Dr. Justin Frank on Bush: "He is Insane" (interview on Randi's show)

Randi Rhodes interviews Dr. Justin Frank (author of Bush on the Couch) June 15, 2006
To download this show go to whiterosesociety.org

Randi: What is wrong with the president?

Frank: I think what is wrong with the president is that he feels extremely pleased with himself. I remember that he was like this in the second debate with Kerry--one moment when he answered a question right and he was prancing around like it was an exam or a test, forgetting that he was president. And that he slides very quickly into a kind of grandiose state that is bordering on being manic. So what happens is, when you’re manic and very happy you make puns like he did with “Roger, Roger”; you feel like you’re invincible, you can have that swagger he had in that particular press conference yesterday, and it was like “Mission Accomplished” redux. It was exactly the same thing as we’ve seen before with him which is when you’re feeling good everything is good, the whole world is good, and he can make fun of anybody he wants and he doesn’t really care about anything. And I think it’s embarrassing but I think part of the discomfort is the discomfort with a president who’s not only disrespectful, like you say, and who’s immature, like you say, he’s also a person who is actually out of control. And when he’s really excited like that he feels he can do whatever he wants. And he’s very hypo manic. And people who are manic--and I’ve known many in my practice over the years, especially when they don’t have their lithium on board--they really can be extremely funny for about two minutes and then they become tiresome. And after you listen to them for a little while they’re not funny at all. But in his case, because he’s the president and this is a serious matter--they just announced today that we’ve reached the 2,500 mark for US dead in Iraq--this is a serious matter in every way possible and yet he can’t contain himself.

I watched the whole press conference, and after I knew I was gonna be on your show I went to whitehouse.gov and watched the whole thing again. And I was actually struck by how professional he was when he was reading his script. It was when he was off script that he seemed to kind of come unglued and get a little bit manic. Then he would catch himself and be okay again. But the “Roger, Roger” thing and the “pretty good for a substitute” thing and of course the way he dealt with the blind reporter (who was very amazing himself, when he said “it depends on your perspective”--I thought his response was quite composed given what he could‘ve said.).

Randi: And Bush was forced to call him and apologize and in the apology Mr. Wallsten said: “No apology necessary.” But you just wonder, when he called, if he said “Can I speak to Stevie Wonder” because he (Bush) just can’t stop. We’ve got a manic frat boy in charge of the country and it’s so frightening to me because this is the time when you really need a strong resolve, a strong president. He chose this war, he inserted our kids in this war, and they won’t change the strategy--all they’ll do is make politics around the policy--which is to occupy Iraq. And so you watch Bush yesterday and you just expect that he’s gonna grab one of the reporters in the corridor and give him a wedgie instead of showing the world how we’re gonna solve this horrible problem of opening up the gates of hell over there. And he’s always doing this--he always makes these verbal gaffs; it’s like his mother, who said about the Katrina victims, “I think it’s working out very well for them.” Do they have some sort of a blunder gene?

Frank: This is not a blunder--it’s much worse than that. This is an example of a person who says when he puts the safety of America first, and he cares about Americans first and he’s gonna stay the course--what he doesn’t say is that he puts the safety of himself first. One reporter actually asked that: “How come you only gave them a five minute notice?” And he then responded by saying “people want me to take care of myself,” “Iraq is dangerous”

Randi: Yeah, “I’m a high valued target”

Frank: But what is clear is that for a person who was reeling in the polls and having a terrible time of it to then go and have this moment of grandiose experience with the soldiers and with the Primer of Iraq--it’s like this little bit to tip him over into a manic state, so he comes back in a very manic, grandiose state. And what comes out when your manic is that you are indifferent in the way his mother was indifferent to the Katrina victims but it’s much more frightening because I think that he’s completely out of touch with his own grandiosity. And the press, a little bit, try to talk about it but basically they are enabling him; they’re in a chronic state of enabling an alcoholic because what they do is they are afraid to confront him. Not only because they won’t be invited back and he can be quite cruel to people, but I think they’re afraid to confront him because there’s another part that applies to lots of us--that we don’t want a president who is gonna just collapse right in front of us. And I think people are afraid that if they confront him too much he’ll have a temper tantrum. Because when you confront a manic in a very clear and direct way--in a steady and stable way--they really lose control and become enraged and I think that people are afraid of that. Partly because they want to save face for America and partly because they’re afraid for their own jobs and partly because everybody depends on him being presidential.

