will also respond here. I have a very close friend whose 16 year old daughter has Aspergers. She is an honor student, a lovely, funny person but she has some social impediments. Some of Romney's behavior very much reminds me of her. My friend, her mother, agrees. My friend's daughter has been getting help to improve her social skills and deal with some other issues and she has come a long way. It is possible that Mitt has this condition but it may have never been diagnosed and he may never have received help for it.

If the answer is yes... then what?

I think he's just narcissistic and fundamentally uninterested in what the proles think. They're not "successful" so their opinion doesn't really matter.

I'd have to have a lot more information about him than I do in order to hazard a guess, though.

Incidentally, I understand that the whole autism-spectrum classification system is undergoing careful scrutiny in the upcoming revision of the DSM, DSM-5, which is supposed to be out sometime next year.

His friends are in the "club" and the board room and NASCAR team owners. He went to private school, did his mission in France for pity's sake, and has probably never done anything we do every day, like grocery shop, or haggle on a car price, or finagle a raise. He'll never be able to talk to "us".

He's never really seen or experienced any other way . . . nothing outside of his thick bubble. RMoney doesn't believe in things like "human cost" because he never sees it.

Owing to various reasons, I've been both poor and well-off in my life ,and during those different Periods, I worked and lived with others in the same strata of society. AFAIK, neither group seems to have much of a clue about the other or can relate to them.

I don't think it's healthy for a society to be this stratified.

To convey his genuineness and authenticity.

He is outside of his comfort zone when he tries this, because he lacks genuineness and authenticity in an arena where one-note litmus-test conservative themes must constantly be woven into his supposedly unscripted utterances.

It isn't autism. He's just desperate to win and very very uncomfortable in his own skin.

This is genuine Romney (with a Dx or not) and an authentic R politician on the stump circuit is pretty novel.

I don't think there is any reason to invent a diagnosis from a distance with information that doesn't include how he interacts outside of the political arena.

I'm not at all sure that he can't be appropriately sociable. It's hard to believe he could have risen to the level of "High Priest" within the Mormon church with significant lack of emotional intelligence or other social deficits.

It could be just the consequence of his growing into a very different part of society from where most of us live.

A psychiatrist I knew explained that often people behind a desk feel within a comfort zone.

Romney's campaign is only getting longer and more full of pitfalls.

Surely he is getting angry with the long delays in receiving his entitled front runner status.

The inappropriate but real rMoney personae is making more frequent appearances..

Maybe if Romney wore a little crown at rally's he would feel more at ease... Indeed,

For many years his hair was a helmet of perfection, perhaps now with it Blowin' in The Wind.... he's further off track.

I also think he scrambles anxiously to find things to say that will ingratiate him with the audience in front of him (or behind the cameras). He does it poorly, so yea, that might tie in with the Asperger's hypothesis. As Jackpine Radical said, we need a lot more accurate information.

on edit: upon reading the responses and thinking more about it, I don't think he has this. He's just bad at acting.

pandering, plain and simple.

What makes you think that? I haven't seen any sign that would indicate it.

Asshole? check
Idiot? check
Opportunist? check

Aspergers? mmmm don't think so.

Totally out of touch with how real people live because he's been a money-bubble-boy for as long as he can remember.

Nail, meet head. It has nothing to do with AS.

Romney does act like a cyborg who has been programmed to think he's human, but has his doubts... but he's not in any way autistic.

He is a fraud who is not very good at play-acting. Don't think for a moment that Romney acts this way all the time. In his element, behind closed doors, I'm sure he is effectively communicative and bright and charming. He couldn't have accomplished what he has otherwise.

To me, his weirdness is an artifact of discipline. He keeps on being clueless affable weirdo because he thinks that's his best poltical face and he plows through the embarassment that must arise from it.

I know people with Asperger and he isn't even close. He just doesn't have the capacity to understand normal life in America anymore than I could understand living at the bottom of an ocean. He's from another world in that respect. Whatever his problem, it definitely isn't Asperger Syndrome.

He's evil, plain and simple. He and the rest of the Repukes who are running are psycopaths, that is their only mental health problem.

all of a sudden he has to pretend to care about the common person. it seems disingenuous not autism spectrum

but not something he cares about.

