Does McCain Have Clinical Depression?
From the “Man, Does Someone Need A Part Time Job or What” Department:
A Canadian study done at Queen’s University in Ontario that’s been published in The New Scientist claims that Republican Presidential candidate Senator John McCain has clincial depression. The study also suggests that if McCain doesn’t have clinical depression, he better do something to perk up his public speaking behavior, becuase he gives off the impression that he’s clinically depressed.
How Can They Tell?
Queen’s University researcher David Skillicorn watched over 150 political speeches by McCain, Barak Obama and Hillary Clinton. If that form of masochism wasn’t enough, he had his computer analyize the speeches again and again and again. What was that poor, demented computer looking for?
- Changes in pitch or tone of voice
- Patterns of word usage
- How many times the canidiate would say “I” compared to how many times
According to this criteria, McCain did really badly. He used lots of words like “enemy” and “hate”, didn’t change his tone of voice much. When McCain gives a speech, it does sound as if he’s just taken a dose of Xanax.
What’s The Big Deal?
These findings come out of a larger project Queens University is trying to do to see if politicians give visual or verbal clues when they are lying. Although I haven’t seen Skillicorn quoted as saying, “And we all know that the clinically depressed are a bunch of liars, don’t we?” that is the vibe I’m picking up.
It is a shame to see that, in between the lines, the study is promoting that having depression is a bad thing. Well, in a way, it IS a bad thing, but not as bad as say … not responding right away to Hurricane Katrina, starting a war over oil, supporting puppy mills, that sort of thing. (Those are things Rebublicans have been known to do, not McCain in particular).
However, it’s thought that Republican President Abraham Lincoln had clinical depression and he’s considered a demigod in America. Dont beleive me? You try and tell a Lincoln joke in America. Better wear a Kevlar vest before you do.
Although I have major (clinical) depression, I’m still not going to vote for McCain.
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