Romney changes his positions more often than a nymphomaniac acrobat. He has simply no connection to the truth. He made his fortune dismantling companies, depriving the workers of their pensions and shipping the jobs overseas. That seems to me to be a sociopath. That he doesn’t drink, smoke or swear really doesn’t have anything to do with it. His inability to empathize with other people seems to be an indicator also. W certainly fit all the criteria.
As for Democrats who are/were sociopaths, Lyndon Johnson comes to mind. As does John Edwards.
As a poll, I am sending this off to IMHO. (I realize that it has the potential to turn into a Pit thread, but so far the partisan sniping and hurt feelings have remained rather low key.)
I would say his position-changing is a natural result of the tremendous ambition that one HAS to have in order to reach high political office.
His inability to empathize is easy to understand as a natural result of his upbringing. His father was an executive as well, and, I would guess, passed along the attitudes and values that allow you to actively damage middle class workers in pursuit of corporate profit. Not that I’m exactly judging that behavior. I think it’s like anything else, it can cause problems when it goes too far.
So no, not seeing sociopathy. Extreme ambition and a very specific type of upbringing, yes. Perhaps even pathological ambition. Not sociopathy, at least not without more evidence.
The problem here seems to be that the definition of ‘sociopath’ is seemingly equal to ‘someone I don’t like’ or ‘I’m politically opposed to this person, so Q.E.D. s/he MUST be a sociopath!’. It’s is interesting to see who folks are asserting are ‘sociopaths’, however. Not really surprising, but interesting.
The thing is, intelligent psychopaths are great at observing human behavior and then mimicking it to deceive others into thinking they have normal empathy and emotions.
It’s very easy to believe that a clever psychopath would take notice of how people like you
assume that Democrats care about other people and use it to earn your trust. Similarly, I believe that many psychopaths are smart enough to see that people tend to trust people that proclaim religious belief must be good people and then use it against people.
As for my nomination, I wouldn’t be hugely surprised to find out that Martha Stewart is a psychopath. It’s just a theory…I don’t even particularly dislike her. It’s just that based on what I’ve heard about her, she doesn’t seem to have much warmth or empathy for other people.
I can’t think of anyone I suspect is incapable of feeling empathy. Some people seem to be able to overcome that feeling for the purpose of personal gain, but I honestly think that hardly anyone is a true psychopath.
Right. As long as we are throwing out wild-assed conjecture, I would nominate many more Democrats than Republicans based on these weak criteria. Let me give you a few examples including former governor Louisiana Edwin Edwards and former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich. Also include mayor Buddy Cianci who is the former mayor of Providence Rhode Island. All of those were actually convicted of criminal behavior and are doing federal time for it yet none of them show any signs of remorse except for the fact that they were caught once again. I am an independent but Democrats always seemed liike the go-to people for smaller scale corruption for pure personal gain that attracts real sociopaths.
I guess I am the only person reading this thread who thought, what is the clinical definition of a sociopath and how can you tell whether someone you’ve never met is one?
But in case someone else comes along as unsure about the footing of the OP’s question as I am, I offer the following, from the Mayo Clinic:
<quote>Antisocial personality disorder is a type of chronic mental illness in which a person’s ways of thinking, perceiving situations and relating to others are abnormal — and destructive.
People with antisocial personality disorder typically have no regard for right and wrong. They may often violate the law and the rights of others, landing in frequent trouble or conflict. They may lie, behave violently, and have drug and alcohol problems. And people with antisocial personality disorder may not be able to fulfill responsibilities to family, work or school.
Antisocial personality disorder is sometimes known as sociopathic personality disorder. A sociopath is a particularly severe form of antisocial personality disorder.
Antisocial personality disorder symptoms may include:
Disregard for right and wrong
Persistent lying or deceit
Using charm or wit to manipulate others
Recurring difficulties with the law
Repeatedly violating the rights of others
Child abuse or neglect
Intimidation of others
Aggressive or violent behavior
Lack of remorse about harming others
Impulsive behavior
Agitation
Poor or abusive relationships
Irresponsible work behavior</quote>
Based on the above, I don’t think Romney qualifies at all. Being a mere political liar with no empathy outside one’s own class isn’t enough. Cheney is more likely as he seems chillingly inhuman; there’s a reason why the left likens him to Darth Vader. I guess he would be a sociopath with impulse control. Edwards, dunno. It is hard for me to believe he is more than a mere selfish dickhead. His story is so small and squalid. Cheney has evil grandeur.
Interesting. I found myself thinking about narcissism a lot when I was trying to answer the OP, and saw a lot of overlap in your post. The “commitment to longevity” component doesn’t quite match up, however.
Watch Ryan and Tatum: The O’Neals. Oh and read anything about his past and the state of his “family”. You get the feeling that this guy is either a major narcissist or an outright psychopath.
Not that I’m an expert, but Romney strikes me as far more likely to be a sociopath than Gingrich. Romney is a chronic liar, denying his own past in a relentless pursuit of the presidency. Gingrich may be delusional, but that’s something else IMO. Santorum is probably too honest for his own good, as he just couldn’t seem to avoid saying aloud a lot about his crazy beliefs.
A sociopath worthy of isolated mention in a thread like this needs to be so good at hiding their pathology that nobody reall knows what’s up. Mary Lou Retton fits the bill.
Maybe. From what I recall, one hallmark of psychopathic behavior is that they never keep up that facade. Yes, they act nice in order to suck people into trusting them; then they use that trust to exploit their victim, discard the victim and move on. It’s a feeding cycle more or less; deceive-exploit-discard-deceive-exploit-discard.
A psychopath could probably do OK exploiting groups like homosexuals, who are repeatedly fed promises to get them to vote for Democrats and then backstabbed once the politicians in question gets into office. Still, I’d think it would be much easier for them to function among the Republicans since the Republicans are ideologically psychopathic. It’s got to be easier for an actual psychopath to hide among a group of people who insist on acting & talking like one themselves. Sort of like being a serial killer in a war zone; who’s going to notice one more corpse? The best way to hide a red fish is among a bunch of other red fish.
A few percent of the population qualifies IIRC; more in prisons, naturally. Let’s see; according to Wiki one estimate is around 1-2% of the population.
It’s is interesting to see who folks are asserting are ‘sociopaths’, however. Not really surprising, but interesting.
I feel a bit like a sociopath now.