Once that obstacle is cleared, he can go back to effusively charming his 1% pals.

and possibly anti-social personality disorder.

much larger than among the general public. Smiling, slick, and utterly without a conscience. Among these people I would include Gingrich, Romney, Santorum, George W Bush, Reagan, and (dare I say it) Bill Clinton, but not Obama, Ron Paul, or George HW Bush. And no, I am not a mental health professional, this is not a scientific analysis.

and work his ass off for climate change, Hiv/AIDS, sustainable development in africa?

Really?

Just because someone is charming doesn't in any way make them a sociopath.

Please take that tired shit somewhere else.

Im leaning towards personality disorder like narcissism

been around many, many people with AS or ASD and I can unequivocally say HELL NO, Romney DOES NOT remind me, and likely DOES NOT have, Asperger's. He has Arrogant Rich-guy-who doesn't-know-how-to-interact-with-the-hoi-poloi Syndrome. He's rich, sheltered and arrogant, that's all.

Second, what the hell difference would it make? I realize that you probably do not intend to stir up a shitstorm (at least, I would hope not), so I'm going to take you at your word that you don't mean to be insulting. But I'm curious as to just WHY you are asking and what the hell difference it would make? IOW, what's it to ya?

And, third, I'm getting really tired of people (not necessarily here, but in a lot of other places both public and private) immediately shouting out Asperger's when someone's being a jerk. AS people are NOT automatically "jerks", most can be quite nice, especially once you understand them. Please do not believe the hateful, inaccurate misinformation bullshit of FAAAS. I would love to see that damned hate group shut down. My son asked me once "why do they hate me when they don't even know me?" Broke my heart. DO NOT go by anything of theirs.

how you read my forwarned apology other than what I said, is beyond me.

Other than that, beside the fact that I think mitten's unfit for being president, I made the postulation regarding Aspergers Syndrome because of his inability to relate to social queues.

It seems that his inability to relate to people has struck me as odd. How does that relate to him running for president? Think of it this way, most negotiations are not just verbal, especially when dealing with foreign affairs. Missing a very important social queue could be disasterous.

that is my point, but again, if I have insulted you with my very limited knowledge in regards to Aspergers Syndrome, I submit my most humble and sincere apology.

My purpose in posing this question was never ever meant to offend.

Cheers.

is often inaccurate and/or false. The media often wrongly gives a very negative portrayal, and, since most people who aren't familiar with AS base a lot of what they know from what they hear and see in the media, many then have an inaccurate view of it.

I never stopped to consider that idea.

Cheers

It seems more and more people are "diagnosed" with this condition and I have at times thought, there's nothing wrong with that kid other than being told how very special they are by mummy too many times.

Frankly I think it's a shame how some doctors will happily apply diagnostic labels on cases that simply have bad behavior.

But still, I think you have misread the OP and were needlessly hard on him. I am guessing it stems from much frustration you have experienced in dealing with your situation.

Hugs and encouragement!

Julie

have addressed him in a more civil manner. Years of having to defend my son from people with non-so-civil attitudes regarding his social difficulties and who refused to look past those initial difficulties to see his keen intelligence, original thinking and unique personality have perhaps made me a bit more defensive and crustier than I should be. Hate groups like FAAAS who spread misinformation and negative stereotypes and who are actively attempting to make laws screwing over those with AS in family law and employment don't help much, either.

You bring up a good point regarding blanket diagnoses. While Asperger's has been officially recognized in Europe for over sixty years, it's only been officially recognized in this country since 1994. This means that there's much less experience and knowledge and expertise regarding it among many professionals in this country than there should be, which means there's a lot of misdiagnoses going on, with the AS label being slapped too readily on those who do not have the condition at all. That needs to change and hopefully it will once there are experts specifically trained in it.

I have a sister who has never been diagnosed with Aspergers but who displays a lot of the behaviors. If she were to get psychological counseling, I suspect she probably would be diagnosed.

Anyway, for years and years I thought her behavior was due to her being a jerk. But it's only been in the past 6 or 8 years I've realized that she can't help being the way she is.

She obsesses on things. She is nearly totally clueless socially. Unaware of just about everything outside of herself and her small circle. I honestly don't think she even knows who's president of the US, she is that self-absorbed.

And her manner of speaking is...odd.

I wouldn't say her condition is severe, but it's noticeable.

