


44 posted on 05/15/2007 2:56:39 PM PDT by Frank_2001
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To: Gritty

LOL:)


45 posted on 05/15/2007 2:57:52 PM PDT by Frank_2001
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To: feedback doctor

Great posting. This says it all. To a normal person like myself, Howard Dean is a raving maniac. How can this Doctor see a problem with President Bush, and fail to recognize the obvious problem with Dean? Newsweak let this pile of manure get into their magazine, which says all we need to say about Newsweak.


46 posted on 05/15/2007 2:58:08 PM PDT by Sam Clements
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To: wolfcreek

Yeah, I want to listen to a pope on economics. He needs to stick with his actual job.


47 posted on 05/15/2007 2:59:18 PM PDT by MeanWestTexan (Kol Hakavod Fred Thompson)
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To: RatherBiased.com

It’s lucky that George Washington and Abraham Lincoln did not have to face this kind of cheap 4th rate b.s. psychobabble. Both of those great gentlemen would have had ample reason to give up long before victory, according to today’s depraved MSM follies..... and both would have been judged “mentally ill” by the nitwits at Newsweak.... (well, Lincoln did suffer seriously from depression in his earlier years, but I don’t think any credible person would ever suggest that he perservered in winning the Civil War out of “mental illness”).


48 posted on 05/15/2007 3:01:44 PM PDT by Enchante (Reid and Pelosi Defeatocrats: Surrender Now - Peace for Our Time!!)
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To: RatherBiased.com

bookmark for later. Must wear tinfoil hat and take drugs first to relate to authors viewpoint. Otherwise, this makes me sad it is so pathetic.


49 posted on 05/15/2007 3:02:11 PM PDT by IrishCatholic (No local communist or socialist party chapter? Join the Democrats, it's the same thing.)
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To: mnehrling
Yup.

Then they can claim failure, that is Bush’s failure, at the expense of millions of lives and billions in dollars.

50 posted on 05/15/2007 3:05:40 PM PDT by dhs12345
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To: MeanWestTexan
"they’d be no more or less dangerous than the people who drive domestically."

Don't get me going on that. In my opinion, half of America's semi-truck drivers are morons and/or criminals. How many times I've wished I was a cop so I could pull over those brain-dead tailgating idiots, driving their huge rigs 15 feet behind small autos at 65 mph in urban freeway traffic.
51 posted on 05/15/2007 3:08:25 PM PDT by Steve_Seattle ("Above all, shake your bum at Burton.")
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To: TexasCajun
“I DID NOT HAVE SEXUAL RELATIONS WITH THAT WOMEN”

“YES HE DID. I CAN TELL YOU THIS IS THE EXACT SIZE OF HIS WEENIE, CROOK AND ALL”
52 posted on 05/15/2007 3:09:02 PM PDT by Spunky ("Everyone has a freedom of choice, but not of consequences.")
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To: RatherBiased.com

A notice displayed in a Texas court room highlights the cynicism displayed by many:-

When a psychiatrist or psychologist testifies during

a defendant’s competency hearing, the psychiatrist

or psychologist shall wear a cone shaped hat that is

not less than two feet tall. The surface of the hat

shall be imprinted with stars and lightning bolts.

Additionally, the psychiatrist or psychologist shall

be required to don a white beard that is not less

than eighteen inches in length and shall punctuate

crucial elements of his testimony by stabbing the

air with a wand .

Whenever a psychiatrist or psychologist provides

expert testimony regarding the defendant’s

competency, the bailiff shall dim the courtroom

lights and administer two strikes to a Chinese gong.


53 posted on 05/15/2007 3:09:04 PM PDT by Madame Dufarge
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To: RatherBiased.com

It is obvious to even a psychology student that both are sociopaths with borderline personalities. Probably why they got married, like attracts like—the old opposites attract is hogwash. The scary part is can you imagine having TWO co-presidents in the White House with psychotic possibilities? Scares the beejesus out of me.


54 posted on 05/15/2007 3:12:40 PM PDT by pankot
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To: pankot

Note to self: I was referring to the Clintons, not Bush!


55 posted on 05/15/2007 3:15:01 PM PDT by pankot
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To: RatherBiased.com
Although he’d very probably refrain from so doing,I’d love to see Charles Krauthammer,a trained psychiatrist,respond to this dame.
56 posted on 05/15/2007 3:16:02 PM PDT by Gay State Conservative ("The meaning of peace is the absence of opposition to socialism."-Karl Marx)
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To: Kimberly GG; All
I’m only surprised anyone remains optomistic at all.

Optimism is one of the greatest attributes of conservatism. We understand history, and we believe in the greatness of America to overcome all challenges. Compared to the challenges our nation has faced in the past, the current immigration issue seems small... Yes it is a problem, but we've faced much worse and have come out better every time. Each challenge we face helps us grow. The Civil War helped us become a strong nation who was one of the few to take on it's own failures (Slavery) head-on and become a moral authority because of it. Our economic trials of the Great Depression led us into becoming an economic superpower. We've faced several influxes of illegal immigration challenges since the current immigration standard started in the first part of the 20th century. Hell, it was Ronald Reagan who brought us the amnesty that people fear now (even though, by pure legal definition, most of what on the table isn't amnesty but falls into the legal definition of a pardon or reprieve.)

Yes, I'm optimistic. I believe in our nation. I believe in the greatness of the American people.. and I understand history enough to know that most of the challenges we face now are small in relation to the challenges we've overcome in the past.

How can one not be optimistic? ::rant off::

57 posted on 05/15/2007 3:25:56 PM PDT by mnehring (McCain '08 -------------------------------------- just kidding...)
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To: Frank_2001

LOL!!!

;)


58 posted on 05/15/2007 3:32:30 PM PDT by nmh (Intelligent people recognize Intelligent Design (God) .)
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To: edweena
The Newsweek explanation may be as good an explanation as any. I’m ready to listen to others.

Then by the standard presented by Newsweek, Andy Jackson should have been chained in the attic in perpetuity for the Battle of New Orleans.

59 posted on 05/15/2007 3:34:52 PM PDT by Madame Dufarge
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To: LasVegasMac

Go to your local bookstore..accidently shake out all of the Newsweak subscription litter cards...drop them in the mail for processing.


60 posted on 05/15/2007 3:37:31 PM PDT by samadams2000 (Someone important make......The Call!)
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