[NeedKarma]

So he's a job creator. You need more of those!

[excon]

Hello again, tom:

he insisted that the sale be completed before Jan 1 to avoid the extra taxes .

OMG! What a bastard...

Excon

[dontknownuthin]

And I'm sure if some evangelical preacher dude in say, Colorado, that makes a name for himself preaching against things like sexual immorality was caught patronizing hookers you wouldn't chastise him would you?



You have no idea what I've done.

A few posters on here, including Excon, like to summarize the lives of total strangers in these weird, vitriolic rants instead of seriously considering that other people who disagree with them might actually have a valid point that they had yet to consider.

How in God's green earth would someone know whether someone else on a blog has ever taken an investment risk? Stupid.

While I am quite moderate in my politics, I am moving further and further right every day because I'm finding the arguments of the left are more like tantrums than logical discussions. There's this oblivious ignorance to Obama's shortcomings like I've never seen in my lifetime. People are just dazzled by the guy even when he's standing in front of them announcing his failures, as he did the other day. He came on television in the 11th hour of this financial crisis, stirring the pot and annoying the other side instead of working on building consensus. He created the emergency by refusing to discuss the fiscal cliff issues until the campaign was over. And as he stood there stammering and stuttering and making absolutely no sense about the looming deadline not likely being met, his supporters stood around him with stepford-wives grins, applauding.

And these ridiculous cheap shots - the argument that Romney has Aspbergers is absolutely ridiculous. There is no indication whatsoever that he has any type of personality disorder, anything even remotely approaching any diagnoses on the autism spectrum. He has never had any difficulty accepting and following authority, managing administrative tasks in his work, fitting in socially, meeting social conventions or managing relationships. He was close to his parents, has a model marriage, great relationships with his children and grandchildren, long-standing business relationships and friendships, a great academic record, a record of volunteer service and a clear record of building consensus. I have also known several people diagnosed with Aspbergers and none of them could have operated within the leadership and supervisory structures in which Romney has thrived, not only as a leader but prior to his success, as a follower and student.

But if something outrageous is on the web from the left, people glom onto it like a life-raft.

Today to be at all reasonable, you really have to abandon the left - they've gone off the deep end.

[talaniman]

Nice cheap shots from a righties that has gone of he deep end. Typical conservative tactic, cry about the left in one sentence, then go off on a self righteous rant in the next.

[dontknownuthin]

The argument that Romney has Aspbergers is in the same category as that stupid Donald Trump's attacks on Obama about his marriage and citizenship - all dumb, all baseless.

[speechlesstx]

Nice cheap shots from a righties that has gone of he deep end. Typical conservative tactic, cry about the left in one sentence, then go off on a self righteous rant in the next.

Might be if it weren't so accurate.

[Wondergirl]

Suggesting that Romney has Asperger's is not a cheap shot. I have been married to a successful man with Asperger's for 45 years. He is smart and doing well financially, was at the top of the game in his career, is loyal to family, and has no shame in being tagged as Asperger's. It is not a personality disorder. In fact, he was relieved to learn he has Asperger's, having always wondered why he has some of the quirks he does and possesses the social reluctance he has. He thinks and feels and learns differently from us "normals" (neurotypicals)--is visual rather than auditory, is overly sensitive physically to touch and even to clothing tags, does not like change of any kind whether it be furniture being moved around or even the weather, has a narrow range of interests but excels in those he especially focuses on, doesn't think quickly on the spur of the moment but has to know ahead of time what he is going to say (and doesn't like surprise pushes off his topic). Yes, none of those say "Asperger's" per se, but if you put them and other certain characteristics all together, they form a syndrome that has become known as Asperger's, very high-functioning but quirky.

[speechlesstx]

Suggesting that Romney has Asperger's is not a cheap shot. I have been married to a successful man with Asperger's for 45 years. He is smart and doing well financially, was at the top of the game in his career, is loyal to family, and has no shame in being tagged as Asperger's. It is not a personality disorder. In fact, he was relieved to learn he has Asperger's, having always wondered why he has some of the quirks he does and possesses the social reluctance he has. He thinks and feels and learns differently from us "normals" (neurotypicals)--is visual rather than auditory, is overly sensitive physically to touch and even to clothing tags, does not like change of any kind whether it be furniture being moved around or even the weather, has a narrow range of interests but excels in those he especially focuses on, doesn't think quickly on the spur of the moment but has to know ahead of time what he is going to say (and doesn't like surprise pushes off his topic). Yes, none of those say "Asperger's" per se, but if you put them and other certain characteristics all together, they form a syndrome that has become known as Asperger's, very high-functioning but quirky.

