While I try to maintain a politically nuetral stance, I am sometime reminded of the old soviet practice of labelling critics of the State as crazy. With that, we get this column by Henry I. Miller, a physician and fellow at the Hoover Institution, as seen in the Investor's Business Daily:
I don't know of a prominent politician less suited psychologically than Mr. Gore to be the leader of the free world. [...] Mr. Gore is disturbed, and on the basis of his actions and writings over many years my guess is that he suffers from Narcissistic Personality Disorder, which is not treatable with medications.
The criteria for this diagnosis, as described in the psychiatrist's bible, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, include a "pervasive pattern of grandiosity (in fantasy or behavior), need for admiration, and lack of empathy, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts," as indicated by the following:
He goes for quite a bit, and in an interesting fashion, seems to display precisely the conditions and symptoms that he is diagnosising Mr. Gore with.
It is up to your own sense of politics to determine for yourself if this is a case of the Pot calling the Kettle Black. I know many Americans who would think that other famous politicians would be better candidates for this diagnosis.
In any case, this political diagnosis of insanity is quite dangerous.
A slightly abridged version of the column is seen here on the National Review Online
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