Let's get one thing perfectly clear, I have absolutely no feelings of pity or compassion or even understanding for John McCain. I never bought his maverick bullshit and never believed him to be anything but what he always has been...an opportunist. There's a reason his best asshole buddy is Joe Lieberman. They are kindred spirits, soul mates. No, this isn't about arousing sympathy for what McCain has become. It's just another way of seeing the real McCain. Think of it as a mini psychological evaluation of the current state of McCain's mental health.
I think the reference to the "Stockholm syndrome" is apt in light of what we have been seeing over the last few days in McCain's statements and performances. The analogy here is that McCain has been taken hostage (perhaps willingly) by the extreme right-wing forces of his party. But it is a situation of his own devising. McCain believed that he could harness their political power without having to compromise his own ideology. But as the old saying goes: "He who would sup with the devil must have a long spoon" which means keeping him at arm's length lest you be captured by him. And McCain has been captured by the extremists of his party. (Let's not forget his referencing "my fellow prisoners" the other day.)
And now they rant and rage before our eyes every day. Their anger increases exponentially with the release of every new poll which shows McCain sinking lower and lower. And as there rage becomes mingled with tacit racism, the threat of violence hovers just above. And what do we see? We see McCain unable to either shout down these extremists or make any attempt at damping down their fury. He has realized too late that this is his only last remaining hope of being elected. So McCain, in effect, has fallen prey to the syndrome.
Many mental health professionals believe that the syndrome itself is primarily an external expression of the individual's psychological defense mechanism kicking into overdrive. It is an unconscious act of self-preservation either physical, mental, or both.
Some examples of an individual's defense mechanism are:
* Denial: Refusal to accept external reality because it is too threatening; arguing against an anxiety-provoking stimulus by stating it doesn't exist; resolution of emotional conflict and reduction of anxiety by refusing to perceive or consciously acknowledge the more unpleasant aspects of external reality.
* Distortion: A gross reshaping of external reality to meet internal needs.
* Delusional Projection: Grossly frank delusions about external reality, usually of a persecutory nature.
We have seen McCain manifest each and every one of those over the last week or so. As I said at the beginning, I could care less about what happens to McCain. What we are witnessing is an act of political self-immolation. Ironic, isn't it. It was acts of actual self-immolation by Buddhist monks during the Viet Nam era that helped turn the tide of the majority of Americans' opinion on the war.
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