Is McCain Brain Damaged?

[Herb Schaffler]

That's the opinion of Jim Pittaway, a psychotherapist who has worked for a decade in a rehabilitation program for victims of Traumatic Brain Injury. In an article he wrote in the October 20, 2008 issue of "The American Conservative", he writes that with all the abuse he received as a POW, that is, all the beatings to his head, he doesn't see how he could have gone through all that without brain damage. He believes this explains his uncontrollable temper which he believes would make McCain a dangerous president, especially on foreign policy.

Fellow Republicans have also expressed concern about McCain's temper. Republican senator Bob Smith told the "Washington Post", "His temper would place this country at risk in international affairs, and the world perhaps in danger. In my mind, it should disqualify him."

George Will recently wrote, "For McCain, politics is always operatic, pitting people who agree with him against those who are 'corrupt' or 'betray the public's trust,' two categories that seem to be exhaustive - there are no other people. ...It is arguable that McCain, because of his boiling moralism and bottomless reservoir of certitudes, is not suited to the presidency." George Will describes McCain as impulsive, defiant, unforgiving, and narcissistic.

Pittaway stated in the article that, "Even minor concussions, in sequence, can cause major damage to brain tissue. ...It is impossible to experience torture at a level sufficient to cause a highly indoctrinated and motivated professional naval aviator to abandon his beliefs and commitments to his country and, as McCain maintains, experience no serious or enduring damage. ...The responses of an unhealthy or damaged brain to the ego-distortions, pressures, complexities, and especially the decision-making powers of the presidency are the stuff of horror fiction. No points of agreement on policy or program can justify that kind of risk."