One observation about Sarah Palin that sticks deep inside like a dagger: Palin fits the description of an NPD (Narcissistic Personality Disorder) to a tee. This fact, which should frighten the bejesus out of everyone, is also the one that Kristol fears most, as its the first one he trots out and dismisses not at all convincingly:
"Is there any real chance that "several" Alaskans independently told Purdum that they had consulted the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders? I don’t believe it for a moment. I’ve (for better or worse) moved in pretty well-educated circles in my life, and I’ve gone decades without “several†people telling me they had consulted the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders."
Anyone with enough experience in life has encountered dangerous people like NPD narcissists and ASPD sociopaths -- Palin's documented behavior closely fits both diagnoses, which often run in tandem.
For a partisan Democratic example, just look at Jonathan Edwards, another pol who fits NPD traits to a tee (http://www.slate.com/id/2213740):
"John Edwards outed himself as one when forced to confess an adulterous affair. (Given his comical vanity, the deceitful way he used his marriage for his advancement, and his self-elevation as an embodiment of the common man while living in a house the size of an arena, it sounds like a pretty good diagnosis.)"
Palin is very probably NPD, and maybe ASPD too (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASPD). Based on this alone, her political career should be dead, no matter what people think of her actual politics.
On Should You Read That Long Sarah Palin Thing In Vanity Fair?
One observation about Sarah Palin that sticks deep inside like a dagger: Palin fits the description of an NPD (Narcissistic Personality Disorder) to a tee. This fact, which should frighten the bejesus out of everyone, is also the one that Kristol fears most, as its the first one he trots out and dismisses not at all convincingly:
"Is there any real chance that "several" Alaskans independently told Purdum that they had consulted the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders? I don’t believe it for a moment. I’ve (for better or worse) moved in pretty well-educated circles in my life, and I’ve gone decades without “several†people telling me they had consulted the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders."
Anyone with enough experience in life has encountered dangerous people like NPD narcissists and ASPD sociopaths -- Palin's documented behavior closely fits both diagnoses, which often run in tandem.
For a partisan Democratic example, just look at Jonathan Edwards, another pol who fits NPD traits to a tee (http://www.slate.com/id/2213740):
"John Edwards outed himself as one when forced to confess an adulterous affair. (Given his comical vanity, the deceitful way he used his marriage for his advancement, and his self-elevation as an embodiment of the common man while living in a house the size of an arena, it sounds like a pretty good diagnosis.)"
Palin is very probably NPD, and maybe ASPD too (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASPD). Based on this alone, her political career should be dead, no matter what people think of her actual politics.