Randi: What did you make of him when he was in Iraq and he did this little visit with the troops who work inside the embassy--Saddam’s old palace--and he started to cry. Did you see that?

Frank: I didn’t see it on TV, I heard about it. He said he was very moved by being in there…but that’s…I just don’t buy it. I think that if there’s any crying it would be tears of joy and relief that he’s still in charge and still president. His main goal has to do with staying in control and he feels very good--he felt really good--he felt on top of his game. So on the one hand you can talk him as being bantering and everything but I was really surprised after I saw those Jon Stewart clips on the show last night, I just couldn’t believe it. But when I watched the whole press conference those were really moments where he was in a kind of manic, out of control state. But the rest of the time I thought he was hanging in there ‘cause the way he does when he’s manic and grandiose he repeats certain phrases over and over again: “pro-growth,” “democracy,”

Randi: “Terrorists”

Frank: “Terrorists”, all those things about…and this new term “Together Forward,” Operation “Together Forward,” it’s a bizarre turn of events. But I think that every time he has one moment of good news he is ecstatic. We see that in little kids, and like you were saying, in frat boys; they get an A on a test after they had an all night drunk and then they think: “Oh my god, this is great, I’m on top of the world.”

Randi: So we’ve got a president whose policies are all about torture, killing, occupation of sovereign nations and on top of it he presents as a giant goofball, so he behaves like Al Bundy during press conferences but he’s Ted Bundy when he formulates his policies.

Frank: Yes, exactly, that’s a great image. Because what happens is when he’s forming policy his policy is based, a lot of it, is based on contempt and one of the hallmarks of a person who is manic--it’s called the Manic Triad--and there are three parts of a manic defense. One is called Control where you’re in control of everything, two is Contempt where nobody really matters except you, and then there’s Triumph where you feel like you’re triumphant over everything and you can do whatever you want. And he shows all three of those things: Control, Contempt, and Triumph, in a way that you really see in untreated people in hospitals or occasionally when people are sliding into a manic state.

Randi: What I don’t understand is that if he is indeed manic, and he needs lithium why don’t they just give it to him?

Frank: They will. I would think they give him things. A lot of times he seems a little bit drugged when he’s on TV and a little bit sedated. Some of the time I’ve seen him and he looks really sedated. I don’t know what they give him but they must give him something.

The other thing that happens with manics is that if you listen to them carefully is that everything they say that’s negative or positive about the other person, what they’re usually talking about is about themselves. So when he said that the important thing about the Iraqi people is to restore confidence in their government, this is very important, we want to deal with corruption at all levels, and it’s up to their government to earn the confidence of the people in Iraq--well, Karl Rove has just been through the mill and there’s the possibility he’s not going to be indicted--there’s no written thing by the way, it’s just verbal that he’s not going to be indicted--but he’s projecting his own government, where there’s no confidence in his government but when he’s talking about Iraq he can talk about it clearly without being defensive because he’s put his own anxiety about his own government outside of himself and into Iraq. And it’s important to listen to Bush in particular--all politicians project to some extent which means they attribute qualities in themselves that are disowned into other people--everybody does this to some extent--but he does it to such a maximum degree that it’s quite stunning to me.

Randi: Well, thank you for this. I really appreciate it. And as far as Karl Rove goes let me just tell you--look in Rove’s background….do you know it?

Frank: No.

