Is Charles Krauthammer Insane? He has been calling

[Veggie Meathead]

Al Gore insane, with references to his own supposed training as a psychiatrist.I thought psychiatrists are not supposed to pass judegements on people without one-on-one interviews.Even if they do have such interviews, medical ethics forbid such public pronouncements.What is the Washington Post doing about this?
This reminds me of Stalin's use of psychiatry to send his political opponents to insane asylums.

[WoodrowFan]

1. no, but

he is an ENORMOUS asshole, large enough to affect the tides.

[acmavm]

2. Charlie boy is a bit batty in the belfry himself. You would think that a

psychiatrist would be able to detect when he himself is suffering from delusional behavior and living in a parallel universe. But Charlie has a problem in that he lets his own particular prejudices and republican ideals override his training. He is just another neocon.

[Loonman]

3. He's definitely delusional

He lives in his own world of illusions.

[trumad]

4. Go to the Daily Howler for Somerbys take on the nutty Doc...

[Bridget Burke]

5. Interesting take on the "Gore is insane" meme

(Is that actually a "meme"? Did I use the word right?)

Check out the latest Texas Observer for "Deconstructing Al", placing reaction to Gore's recent speech in the context of the media's longstanding anti-Gore prejudice.

John Podhoretz: It is now clear that Al Gore is insane.
Charles Krauthammer: Well, it looks as if Al Gore has gone off his lithium again.
Robert Novak: (Gore) gained credence with the huge lunatic wing of the Democratic party this week when he did this imitation of Howard Dean shouting.

....

Two things were striking about the reaction to Gore’s speech. First, it was driven by spin (Was Gore nuts? Was he helping Kerry or hurting him?) instead of substance. There was little mention of the particulars of the sweeping indictment of the Bush administration’s “incompetence” and its compromise of democracy at home and the United States’s moral authority abroad.

Second, for all the fixation on tone, it was clear that none of the pundits actually witnessed much of Gore’s. The NYU speech, sponsored by MoveOn.org, resembled for the most part a professorial lecture, delivered with more restraint than obvious passion. The sound bites came in the middle, in a rhetorical crescendo familiar to anyone who’s ever heard a stemwinding politician, or a Southern Baptist preacher. Gore didn’t sound crazy—unless righteous indignation is now a form of insanity.

www.texasobserver.org/showArticle.asp?ArticleID=1692

[OpSomBlood]

6. A "meme" is something you repeat over and over until people "accept" it.

So you're using it correctly.

[Shopaholic]

16. And it's a favorite GOP tactic-----

repeat the lie over and over again until the public comes to believe it's the truth. :grr:

[OpSomBlood]

8. Some people might interpret Novak outing a CIA agent as "insane"...

Just my $0.02.

[AntiCoup2K4]

10. So three known TRAITORS refer to Gore as "insane" and it becomes a "fact"?

Remember that Junior has a "major mental health initiative" coming up :scared:

[Redleg]

7. Krauthammer is "ethically challenged."

No mental health professional should psycho-analyze the way Krauthammer routinely does Dem leaders in his columns.

[tom_paine]

9. That is EXACTLY what ol' Charlie is laying the groundwork for

though I'm sure he doesn't know it himself (or acknowledge it consciously).

Probably it's just a neat rhetorical attack trick, now that the gloves are off and he can literally say anything about his foes and get it published in front of 50,000,000 eyes the next day while those attacking him, must hew to a rigorous civility standard.

I wonder if his conscience scratches occasionally from the locked room he has placed it in, whispering to himself

"Doesn't it all seem a bit familiar?"

May God and Heaven Help us.

[indepat]

11. Charles is so eat up with far RW ideology a rational thought surely never

enters his mind.

[Goldom]

12. No psychiatrist would call someone insane-

insanity is a legal status, not a mental condition. I know that from half a year in psychology, no trained professional would ever use that term.

[underpants]

13. Pre-emption against the "Bush on the Couch" book

I heard Ann Coulter say the same thing 3 weeks ago.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

14. I'm Serious....

Someone should file a complaint with the American Medical Association and the American Psychiatric Association...

[Warpy]

15. Don't forget the recent book(s) analyzing Bush

In fact, I'm just as guilty, since I put together all of Bush's obvious neurological defecits and came up with Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome. Of course, I base my opinion on clearly observatble physical symptoms, not on some sort of Freudian analysis that can only come with an in depth interview.

Pot, meet kettle.

However, yes, Charlie is nuts. He feels his dream slipping away, and he's starting to lash out. No matter how many unused degreees he has sitting on his wall, this is inappropriate.