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After Meeting Bill Clinton, Father Of Asperger Child Wondered Whether Clinton Has Same Syndrome
NewsBusters ^ | Mark Finkelstein

Posted on 12/04/2012 7:05:21 AM PST by governsleastgovernsbest

Bill Clinton is famous for feeling others' pain. So he might be the last person one would suspect of having Asperger syndrome, which is characterized by a lack of demonstrated empathy. Yet that is precisely the thought that passed through the mind of Ron Fournier after meeting the former president with his son Tyler, who is diagnosed with the disorder.

Fournier told the surprising story on today's Morning Joe. A former Associated Press reporter, now with the National Journal, Fournier recounted how during the meeting, Clinton went off on a long monologue about Teddy Roosevelt, missing the clues that he had completely lost Tyler. Afterwards, said Fournier, he wrote in his notebook "is he an Aspie? Is B.C. an Aspie?"

View the video here.

(Excerpt) Read more at newsbusters.org ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: asperbergers; autism; billclinton; morningjoe; ronfournier
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To: Beelzebubba
BJ definitely has ass-burger syndrome, and so does his partner in crime.


41 posted on 12/04/2012 8:44:20 AM PST by Reeses
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To: governsleastgovernsbest

Bill Clinton is a cunning predator at a serial killer level.


42 posted on 12/04/2012 9:04:52 AM PST by mom.mom
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To: governsleastgovernsbest

Clinton also has serious mental problems because of his cocaine use.


43 posted on 12/04/2012 9:05:33 AM PST by doug from upland (Obama and the leftists - destroying our country one day at a time)
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To: governsleastgovernsbest; All

No...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tro2U-cezqo


44 posted on 12/04/2012 9:09:13 AM PST by PGalt
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To: afraidfortherepublic

I, too, am married to an engineer, and I can see some of that. The husband has the heightened ability to focus and ignore everything but the task at hand. This is almost always great but, in some situations, I have found it irritating. Over the years, I have come to understand how deeply it is seated in who he is. He is a solid, decent man, extremely hard working, and an incredible problem solver.

His father was also an engineer but very much a charmer and very empathetic. My husband loves to chat people up the way his dad did, but it just does not come naturally to him the way it did to my FIL.

Yipes! Sorry for the highjack here.


45 posted on 12/04/2012 9:17:29 AM PST by Bigg Red (Sorry, Mr. Franklin, I guess we couldn't keep it.)
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To: Bigg Red

I can understand how a computer’s CPU works, but I don’t think I’ll ever figure out how a woman’s mind works. [/hijack]


46 posted on 12/04/2012 9:26:37 AM PST by McGruff (No New RINOs!)
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To: governsleastgovernsbest

If he does, it’s the least of his “disabilities”.

Defined broadly enough as a “continuum” illness, all but one person in the world has it. We should all get SSDI, I suppose.


47 posted on 12/04/2012 9:56:35 AM PST by dagogo redux (A whiff of primitive spirits in the air, harbingers of an impending descent into the feral.)
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To: ntnychik; afraidfortherepublic
In college, and later in my career, I have taken a Myers/Briggs personality test.

Since I work with engineers, for engineers, we were all INTJ (or similar). What shocked me is that type is one of the rarest.

Engineers do run in families. I thought I was the first, till I started researching my family. Turns out we are known for three things. Farming, Chemistry (I'm a Chemical Engineer), and Law.

So love your little engineers. They are one of the most rare types of people out there.

48 posted on 12/04/2012 10:49:54 AM PST by redgolum ("God is dead" -- Nietzsche. "Nietzsche is dead" -- God.)
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To: afraidfortherepublic

Thanks for the tip on Sowell’s book.

We have a four and a half year old grandson with spina bifida, diagnosed two years ago as high-functioning on the autism spectrum. His mind is highly compartmentalized—songs he sings with me cannot be sung by his Mom, and vice versa. He will not allow anything from the fun part of his life to be present in the hospital when he’s had to undergo various surgeries and treatments for severe illnesses. No welcome visitors or toys. He endures his medical misery stoically.

At home and school, he’s happy and active, though physically limited. He speaks in hushed tones with only the people closest to him. He shows
abundant comprehension, but little in the way of speech, except an occasional burst of echolalia, out of context recitations of last night’s
commercials, characterized by, “Up next...”.

Among his favorite things are music, and the close inspection of things
and processes. He spent yesterday afternoon figuring out how to get from
being seated on the floor to climbing into a chair by himself, using mainly upper body strength. He succeeded!

We don’t know what his future holds. He’s currently in the autism class of a developmental preschool. We don’t know if he has regular school or special ed. in his near future. Your reply widened my thinking as to his possibilities. He truly is a jigsaw puzzle. He’s dearly loved and we’re honored to be along for the ride, trying to make sense of whatever pieces present themselves on any day.


49 posted on 12/04/2012 1:24:18 PM PST by ntnychik
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To: governsleastgovernsbest
There's a lot on line about the differences between Asperger's/Autism and narcissism (a lot of it by Sam Vaknin, who some may remember).

Someone with Asperger's would have real trouble most of the time picking up on those emotional cues others provide. Narcissists sometimes have problems understanding other people's emotions, but sometimes pick up on those cues quite well. People with Asperger's are closed-off emotionally and hard to get to, and narcissists have an emotional neediness and hunger for admiration and control.

I'd say Clinton was a narcissist. The admiration that politicians get probably makes the narcissistic orientation that's already there a lot worse.

50 posted on 12/04/2012 1:47:10 PM PST by x
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To: McGruff

can understand how a computer’s CPU works, but I don’t think I’ll ever figure out how a woman’s mind works. [/hijack]

***
:) We are wired very differently. Men are much easier to follow than women, and women are fluent in unspoken language.

As a woman, I understand women, but I find men much easier to get along with than women — excluding my own 4 sisters.


51 posted on 12/04/2012 2:39:56 PM PST by Bigg Red (Sorry, Mr. Franklin, I guess we couldn't keep it.)
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To: MrB

I’m sure 90% of politicians are egotistical jerks, especially at that level, and especially liberals.


52 posted on 12/04/2012 3:39:23 PM PST by Williams (No Obama)
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To: ntnychik

Love him and enjoy him and remember that his parents need all the support (and respite help) that they can get.


53 posted on 12/04/2012 7:55:26 PM PST by afraidfortherepublic
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