Melting Down But Still in Charge

[Ilsa]

Melting Down But Still in Charge

Dick Cheney should take a leave of absence before he accidentally hurts us all.
By Garance Franke-Ruta
Web Exclusive: 02.17.06

http://www.prospect.org/web/page.ww?section=root&name=ViewWeb&articleId=11165

Dick Cheney may have appeared calm and collected during his interview with Brit Hume on Fox News Wednesday night, but reports from those closest to the vice president paint a picture of a man who has spent the past week in extreme emotional straits. The New York Times quotes Ben Love, a West Texas rancher staying on the Armstrong ranch, saying Cheney was "just crushed” when he saw him at dinner after the shooting. He wasn’t much better the next day. "I could tell he was still upset,” Kenedy County Chief Deputy Sheriff Gilbert San Miguel told the Corpus Christi Caller-Times, describing Cheney’s mental state during his 8 a.m. Sunday police interview. “He was very, very upset." Bush called the shooting “a deeply traumatic moment" for Cheney, reports The Washington Post, and described the vice president as “profoundly affected” by it. Meanwhile, a “source close to Cheney” told CBS News yesterday that the vice president is in a "state of meltdown."

Cheney-bashers may be inclined to sneer at these reports as self-serving attempts to cast a careless sportsman as a victim while the real victim of his recklessness remains in intensive care in Christus Spohn Hospital in Texas. They shouldn’t. Post-shooting trauma and psychological collapse on the part of shooters are real problems -- and why, for the good of the country, Vice President Cheney should consider taking a medical leave of absence from his position.

SNIP

“People that have physical illnesses have a greater likelihood of developing post-traumatic stress reactions,” explains Mark Lerner, a clinical psychologist and president of The American Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress, an organization that works with first responders.

Web sites that describe “police trauma syndrome” note that shooters can experience sound and time distortions during and after the critical incident, making it hard to describe accurately what happened, and sometimes even hallucinations after the fact, or a feeling of being haunted, though this is more common in situations where the shooter has been under threat himself or killed someone. Some develop “John Wayne syndrome” after the fact, taking excessive risks in a self-destructive way, while others are subject to self-doubt, compulsions, alcoholism, overeating, and gambling. Their job performance and family relationships can deteriorate, and they can fall prey to episodes of depression and helplessness, with occasional suicidal thoughts.

SNIP

[proud2BlibKansan]

1. The next day, he wasn't upset

he was hung over.

[Ilsa]

3. Let's play "what-if?"

If he does have some emotional trauma from this, I wonder if anyone around him will try and help him get help for it. Some of those symptoms don't sound too healthy for the rest of us.

Frankly, I bet he isn't losing sleep over it.

[ingac70]

2. Suicidal thoughts?

We should be so lucky.

[f-bush]

10. Amen to that!

[Atman]

4. Hey Dick...your friend's bloody face STILL doesn't look like real war

Go to Iraq and spend some time on the front lines with the men and women who you're using as pawns to prop up your Halliburton stock, you lilly-livered POS. Oh, make that PICKLED-livered POS.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

5. The author has a point

and even though we all love to bash Cheney around here, I think the author has some valid points. Let's also remember Cheney's secretive nature. He doesn't like to be talked about, his movements discussed. I can imagine that this week of endless examination of what happened, coupled with the numerous jokes on the matter have left him with the feeling of crawling on hot coals. Couple this with a bad heart, medications that might negatively react with alcohol (which I assume he is abusing at the moment to try and ease the stress) and the overall stress of being VP, and I could see where "meltdown" would be a very apt word. I hope that Cheney does take a leave of absense, or even resigns, over this, for his health-and for the health of the nation.

[MADem]

8. Remember his injured foot??? Gout, maybe, caused by boozing? n/t

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

9. Yes, I think your diagnosis may well be right

A lot of fellows who are/have been heavy drinkers get gout. My brother is a couple of months older than Cheney; he's had his share of problems, mainly gall bladder, but he looks a LOT better than Cheney and a lot younger, too. And my hero, whose quote is in my signature line, is 65-I've met Sam and HE'S in a lot better shape than Cheney as well, as well as better looking. Of course, both Sam and my brother are Democrats-maybe that has something to do with it as well.

[AntiFascist]

6. Think of how the quail must feel in their last moments n/t

[rodeodance]

7. actually i would want to know that our VP has some human characterists.

Perhaps this incident drew them out. I hope so.

[enough]

11. And if the shooter is already responsible for tens of thousands of deaths?

What effect will this trauma have on him?

Maybe it will wake him up to what he has done in the world. I doubt it.