Randi: Oh, it’s unbelievable. Rove was raised by a guy who wasn’t really his father and he never found that out until he was about thirty years old; his mother committed suicide in Reno when he was thirty and he didn’t meet his real father until he was in his forties. So there’s a lot of stuff going on there with Rove too. And Newt Gingrich, same thing. But when you talk about protecting yourself by projecting onto other people what you think about yourself…Rove is a rat. Mark my words. I will go on record today telling you that the die is cast here: Rove will only protect himself and you’re gonna see that Rove got a pass because Rove is helping Fitzgerald nail Cheney. And one can only hope that that’s the result here.

Frank: That may be. But I think that your point about protecting himself is one of the ways people do, unconsciously, protect themselves is by projecting. Because they actually do experience the other people as bad and they don’t see themselves as lying unless they’re really confronted they don’t see it. They really see that the Iraq government needs confidence, and when he talks about how he hates the killing and the killing of civilians, well, if Lancet--which is the British medical journal, if they have any say, if they’re accurate--they have over 200,000 Iraqi citizens killed.

Randi: John Hopkins reports 127,000. The numbers are stunning. Well, thank you very much Dr. Frank. I need sanity when I’m looking at this insane man..

Frank: He is insane and the problem is he makes everybody else, everybody watching him, we all start feeling insane because we wonder why nobody is saying anything, or why the press isn’t saying anything.

Randi: Well, that’s a good explanation--they just don’t want to sacrifice American security by showing that the president’s a lunatic.

Frank: I think so.

Randi: That’s the best explanation I’ve ever heard.

Frank: I think that’s why. I really do.

*

this show is so highly rated nationwide!

Just wow.

Thanks for posting this for those of us who did not hear it.

Recommended.

His Physicians are the real criminals as are the Legislative bodies that do not challenge him. Bush is sick and may well be insane (not responsible for his actions).

by ignoring the truth? The president is a lunatic. How the hell does that make us any safer?

I understand what the doc is saying...I just can't believe that we are sitting back and allowing this to happen. Ugh.......

other countries to know we have a crazy president

newsflash: they already know. everyone knows!

so what's the excuse of congress for allowing this madness to continue?

oh, i know--some of them suffer from the common sheeple disease and some suffer from an unusual spinal disorder called lackabackbone

sure, there's a few in congress that are still healthy--but too few of them to do anything about this reign of madness

rooting out their gravy train of big donors and perks. And the other side of that is that the massive spying has netted blackmail info on all the key people that the Bushies want to control.

I believe that Bush is not only insane, he also is deteriorating in his basic mental functions. See this video comparing his public speaking just a decade ago when he was Governor of Texas with more recent performances. Night and day. He's insane, but until the last years he was able to speak smoothly.

The video:
http://www.adbuzz.com/bushbuzz.htm

K & R

people are too scared to say something, so, we watch and wait for the next dangerous thing he does. No, way is this jerk going to get away with this.

It feels as though we are at a point where we either stand up OR get led away to a designated camp. It's that simple.

the streets--i mean, will EVERYONE take to the streets when they steal the votes THIS TIME?

(like that other country did.....damn! what was the name of that country? i forget!)

on edit:
oh yeah, Ukraine.

of 9/11, november is too late.....trick or treat?)

i just wonder what the hell it's gonna take to get us off our butts and make ourselves known? does congress have to threaten to send all the dems to mexico? those protests a month or so ago were fantastic! even got covered by the msm. humm...i wonder if msm would cover the dems protests like they did w/the immigration protests....

undertaking for any reporter to contemplate. Think of the sequence of events if some mainstream media source began to investigate and discuss the possibility that George W. Bush is legally mentally incompetent. Just take a moment and think about it. That would be unbelievably huge. And with this regime, no one could anticipate the reaction. People could be killed or disappeared - all hell could break loose, here. I believe that Bush is incompetent, mentally and emotionally, but bringing him down on that basis would bring civil war, literally...

sitting on death row begging a privileged, frat boy governor 2 spare his life.