Yes, it was a cheap shot.

[Wondergirl]

Yes, it was a cheap shot.

It certainly and very reasonable explains all the complaints people had over his attitudes and behavior. Then when his son Tagg came out with the information that his dad really had never wanted to be president, I went, "Ahhhh, now I'm convinced"--that wasn't really on his agenda because it didn't fit in with his plan for himself and his success.

[speechlesstx]

It certainly and very reasonable explains all the complaints people had over his attitudes and behavior. Then when his son Tagg came out with the information that his dad really had never wanted to be president, I went, "Ahhhh, now I'm convinced"--that wasn't really on his agenda because it didn't fit in with his plan for himself and his success.

No, it was a cheap shot.

DAVID SHUSTER: Every time you hear Mitt Romney speak these days I keep thinking about I have an uncle who specializes in the field of Asperger's, and people with autism, and has been making the point to me for several years that there’s some very brilliant creative people who have Asperger's and he’s suggested perhaps that Mitt Romney has some sort of form of Asperger's because he’s so socially inept in terms of being able to connect with people.

What he thinks is funny is really sort of not so funny. I sort of wonder if there is some sort of tic or something that he has or something that’s related to that. [... ]

CHRIS LAVOIE, Miller sidekick: He (Romney) has a bucket in his car and he just said hardware stuff.

STEPHANIE MILLER: He doesn’t know what a donut is.

SHUSTER: Yeah I bought a hammer to hit Rafalca over the head for getting you know 30th place after we took a $77,000 dollar tax write-off.

LAVOIE: Oh David Shuster!

MILLER: Oh David Louise Shuster! All right.

LAVOIE: Ha ha ha ha!

SHUSTER: I must say, I you know the Rafalca issue is really personally offended me because I was embarrassed. I don’t think our Olympians should be getting in 30th place and especially when they’re taxing tax write offs and if Mitt Romney is pleased of Rafalca proud of Rafalca then he’s got even more problems than he knows.

It was a cheap shot.

[tomder55]

Funny how he ran for over 8 years for the position he really didn't want.

[Wondergirl]

It was a cheap shot.

Cheap shot implies negativity. If I say he is left handed, and it turns out he is, is that a cheap shot too? "Asperger's" explains, but doesn't damn.

funny how he ran for over 8 years for the position he really didn't want.

I'm guessing he was being gently encouraged by history and certain individuals in his life but really hadn't thought it through at that point. Why did Tagg say what he did recently?

[speechlesstx]

Cheap shot implies negativity. If I say he is left handed, and it turns out he is, is that a cheap shot too? "Asperger's" explains, but doesn't damn.

You can't seriously believe that everything the media and Obama floated out there about Romney, from Seamus the dog, to Mormonism being weird to the possibility of having Asperger's was not intended to create doubt about his fitness for office. It most definitely was and he most definitely does not have Asperger so it was a cheap shot.

[dontknownuthin]

Asperger syndrome manifests in several ways.

One is that the individual is unable to understand how to interact socially. Mitt Romney has no difficulty whatsoever interacting socially. In fact, his career is marked by an unusual level of success in building consensus, bringing people together to resolve problems, building teams. He is staid and somewhat formal but this is to be expected of an individual who has been raised in a serious, formal, high-achieving family. His father was a public figure, he was educated in very conservative institutions and generally had a more serious upbringing than some of us. He then went to work in finance and business, which is a very conservative, staid environment where his formality is not only appropriate but absolutely expected. This is not a "clinical" condition - it's a typical personality trait for his profession and background.

A second typical characteristic is physical clumsiness and general difficulty with motor skills. Romney was an allstar athlete and has no difficulty whatsoever with motor skills. He is not known to break things, fall, trip, or to be physically awkward or clumsy at all. The opposite is true - he is quite athletic, particularly when you also factor in his age. He played college football, which demonstrates that not only is he not deficient in this area, he has better motor skills than most of us.

