Dick Cheney's Psychiatry? Why do you think he was so demented and cruel?

[Mike 03]

He was a dying old man with a fortune.

Why did he not just retire, slime away from public life, enjoy the few years he has remaining?

Why did he decide to destroy everything? Declare war in nations that had nothing to do with nine eleven?

I don't understand human nature, I guess. If I had been him--even that sick and pathetic--the last thing on my mind would be the Vice Presidency, war and killing millions of innocent human beings.

Why?

[polichick]

1. He's a sociopath. Once I was very confused about a sociopath I knew...

...and a friend with a lot of experience with these people explained it this way:

"Think of how a cat enjoys trapping and playing with a mouse, with no regard to the terror of the mouse. It's like that."

[ConcernedCanuk]

10. That's only PART of it, but it is accurate.

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.
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Sociopaths think only of their own pleasures, and others' pain means almost nothing to them.

However, even when sociopaths have "everything they need or could ever want" is not enough.

They like to destroy other people's lives.

Most of us like to watch a good show, humour, history, drama - that's good enuf for most of us.

Sociopaths LIKE to see people suffer, especially if they see them as a threat.

Sociopaths are hard to understand - humans, NOT relating as we expect them to

Charming to your face, but will back-stab you in a nanosecond.

Took me over 55 years to learn -

So I'm sorta blessed

I have a chance

[polichick]

11. So true. Fortunately the one I knew was only an acquaintance...

...that I didn't have to deal with much ~ but what really gave me the creeps was seeing how amused he was when he destroyed people. It's the only time his face lit up.

[TahitiNut]

12. Indeed. With all the political hyperbole these days, this is not an exaggeration.

Cheney IS sociopathic. There's just not room for doubt anymore.

[MADem]

I remember him as a henpecked husband.

Of course, that was a long time ago. But I've seen him bossed, and in "Yes, dear" mode.

People are complex, aren't they? Even the wicked ones.

[blogslut]

2. He's dancing as fast as he can

His office authorized the torture and the worst part is, the torture was used to garner false confessions - linking Saddam Hussein to al Queda. He committed heinous crimes and doing everything he can to keep his ass out of court.

The Iraq war was based on a lie. A lie that emanated from false confessions that were obtained by torture.

This is a hell of a thing and I'm not surprised that the general American public doesn't want to know the truth. It's like hearing that your favorite teacher was a pedophile. These kinds of truths fuck with our collective concepts of right and wrong.

[Davis_X_Machina]

3. Pumphead. n/t

[havocmom]

8. Thinkin the bad attitude came first. His hate for life is probably why his heart tries to die

It is trying to escape his black soul. The pump came well after the darkness.

[vixengrl]

4. Power is a dangerous drug for someone

susceptible to it--and he was like a doctor writing his own scrips (he was surrounded by, and was himself, one of those "unitary executive: proponents, and I'm sure his office controlled the president). I think that's why he's on all the chat shows now--he's trying to fix the jones of not being at the center of things by trying to command public attention.

[Forkboy]

5. I'm not going there. When you stare into the abyss, and all that.

:)

[Contrary1]

6. 3 Reasons...

Money, money, and more money.

[NMDemDist2]

7. one word

FEAR

he's a paranoid and frightened old man

[demosincebirth]

9. Usually, all chicken hawks have some of the same traits.

[raging_moderate]

13. from an MD....

likely antisocial personality disorder with narcissistic tendencies (unofficially, of course)

[Annces]

14. I don't think you can find the answer by comparing him to what normal is

I think the fact he made it to VP, and practically the President says as much about American society as it does about him. He is the worst possible kind of person, and yet he made it to the most powerful position.