Is Cheney Insane?

[Bloodblister Bob]

Given his latest speeches, one must wonder, as does Charley reese:

"I'm beginning to feel like a crew member of the doomed ship Pequod, with mad Captain Ahab stumping about on the quarterdeck and cursing the heavens in his fanatical pursuit of the white whale that crippled him. One likes to believe that the leaders of one's country are, at a minimum, sane, no matter how flawed their policies might be."

http://www.lewrockwell.com/reese/reese240.html

[Sinistrous]

1. Only if being unredeemably evil is a form of insanity. n/t

Sinistrous

[Independent_Liberal]

15. In some cases, it can be.

[azmouse]

2. Insane barely describes his mental state!

God, how I hate that man! :grr:

[JuniperLea]

10. How about....

Criminally insane?

[AndreaCG]

3. Great article

And Cheney's supposed to be the elder statesman!

[etherealtruth]

4. Your passage ...

and the article really capture how I feel (expressed far more clearly and skillfully than I could ever hope to).

"One likes to believe that the leaders of one's country are, at a minimum, sane, no matter how flawed their policies might be."
It is a very sickening and frightening feeling, when one realizes that our leadership is quite probably not sane.

[hobbit709]

5. Insane? No!

Evil, wicked, mean and nasty? Yes! He's not insane by definition since he knows exactly what he is doing-he just doesn't care about the consequences of his actions on anyone else.

[JuniperLea]

11. Wouldn't that be the definition of

sociopathic behavior?

[hobbit709]

17. True

but there's crazy and there's insane.

[1monster]

6. How many angina and heart attacks has this man had? Any of them

could have seriously reduced oxygen flow to his brain. A reduction in blood flow to the brain results in oxygen depletion which could and can cause subtle brain damage to any part affected by the depletion.

The brain is a very delicate organ. There are stories of people who have had brain damage in the areas that affect personality, morality, the ability to feel empathy, or to feel any kind of emotion at all with no other measurable evidence neural impairment.

It is not out of the realm of possibility that Cheney suffered some form of neuralogical damage in one of those areas.

[cliss]

13. Cheney has had at least 4

major heart attacks. There may very well have been others, because he has "mysteriously" been taken to the hospital many times. His first heart attack I believe was at age 37 (very young). A few years ago, he had a quadruple bypass heart surgery. The doctors figured out that Lynne was feeding Dick a lot of greasy junk food like hamburgers and meat dishes.

He currently has a hole in his aorta that the doctors have not been able to repair. He had a pacemaker put in a few years ago.

Just a few months ago, he had an embolism behind his kneecap. That's a very strange place for an embolism. I'd say Cheney is a ticking time bomb. I've noticed Cheney is in the news a lot lately. I think the country has finally figured out that he is the real president, and they need to take a very close look at the man.

That's interesting that you point out that his insanity could be illness-related. The main thing is: he needs to go, and it needs to happen TODAY.

[Demeter]

18. Sorry. Not a Good Enough Excuse

Evil that complete is born, not made.

[1monster]

19. Who is excusing? I'm not. I'm suggesting a possible reason why this man

is as he is. I certainly don't believe that a person who may have that kind of problem has any business being in public office.

I simply pointed out that, given his medical history, it is entirely possible that he has an illness-induced personality disorder.

Personality disorders are usually not treatable and not curable.

[unblock]

7. i seriously doubt cheney believes his own bu**sh**

if he bothered to think about it, he'd readily admit that if the u.s. withdraw, that there would be civil war and eventually one of 2 options: an iraq emerges with a dictator much like saddam (although quite possibly onot secular) or iraq splits into pieces, each controlled by its own local version of saddam.

i'm sure he realizes that none of the boogeymen he lists would actually control anything directly. but he doesn't actually care about that. in fact, he doesn't care about iraq or the iraqi people or the iraqi form of government.

all he's in it for is the oil. he wants control of the oilfields so halliburton can profit. he wants the u.s. involved so that he and his buddies can profit. if iraq is actually controlled by ANYBODY other than the u.s., then he and his buddies can't profit nearly as much. for this reason, he would prefer an friendly dictactor to a geniune democracy anyway.


all he bu**sh** is simply cover, a scare-the-people excuse to continue an american presence there, whose real aim is to provide military protection for the private exploitation of iraqi oilfields by a handful of evil people who happen to have gained control of american foreign policy.

[bemildred]

8. Great rant. nt

[Tom Joad]

9. Was Eichmann sane? A meditation from Thomas Merton....

Thomas Merton, a great Catholic spiritual writer, wrote an essay on the finding by the courts that old Eichmann himself was sane when he carried out unspeakable crimes against humanity.

You may wish to read the writing here:
http://tomjoad.org/eichmann.htm

From the introduction:
Adolf Eichmann (1906-1962) was head of the "Department for Jewish Affairs" in the Gestapo from 1941 to 1945 and was chief of operations in the deportation of three million Jews to extermination camps. He was tried for his crimes against humanity in 1961.

During the court proceedings, Eichmann was declared to be sane.

Every military resister, when applying for conscientious objector status, is given psychiatric interviews to detect their state of mind. It is presumed that they are at least suffering from some form of post-traumatic stress disorder, if not completely crazy not to want to pursue the art of killing. And yet, a General can tell us that shooting people can be a "hoot" (see here) and we are reminded of his patriotic service to his country, no examination required. He is "well-adjusted".

The following is a meditation from the late Thomas Merton on the meaning of sanity in our modern world.

[Bellamia]

12. Cheyney will be declared sane., too

meaning he knows the difference between right and wrong, but chooses wrong, in a most evil way.

[Double T]

14. cheney is psychopath; he has no conscience and remorse for any......

of his evil deeds. This country is being led by a bunch of 'them', with bush leading the way. The WH is insane and unfortunately we all have to live with the aftermath of the destruction.

[longship]

16. Cheney... Our very own Tomas de Torquemada

Cheney... The Head Confessor of the Bushita Inquisition.

"Our chief weapons are fear, surprise, ruthless efficiency, and a fanatical loyalty to the Chimp."