Does Ron Paul Have Asperger's Syndrome?wrongplanet is listed

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Does Ron Paul Have Asperger's Syndrome?

In the great tradition of George W. Bush's rumored undiagnosed learning disabilities, might Ron Paul, the libertarian/Republican/racialist candidate for president, have a hidden disorder of his own? Could Paul have Asperger's Syndrome, the autism spectrum disorder characterized by extremely awkward social interactions along with obsessive behaviors and interests? If you've seen Ron Paul on television recently—or taken a glimpse at his platform—there's no question he displays the symptoms.

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It's interesting how the article uses the word "aspie" like the readers will be familiar with it. I didn't know anyone outside of WP and similar sites knew what an "aspie" was. It's weird how the author seems somewhat familiar with WP, and aspies in general, yet uses terminology like "suffer" and "symptoms" incessantly. He obviously looked at the Ron Paul threads, but he doesn't know what a stim is. I guess thorough research is out of vogue among modern journalists.

This photo http://www.radaronline.com/exclusives/r ... _FRESH.jpg could exhibit classic hand flap signs - maybe!

Last edited by asplanet on 10 Jan 2008, 6:35 am, edited 1 time in total.

A lot of the more "trendy" bloggers and columnists have started to cover Asperger's, especially after the woman with Asperger's was on America's Next Top Model.

I think the author confused 'stims' with tics. Tourettes is common among people with Asperger's, however.

But Ron Paul is stimming and not displaying any sigsn of tics.

Does Ron Paul have Asperger's? Maybe, but a lot of his supporters definitely do have Asperger's.

I guess it's possible, although unlikely. Running for president is the most social interaction one could have. He does have a fanatical devotion to the constitution which I admire. Adherence to a fixed set of principles might be attractive to the autistic mind.

That looks more like gesticulation ("talking with the hands") rather than hand flapping, stimming is something one does
while distressed or agitated.

Quote: Richie"That looks more like gesticulation ("talking with the hands") rather than hand flapping."

It well may do, but this is the position I use when I hand flap, like many others I know.

Most of us do it without knowing, its like a build up of emotion. But could be either, just a though really - just an in stink - ok I could be completely wrong

But still feel could be!! !

Last edited by asplanet on 10 Jan 2008, 5:36 am, edited 1 time in total.

can't be serious about this one, can you?

From the article:

I would like to point out that Nixon was probably not ignorant of the gold standard when he decided to get rid of it, nor was FDR when he decided to ban private ownership of gold.

The following comment someone made on this article counters the argument that Paul has A/S (minus "he's a runner", which was a curious qualification for social interaction to say the least) :



I saw Paul's Leno interview too, and I did observe that he had an unusual gait and didn't seem to look the host in the eye that much. I saw on CNN where he said he used to be shy when he was younger. Also, he is in his seventies, older than John McCain, so maybe those are reasons why.

You're kidding, right? I see a lot of people gesturing like that, particularly politicians or people making speeches.

Thank you, that's what I was thinking too but thought I must be in denial. I see so many people that don't seem AS in any other way using all kinds of hand gestures, that if everyone who used them were Aspies more than half the population would have to be.

I just assumed he was gesticulating while talking...even if he is an Aspie he probably wouldn't stim in public if he thought someone was going to be covering his campaign.

I don't know if I agree with them, but some people think Nixon was an aspie. I take your point though--people in those positions need to be knowledgeable about things and have certain things they're experts on, and it's good that some are.

how anyone is actually considering this is beyond me........

nice triple post btw Norah

What undiagnosed disabilities does George Bush have aside from actually lacking the empathy were are falsely suspected of lacking (at least not for Iraqis of all sorts and American soldiers) and being an unreflective halfwit.

he looks more like an ape than most black people, he must have something wrong with him