Could Romney Be Diagnosed As Sociopathic? Just asking...

...because I'm absolutely fascinated watching him in lie after lie. I've replayed many of his most outrageous lies over and over, and he displays very few "tells," no matter how big the whopper.

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders IV of the American Psychiatric Association suggests that sociopathy should be considered when at least 3 of the following 7 characteristics are present in an individual: failure to conform to social norms; deceitfulness, manipulativeness (here's where I flashed on Romney's constanting lying); impulsivity, failure to plan ahead; irritability, aggressiveness (that $10,000 bet!); reckless disregard for the safety of self or others (poor Seamus!); consistent irresponsibility (did he really look at the implications of the Ryan bill?); and the lack of remorse after having hurt, mistreated, or stolen from another person (witness that cold, weird laugh when he dwells on the misery of others).

Others, according to Martha Stout in The Sociopath Next Door, observe a "glib and superficial charm that allows the true sociopath to seduce other people...a kind of glow or charisma that, initially, can make the sociopath seem more charming or more interesting than most of the normal people around him....accompanied by a grandiose sense of self-worth that may be compelling at first, but upon closer inspection may seem odd or perhaps laughable. (Someday the world will realize how special I am.)"

In the spirit of fun, I suspect others could point out something in Willard's history pointing to another of the 7 characteristics that he possesses, but when Stout quotes Hervey Cleckley in his The Mask of Sanity, the blood freeze when he says, "Beauty and ugliness, except in a very superficial sense, goodness, evil, love, horror, and humor have no actual meaning, no power to move him."

I think I'll vote for Barack Obama for President this year.