I just read this post by the Anchoress in which she references this post on Newsbusters.org talking about a reporter for Newsweek saying President Bush is mentally ill.

I have to admit my cheeks are flaming red and hot right now after reading this piece of trash.

No one, and I mean no one can possibly diagnose someone as being mentally ill just from watching him and not talking to him.

I’ve been to a psychiatrist for treatment of depression. I still go for med checks every six months and I can tell you a diagnosis was not made in my case until several visits.

Yes, he knew I was depressed after interviewing me the first time, but it took a lot of work on my part as well as his to get to the root of the problem. I am offended by the Newsweek article, and every person with a conscience should be.

I’ll give a quote from the Anchoress:

First, we get an elementary course on “denial:”

Denying the evidence of your eyes is the most extreme form of the coping mechanism called denial. But denial comes in milder forms as well. Parents refuse to believe their child is on drugs; that baggie under his bed contained oregano. A husband maintains his wife cannot be cheating; those late nights she spends with a friend are purely platonic.

Yes, insisting that someone “lied” about intelligence, no matter how many times you’re reminded that the same intelligence was was being fully touted by world leadership for almost three years before the man ever got into office…that’s denial.

Let’s see on what Newsweek is basing its quack diagnosis, shall we?

Bush could, of course, know full well that the United States cannot achieve its goals in Iraq. If so, then he is lying not to himself but to us (for reasons scientists would have a field day with, but that’s another story). But while it’s always risky to psychoanalyze a politician from afar, a few things in his past are consistent with the capacity for denial. When he was 7, his baby sister died of leukemia. Bush, while certainly not denying her death, tried to cheer up his grieving mother, saying everything would be OK. Also, those who abuse alcohol, as Bush has admitted doing, typically need to see the world in black and white in order to stay on the wagon. “It’s how they control their addiction,” says Sulkowicz. “It reflects an inability or refusal to see shades of gray.”

My goodness, that is a masterpiece of ugliness and “nuanced” aggression based on nothing more than someone sitting around musing. In one paragraph - and with the seemingly reluctant admission that all this musing may mean nothing - we get:

1) He might not only be lying to himself (because he must know that his “war is lost,”) but he’s also LYING TO US
(Mr. Subliminal reinforces the “he’s a liar - Bush lied, people died” narrative).

2) When he was 7, he tried to comfort his grieving mother with all the compassion, love and clumsiness of a 7 year old.
(Mr. Subliminal says Bush is mother-hung, traumatized and guilt-stricken by his sister’s death and that’s why he’s retreated into fantasy land!)

When my Elder Son was 7 I lost a baby during pregnancy, and as I wept my son - full of compassion and wanting to do anything to make me feel better - climbed onto my bed and hugged me and told me “it will be alright, Mommy, it will be alright.”

I suppose my son is “mentally ill” too. Either that or Newsweek has made a serious miscalculation, here. Every parent who is honest understands precisely what passed between Dubya and his mother at that moment, and it is nearly obscene to see it painted as anything less than profound and innocent love. It is low, hateful, needlessly spiteful and quite honestly it says much more about the writer than it does about the president.

To me, in my amateur analysis, I can’t help but wonder (as I wondered about Ann Coulter) if there is a humanity gene missing here, or maybe there really is such a thing as a derangement syndrome at work. Either way, that is the sleaziest thing I’ve ever seen. And how horrible for Barbara Bush to read it, to remember that moment and see it dragged so recklessly. mindlessly and spitefully through the muck by such an adolescent mind.

Oh, and don’t forget, the president is a drunk and only sees things in black and white. I wonder how many of our presidents have been secret drunks while in the White House?

I am infuriated and don’t even want to entertain the notion this writer is right. She’s not a psychiatrist and she’s out of her realm in saying the president is mentally ill, but that will be the new battle cry from those with Bush Derangement Syndrome. She fits right in and is leading that battle. She’s disgusting!