flexagon: (Default)
flexagon ([personal profile] flexagon) wrote2008-09-28 08:02 pm

An interesting hypothesis about Ms. Palin

A modest theory about Sarah Palin's psychiatric situation

My hunch is that Sarah Palin's borderline word salad is a sign of some kind of mild to moderate formal thought disorder--a condition that can sometimes be benign, but is often associated with schizophrenia.

It's a pretty interesting read and rings really true. The description and example given of circumstantiality (on Wikipedia) is VERY reminiscent of how Governor Palin answers questions. A lot of politicians do this to some extent as they try to answer the question they want to answer before getting around to answering what they were asked -- and they also have to do a lot of extemporaneous speaking, which can lead to quotes that sound a little disjointed. I will buy the premise that Palin seems much worse than average in her coherence and directness, though, when not giving a formally prepared speech. I wonder if [livejournal.com profile] mcbrennan is onto something.