It's terrifying. He makes a very good case for Bush being quite ill, and propped up chemically and personally be those really in power. (read: a puppet)

TC

NOW, he needs psychiatric help. How can we as sane Americans watch this man, and not do anything to protect ourselves. I just shake my head in utter disgust.

He's nuts, and people love him for it. He's just a loveable, charismatic guy! :sarcasm: . He's their man because he spouts the right talking points convincingly enough for those who voted for him. I suppose some did vote somewhat grudgingly because they were frightened of having a Democrat as president.

Isn't it true, though, that the nutty, slightly waco ones are usually the life of the party--and we as a nation just love to be amused. Some make little distinction between entertainment tv and entertainment news.

and section 8ed out of the Navy after putting 4 mp's in the hospital in a fight.
He was 13 years older than me, and I had to re-learn later that the martial arts was not simple
applied sadism.

Yeah, the similarities with Dubya are scary.

While in Leavenworth, Kansas, yesterday I saw a bumper sticker that read "Sportsmen for Bush."
My husband said "well, this sportsman sure as hell isn't for Bush." Maybe it makes some people feel smarter and more comfortable to have a "not-too-bright" president. It's as if we've lowered the bar, nearly to the ground. :think: :eyes: :dunce:

He manipulates them like a drunk manipulates his frightened family.

A drunk, manic and "leader" of the free world - what a combination!!!

I have seen a drunk arguing that robbing a bank didn't work this time but it will work next time, when he gets out of jail. SICK

Frank: He is insane and the problem is he makes everybody else, everybody watching him, we all start feeling insane because we wonder why nobody is saying anything, or why the press isn’t saying anything.


This is what all of us here just can't deal with. A Two-Term Insane man running the country with a bunch of enablers who might be insane just like him for all we know. :crazy:

......to the largest arsenal of nuclear weapons on the planet :scared:

After reading this I thought of the night Bush cracked jokes about not finding WMDs under the furniture. Remember that? I think it was some kind of annual Press Corps thing. Whatever it was, it turned my stomach.

I can't imagine any families of dead kids being able to forget it either.
It was obscene.

I was struck by this phrase. I can see very clearly how a twisted religious man like him can be overwhelmed with emotion that the almighty God saw it fit to remove Saddam, yet keep him at the top of the world. Truly, I say to you, the downfall of this man will be so painful he won't be able to take it. He will probably drink himself to death.

Thank you orleans for this post. Nominated

i know there are some activists and some reporters and some govt officials who care enough to tell the truth and work to make some difference but its working against the wave of indifference and fear and privilege

im glad he made the specific point about the press
to me its much larger than saying they are afraid to show the world how insane bush is

they are complicit im sure for a variety of reasons

but i dont think it can be overemphasized that they are not much different than a lot of people in this country: they live in such an alternate reality bubble that they are not willing to give up

not only do they have a privileged position they are not willing to sacrifice but their heart is not sickened by what they see and hear

with very few exceptions whether its the press, the public or the government - they either agree on some level with the actrocities or they are not willing to confront the horror

and the world is in peril because of every one of us

With Apologies to Leslie Stevens and Joseph Stefano:

"There is nothing wrong with your television set. Republicans control the horizontal, Republicans control the vertical. Sit back and the Republicans will manipulate everything you see and hear"

The Republicans have total control of all media except the internet. The sole function of the press is to kiss Bush's ass no matter what.

Hitler, Stalin or Mao never had a press that kissed their ass as much as the White House Stenographer corps does to Bush. Every last one of them EXCEPT Helen Thomas flaunts the brown lipstick as a badge of honor and when poor Helen tries to speak, the rest of them tear her down.

How Helen can stand up to these cheap presstitutes every day is beyond me!

though i dont know about the comparison to the other rulers and the press but no doubt this press basically keeps their eyes on one thing only - staying on the privileged pay roll

to sea, "four more years, four more years."

