Pathology as ideology: A unified theory of GOP behavior | Doc Magnus's Blog »

Posted By chuck-the-canuck 4 months, 3 weeks ago in Political Opinion

Narcissism. Xenophobia. Superstition. Bigotry. Sadism. Cultism. Denial. Sexual predation. Arrested development. Delusion. Bullying. Dissociation. Paranoia. Repression. Obsession. Avarice. Egotism. Insecurity. Pathological lying. God complex. Megalomania. Misogyny. Sociopathy.

Do any of these words describe Republicans you know, either personally or as elected or appointed officials? Perhaps more than one term applies in any number of cases. I am not a psychiatrist, psychologist or sociologist. But I do have common sense and a long memory. I saw the seeds of many of these behaviours among Republican voters, commentators, candidates and office holders about the time Ronald Reagan came to power. Now, these behaviours dominate Republican discourse. They are mainstream.

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chuck-the-canuck

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  • 69%
    deathray4 months, 3 weeks ago

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    Sarah Palin... has some qualities typical of authoritarian leaders, not to mention almost all of the traits found among authoritarian followers. Specifically, such followers can be described as follows:

    submissive to authority
    aggressive on behalf of authority
    highly conventional in their behavior
    highly religious
    possessing moderate to little education
    trusting of untrustworthy authorities
    prejudiced (particularly against homosexuals and followers of religions other than their own)
    mean-spirited
    narrow-minded
    intolerant
    bullying
    zealous
    dogmatic
    uncritical toward chosen authority
    hypocritical
    inconsistent and contradictory
    prone to panic easily
    highly self-righteous
    moralistic
    strict disciplinarians
    severely punitive
    demanding loyalty and returning it
    possessing little self-awareness
    usually politically and economically conservative/Republican

    - John Dean

    http://writ.news.findlaw.com/dean/20081031.html

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  • 73%
    billcorno4 months, 3 weeks ago

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    I read a quote from a Republican-defender that Sarah Palin's intellect has put the Democrats on the defensive.

    My reaction was to conclude that nothing else he said was worth reading, but that's just my reaction. There are people out there that think Palin has "intellect." (I can guess, some Republicans.)

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  • 100%
    gamahuche4 months, 3 weeks ago

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    FTA
    Every month, lately every week, features the GOP in a new public relations disaster. Jindal. Cheney. Specter. Ensign. Sanford. Palin. Each new incident brings out the gymnast in the GOP apologists and spin-doctors. The latest and strangest occurrence was Sarah Palin's pouty and abrupt resignation as Alaska's governor. Her ill-considered public ramblings equated continuing with quitting, quitting with winning, and leading with being driven from office - up-is-down, wrong-is-right Bizarro politics at its finest.



    A child would typically reject these absurd notions, but a swath of educated, credentialed and popular GOP role players have the temerity to call this move "shrewd." Partially, this is institutional damage control, but a survey of various conservative blogs indicates an amazing degree of support and acceptance among some members of the rank and file who still love their Sarah. Republican strategist Ed Rollins had the honesty to call it political suicide, but when Ed Rollins is the voice of sweet reason, something is seriously wrong in the clubhouse.
    ***
    Ain't that the truth?

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  • 86%
    jaspersneed4 months, 3 weeks ago

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    It can be argued that these pathological qualities appear at such a greater frequency among republicans and among republican politicians that the party's diminished stature with respect to democrats is directly attributable. Personally I wouldn't be so fast to make that judgement. While there is a distinct republican "flavor" to a lot of the items listed, for the most part these are more the qualities associated with sustaining political power in general, not just one party's version of it. "Pathological Lying", for example? Exhibit A: Nancy Pelosi. "Bullying"? -- Rahm Emmanuel, to name just one... Keep going down the list... there's no one attribute that is not as likely to appear among authoritarian types among the left as among the right.

    Republicans didn't get their well earned electoral drubbing simply because they're a bunch of pathological authoritarian sickos... They got it because THEY were the ones in power when the pooch got screwed. Democrats will get the same drubbing once again, a little later on, but again it will not be because of all the pathological, authoritarian democratic pooch screwers currently running around out there, of which there are as endless a supply as republicans... It will be because they'll have had their turn. It will be time to pass the pooch once more, from the sicko dems back to the pubs, and round 'n round we go...
    Poor pooch.

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  • 100%
    antibrainwasher4 months, 3 weeks ago

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    Why do cons keep putting intellectually defective candidates on the ballot, that's easy, they are in favor of disfuncional government. When government screws the pooch, its easy to scream about reducing government.

    Repugs have only one principle, to make the rich richer and the powerful more powerful. To destroy government by electing some warmongering war profiteer running a villiage chimpanzee idiot president, easy to confuse and control, the cons can ram through deregulation, and rape the economy and the middle and working classes, which is exactly what they did.

    36,000 dead or injured americans don't mean a thing to cons, if it means they made one more dime on their exon stocks or lockheed martin stocks. Cons recognize there is no country, only corporations, and a military of evangelical morons to protect their billions.

    Its the exact Saudi Arabia political model.
    Stip all individual rights, especially from women and children, destroy public education, increase private schools for the priveleged children of the rich, increase military protection for corporate billionaires, and screw all non rich. Get the trailer trash to vote daddy totalitarian hate racist politics, and brainwash them to think the rich are virtuous and next to baby jesus.

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  • 100%
    dgoodii4 months, 3 weeks ago

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    Democrat or Republican; same political goal, self preservation and nothing else. Only standard which each is judge is set at different levels, media and marketing do matter.

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    • 100%
      Radiofreeeuropa4 months, 3 weeks ago

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      Question. Has any candidate spent less money in a national election and won?
      I don't think so.
      Sadly it's simple.
      The best government money can buy.
      Forget conservatism, liberalism, parties, etc.
      It's all a diversion. The real issue is money-greed.
      Demolish K street,give equal public access to media by political campaigns and generally remove the ability to BUY votes or the ubiquitous worthless ads... then maybe, just maybe you'd get honest good government.
      You know even in the feudal society, every once in a while a monarch would be seated in a throne that didn't harm the population he ruled.

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      • 100%
        NoWayMan4 months, 3 weeks ago

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        there's been over 50 years of scientific studies that confirm this GOP mindset.

        its all laid out in John Dean's book:

        Conservatives Without Conscience

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