A third characteristic is extreme pre-occupation with limited interests - obsessions. Romney has a very well-balanced life. He is involved in his church, business, devoted to his wife, involved and close with his children and grandchildren - there is no evidence at all that he lives in a bubble with his limited interests. He has easily transferred skills from one area in business to another - for example, managing financial businesses, being a governor and then running the Olympics - all successfully. Someone with Asperger's limitations on interests and extreme focus in particular areas of interest would not have such a diverse career. They wouldn't even want it. A person with Aspergers will typically redirect conversation back to their area of obsessive interest, which often has nothing to do with the subject at hand. For example, they might be interested in robotics and will bring it up at the dinner table when the discussion is about an upcoming family wedding. Romney is always on topic and can speak authoritatively on a great many subjects. He is well read on a broad spectrum of subjects and if he's obsessed with anything in particular, it's not evident. If he had Aspbergers, there would at least be some very well known high-interest hobby or interest in his life above all others, which there isn't.

Additional markers of Aspergers include unusual, often repetitive speech patterns. He does not repeat himself and his speech patterns are normal.

Additional signs of Aspergers include repetitive behaviors - Romney doesn't demonstrate this ---a being "in their own world" to the extreme that they are inattentive to the concerns of others - certainly not a characteristic of Romney at all. In his business, he has always had to consider the needs of clients, colleagues and then as governor, many competing constituents.

There is this portrayal that Romey "can't understand" people who are not rich but that's based on a left agenda to portray Obama as "Mr. Main Street" and feed a campaign agenda to pretend that Romney as an elitist. It's baseless. Like all the arguing to get him to release his tax returns - for what purpose? To show that he gave his entire, sizeable family inheritance to charity so he could be his own self-made man? To demonstrate that he put his money in a blind trust, to meet the legal and ethical requirements of a man in his profession? To show that he has enough empathy for others that he routinely donates 1/3 of his income to charity... even though most of it does not help his tax consequences given that he goes way over the allowable deductions in this area?

Just because the left do not like him doesn't mean he has a "disorder".

[speechlesstx]

I'm guessing he was being gently encouraged by history and certain individuals in his life but really hadn't thought it through at that point. Why did Tagg say what he did recently?

You've never lost in something and didn't feel like trying again at the moment? I

More than being reticent, Romney was at first far from sold on a second presidential run. Haunted by his 2008 loss, he initially told his family he would not do it. While candidates often try to portray themselves as reluctant, Tagg insisted his father's stance was genuine.

It's quite normal to suffer some defeat and be reluctant to try again.

[Wondergirl]

Asperger's is not a disorder. Different parts of the brain are at work while other parts are more dormant, thus different from neurotypical brain functioning -- not bad or dysfunctional, just different. And there are as many expressions of Asperger's as there are people who have it. Did he play anything other than football? From what I have read, he did more with managing sport groups than playing, and is noted in biographies as not being especially athletic.

[dontknownuthin]

The issue over the word "disorder" is semantics. He does not have clinically diagnosable condition - how's that?

Yes, each individual with aspergers is different. However, there are similar patterns which is how they are able to diagnose and identify it. It's not a boundless list of conditions. The manifestations I listed are from the most recent official definition of the Aspergers, before it was rolled into the autism spectrum.

[Wondergirl]

The manifestations I listed are from the most recent official definition of the Aspergers, before it was rolled into the autism spectrum.

And he fits it very nicely. Even his wife has said he is a terrible dance partner. I love you too dearly for your stellar and compassionate responses to people to continue to argue with you about this. Let's agree to disagree, okay?

[dontknownuthin]

Oh, lord! Bad dance partner? Every man I've ever dated must have Aspergers... who knew! (just kidding). I certainly agree that we disagree! Nothing personal, but I just don't believe in throwing out diagnosis about people... I've heard people accuse Obama of having a Narcissistic personality disorder too - I wouldn't be assigning him a "diagnosis" either.

[paraclete]

Why are we talking about this again, the man has had his chance and gone to wherever defeated presidential candidates go, writing his memoirs or something