Everything he described is indicative of a malignant narcissist. Bush and his mom suffer from NPD.

i'm always looking for explanations to that psychopath's behavior....

http://www.faqfarm.com/Q/How_can_you_recognize_a_narcissist

I recommend you also do additional reading into Narcisstic Personality Disorder. It is a HIGHLY prevalent disorder in the United States that too many of us do not know or understand.

if i remember right, i think that dr. frank said he had this in his book bush on the couch. (i highlighted a lot from that book and there was a segment on this that was so bush!)

so he has npd combined with hypomania...

great.....

:scared:

Dubya is a cypher. Viewing his early interviews when he couldn't name nary a world leader shows that the fellow (well accoutered with a made-for-teevee ranch just in time for the elections) is nothing but a figurehead - and those who attack HIM as opposed to the policies that his taskmasters mark for him are falling into a dangerous trap.

In two years the GOP and their corporate backers will be able to use the "bad apple" label regarding Dubya - if public opinion finally places his admin where it deserves to be. And when it does so it will support the very same policies with a clean slate.

If we used our brains instead of our emotions we would write off this moron-in-chief and go after the POLICIES. Thus the GOP would be emasculated instead of empowered through a cogdis response to animosity.

Trickle-down (neolib economics) has always failed - in the US, in Chile - anywhere. It provides "growth" but also poverty and a shrinking middle class. Neoconservatism has cost us the last modicum of respect that we had garnered under Wilson, FDR and Kennedy. HERE is where we should attack, and not against the Emmanuel Goldstein du jour... the moron in chief.

Hell - it might even be expedient to give the idiot a break. "He was badly mislead by a group of ideologues, poor fellow" is better than saying that a cypher is insane.

He may be an alcoholic with pretzel problems, he might be language-challenged, he might be an endowement "C" student, he might be a failure in his every endeavour. But he is president in name only - or we're in far worse shape than imagineable.

I despise the Bradley's, Olin's and Scaife's - but I can't imagine them as being so incompetent as to actually follow such a leader. I'm CERTAIN that these folk know that he is just a tool - someone who appeals to Joe Uhmurca because he could imagine having a beer with the bastid in a bar.

But a responsible leader? No way - the world isn't THAT insane.

So go after the POLICIES which will last longer than the current lame duck. Cut the idiot some slack - even some sympathy. It might sway someone from the cogdis brigade.

i liked your post. but i disagree immensely, entirely.

the only way to win here is to attack the personality early and often, and never let go.

"the only way to win here is to attack the personality early and often, and never let go."

But you're attacking a lame duck that will be out of the picture in the next elections while his policies will doubtlessly live on with his selected successor as GOP candidate.

The carping from the moron majority is not that Bush has implemented bad policies well, but that he has implemented good policies badly.

I've already heard former supporters attack Bush for being a liberal in disguise:

He is spending just like a liberal.

He wants to be policeman to the world, just like a liberal.

He supports big government just like a liberal.

He mollycoddles illegal immigrants just like a liberal.

By the time this is over, they will have us believing that Bush was a liberal all along, and they were duped into electing a traitor to their ideology.

Meanwhile, the Democrats are falling all over themselves to show that they are better Republicans than the Republicans.

Attacking the war in Iraq not because it was wrong, but because it was fought incompetently.

Crossing the aisle on every vote, for fear of standing in too far away from the Republicans in ideology.

And on, and on...

I can't add anything, and that's pretty unusual.

Welcome to the DU, by the way:smoke:

could this be true? Where does Randi get this from? It's an amazing thing for her to state on the record.

Wow. COULD it be true? I will not dare to hope. I can't allow myself to be so disappointed again!

But, wouldn't that be wonderful? Cheney is absolutely reprehensible.

TC

what kind of relationship rove and cheney have? maybe rove wants cheney out to put another VP in before the November 2008 election to make a run for the presidency. Food for thought.

"Rove is a rat. Mark my words. I will go on record today telling you that the die is cast here: Rove will only protect himself and you’re gonna see that Rove got a pass because Rove is helping Fitzgerald nail Cheney. And one can only hope that that’s the result here."

yes, one can only hope.

