Does Gordon Brown have Aspergers??

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Anyone see this evenings political debate between the 3 major UK party leaders?

Election 2010: Three way clashes in historic TV debate
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/poli ... 621119.stm

I'm watching News Night now, and they are saying that Gordon Brown was listing too many facts and going into too much detail, boring the audience (Gordon was listing badly again!). He also tried to make a few jokes, which no one found funny. Another commentator said Gordon shouldn't smile because his smile always looks false. Seems to me that Gordon looses out in live debates because he is an Aspie. Not the first time this was suggested...

'Autistic' Brown loses the plot
A true statesman would have praised his departing master to the rooftops, but not Gordon, says Robert Harris
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/u ... 634302.ece

its possible but i definetly prefer an aspie like gordon to a underperforming slimeball like cameron

I didn't find Gordon Brown boring. Some people interviewed later on said they found the entire show "boring". Maybe they didn't understand all the big words.

Is that why he can't lie convincingly? Or does he just have that constant belief that he cant be wrong, even when he clearly is?

That is the exactly the point politicians need to be able to lie convincingly. The reason politicians need to bend the truth is because people want to them to. They want to be told the same damn thing every election.

The fact Gordon can't lie very well isn't such a bad thing. In fact there is no firm evidence to suggest that he is a bigger liar than anyone else. Many people are seem to be angry at him simply for being socially inept. Then again people will pass the buck on anything, even if it is a natural event, it is the government's fault.

I'm not a fan or Gordon Brown as politician, but the reason he has failed is due to his inability to judge the public mood rather than anything else. I’m not a fan of popularism for popularism sake, however you have to know when your time is up. He had a chance to pull the Labour party out of the stink and resign.

People are feeling pretty depressed at the idea of the election, given that they don’t like either of the main parties all that much.

I actually met John Major once. You may find it hard to believe but he was a pretty nice bloke as an ordinary person, and not a “grey” as he was made out to be. Unfortunately he was never really cut out for politics, and I wouldn’t have supported him or the Tories. Gordon in person, I doubt would be that interesting, although not as bad as some make out.

On the radio 4 comedy shows, they regularly joke about Gordon haveing aspergers. Im not sure how I feel about that, whether its wrong that they are useing aspergers as a comedy insult, or whether Gordon does have it or not, perhaps that would be a good thing that an AS person could be a high politition. Im sure Churchil and Thatcher also had aspergers, when I listend to a radio 4 documentory on Thatcher she was always doing AS things, and haveing the same problems as Brown with humour and smiles and seeming 'frosty'.

Brown almost certainly has it - if you skim some of the biographies made of him, all the traits really show through. There are plenty of other politicians like him, but I am skeptical that Thatcher and Churchill fit into the same catagory. Nixon is a really good one to look at if you get chance...

i always thought it was a bit crap how politicians are judged by their charisma etc. i don't like gordon brown or labour that much but it is a shame that his critics focus on his persona more than anything that actually matters!

Churchill actually at one point was assessed as having the old term for the condition what is now referred to as ADHD. It formed part of the reason he was pushed by his family to be involved in the Boer War and Sudan. I think that makes sense as he was so quick witted in his immediate retorts to people both in his role and on a personal level. I've never met an aspie with that kind of ability

I find the bias of the press towards Gordon Brown quite amusing. He could of gone into that tv show and made a stellar performance and the crowd would of still slagged him off. The BBC would still poke fun at him. Basically since the Hutton Report the press turned on labour and its just so blatent sometimes how they are biased in their opinions. I find it all rather counter-productive He doesn't need any more help to end his time in office 3 terms is quite a successful run by any parties standards. The labour party has had a good run of things, theve had plenty of their mp's knocked off disgraced or hounded out of office by the press. There out of manpower, experiance and people with any credability left so they need time to re-charge have new blood emerge in the party ranks and return when the Cameron government falls flat on its arse which it is near enough garunteed to do so.

It seems to me that many people with great power and responsibility assume a sort of Asperger's character. After all, when you're worrying about running the country all the time, I think social interaction and all that might seem a bit trivial. Gordon Brown probably has nothing more than that.

There is one problem with that argument - most of these traits are often more apparent before they end up filling that office. Also its worth noting that these people get nice authority positions to hide behind, not to mention the support that comes with it. For the most part, they can dictate the social circumstances, as they are in charge. Plus the position gives a structure and a clear relationship for nearly every social interaction.

Do remember that autism is a spectrum, and that generally speaking, one can have a few characteristics of it without having enough to be considered Asperger or full-blown autistic.

The point is if you strip away the facades these people hide behind, they qualify a lot more clearly. Try say Tom Bower's account of Brown or Reeves account of Nixon (coming to think of it, in many respects Brown is a weak form of Nixon) and you will see that they have more than a smattering of a few traits, they have the way of thinking behind them. Its the way of thinking which is intrinsic to the idea of having an ASC, rather than a few tangential traits that someone can spot.