I do think that Mitt might also have just a tinge of the same thing. His mannerisms and way of speaking just seem sort of "off" to me.

As to the question a couple of people asked about so what if he is, my answer to that would be, well, at least it would explain a lot of things, and if he's a bit of a jerk, it's probably not his fault.

Your last sentence was my point.

While I don't care for the guy, his behavior, my not be his fault.

and it's sort of funny that when he was Governor of my state, he wasn't as visible as he is now, so I really didn't notice his behavior all that much.

Now I ask myself how did I miss it, but he really is out there all the time these days so I guess that's a good reason...

I have known some people who suffer from it.

Don

John Kerry was too, as was Al Gore. Not everyone is totally comfortable speaking in front of large crowds even if they happen to be running for President. He may be quite different with his family. He also comes from a wealthy, sheltered background and that can make him come off as stiff.

Your post meets SOP for Topic, I should think.

Asperger's has a wide range of symptoms.
Which behaviors have you noticed that bring this to mind?

IMO, he shows the aloof distance that lots of hoity toity ultra rich show..remember Barbara Bush and her comments about the poor people who were left to suffer in the stadium after Katrina.?
Barbara and Shrub and even Pickles all had that "distance" aloof thing going.

He just seems "off". Not quite centered on the line.

I have listened to a few of his speeches to see if it was just me that caught it, but I asked my gf as well and she picked up, with out any prompting from me, that there is just some thing odd about him.

Granted, I totally agree with his inability to relate to people, let alone the average person, but there also just something different about him.

Anyway, it appears as if some people agree and a lot don't agree with my observation.

Some people in this thread have suggested narcissism and or him being a sociopath. I had thought of that last one myself from time to time, but just like with my observation regarding potential Aspergers, I don't have enough information.

I don't know if I'm wrong or right, but given the fact that I don't have enough information, I will side with me being wrong.

Cheers!

In fact, in many ways the opposite. People with Aspergers syndrome are usually excessively honest, and find it very difficult to dissemble. They usually find it difficult to adapt their speech or behaviour to different social groups and settings, even when it would be appropriate to do so. With a person with Aspergers, 'what you see is what you get' to an extreme degree. Romney is at the other end of the scale: a complete chameleon, who changes to suit his audience. True, he sometimes lets himself get a bit too honest, as when he said that he 'likes being able to fire people'; but he is better at hiding his extremism (or perhaps is not as extreme, except when it seems advantageous to him) than the other candidates.

Also, I suspect that he is just plain not very intelligent.

that many people may not have thought of and that's understandable. You use the common phrase "suffering from" when you refer to AS. But I would submit that my son, and other AS, do NOT "suffer" from it. It is not a "disorder" or "disease". It is simply a different way of thinking and perceiving, a way that, frankly, often allows for original, unique, creative thinking that has long been known to aid in solving scientific problems or proposing new theories or inventions, and for creativity and advancement in many areas, including art, science, humanities, medicine, etc., etc. The fact that they are wired not to go along with the crowd and to think outside of the conformity box everyone else is so afraid of leaving means that they are open to such creative originality that so greatly aids our advancement. In fact, many experts now think that a lot of scientists and artists and inventors who were responsible for some of our greatest advancements either had AS or were on the ASD spectrum (Mozart and Einstein, anyone?)

The tragedy about that nowadays is that, ironically, at a time when we know more than we ever did about the variety of ways people's minds work, ways of perceiving, thinking and creating, we have less tolerance than ever for any differences from what is considered "normal." More demands than ever for what I term "neuroconformity", and we are going to pay for that as a society, both on a social level and an advancement progress level. I dealt with that shit all while raising my son and he deals with it now, never mind his wonderfully original and creative mind, that doesn't matter to too many people. And AS are NOT "anti-social", they are fiercely loyal to friends and family and care about others. They just do it in a way that's different. Just because they can't deftly work a room or have fifty close friends on speed-dial doesn't mean they aren't caring people or good friends. Some people with the best social skills can be real jerls, some can be the meanest, nastiest, most selfish judgmental people you can know.

Anti-AS hate groups like FAAAS don't help, either, with their spreading of hate, misinformation and stereotypes and their attempts to codify discrimination against AS in the law in family law and employment, among other areas.