"...because what they do is they are afraid to confront him. Not only because they won’t be invited back and he can be quite cruel to people, but I think they’re afraid to confront him because there’s another part that applies to lots of us--that we don’t want a president who is gonna just collapse right in front of us. And I think people are afraid that if they confront him too much he’ll have a temper tantrum. Because when you confront a manic in a very clear and direct way--in a steady and stable way--they really lose control and become enraged and I think that people are afraid of that. Partly because they want to save face for America and partly because they’re afraid for their own jobs and partly because everybody depends on him being presidential"

-----

That is EXACTLY what I've been thinking myself for quite some time.

Well said.

:rofl:

:scared:

We've ALL enabled him, because of fear...fear of what he and his followers and his police state apparatus might do to us if we anger him.

The very first time I saw him back in 1999, a chill went down my spine...a chill that emanated from his psyche...a message that he clearly projected: "Vote for me or I'll kill all of you."

No one likes him...not really. No one ever did. We're all afraid of his arbitrary cruelty and his utter lack of shame, doubt or remorse.

Jackie Mason once cracked a joke stupidly comparing Clinton with Nixon - a joke that applies with stunning force when applied to Bush instead of Clinton: "At least Nixon had the decency to TWITCH when he lied."

Bush has no decency...no empathy...no conscience. He's the American Psycho we dare not confront and may not survive.

But confront him we must.

perhaps that explains the controlled nature of everything and situation * is in ... someone must be advising Rove et al on the psychology of propping him up ... of course, Rove/Hughes probably have it down to a science by now ... it may explain everything from 1st amendment zones to controlled press questions to having someone in a carefully screened audience saying, "I'm so glad you're my president" to signing statements, etc. It would be a lot easier if he was dictator. He was probably told that early on, and repeated it. They go to great strides keeping him from extemporaneous situations ... are foreign leaders told what they can and can not do in his presence?

Seems the people around him are willing to destroy the country in order to keep his feeling of control in tact.

I suspect all the Bu$hies 'issues'. I recall after they stole 2000, Bu$h was in Florida. Can't remember where ... a small of pioneer protesters were on a corner when the motorcade passed ... one of the protesters reported that Jebthro gave them the finger. Childish.

That's really a brilliant point about why Bush is kept in his bubble, free of opposing views and confrontations with protesters. There are some excellent examples out there to back up your point. One of my favorites was his loss of control when confronted by a critic in Philadelphia back in July of 2001, before the bubble had fully formed:



And here's another classic example of Bush's inability to control his temper around people who displease him:



So the security bubble around Bush probably has more to do with protecting his image than it does with anything else. After all, if people saw the real GW Bush, those yahoos who thought he was the better guy to have a beer with might just not like him very much and vote for someone else.

A friend of mine from PA was flipped off by Bush at the protest in which The Smokehouse Six re-enacted the Abu Graib prison abuse. But that's not why Bush got pissed and started making obscene hand gestures--he got angry after he saw my friend's sign which read, "More Trees; Less Bush." Guys stripped down to thongs re-enacting incidents of torture, rape and war crimes didn't warrant a Bush hissyfit, but one with a sign that insulted Bush personally? That brought out The Finger. Our president is a kid.

Excellent post. I think I'm even more scared now.

fool up for the Prez...he knows he is sick.

There were some within the WH at the time to make sure he didn't go all the way over into LALA land. If you have a group of "YES" people surrounding you and your constituents are as sociopathic as you may be, who is the guardian? That's what worries me. Who is the rational, mentally healthy one?

(there is no rational, healthy one...)

on edit:
"Groupthink is a mode of thought whereby individuals intentionally conform to what they perceive to be the consensus of the group. Groupthink may cause the group (typically a committee or large organization) to make bad or irrational decisions which each member might individually consider to be unwise."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groupthink

for posting orleans. After reading this, it makes so much sense. When you are looking at that fool, you realize he's insane.

Criminally insane.