Sen. Paul Offers Diagnosis for Accused Shooter/Shooting unrelated to AZ gun laws

[deminks]

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said Sunday that, based on Internet writings attributed to a 22-year-old accused of shooting Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), he believes Jared Lee Loughner is a paranoid schizophrenic.

Paul has a medical degree from Duke University. However, he was trained as an ophthalmologist and not a psychiatrist. Paranoid schizophrenia is a mental disorder.

“I looked at some of the writings of this young man, and from a medical point of view there’s a lot to suggest paranoid schizophrenia and a really sick individual,” Paul said on “Fox News Sunday.”

This is not the first time a Senate Republican has offered an off-the-cuff diagnosis in a politically charged climate. In 2005, then-Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (Tenn.) weighed in on the case of Terri Schiavo, a Florida woman in a vegetative state whose family was battling over whether to end her life. Her feeding tube was removed later that year, and she died.

http://www.rollcall.com/news/-202246-1.html




Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) said on Fox News Sunday today that the mass shootings in Arizona yesterday are "unrelated" to Arizona's gun laws: "The weapons don't kill people, it's the individual that kills people."

Paul condemned the shootings, which included Rep. Gabrielle Giffords among its victims. She remains in critical condition after being shot in the head.

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/01/rand-paul-giffords-shooting-unrelated-to-az-gun-laws.php

[slackmaster]

1. No shit, Dr. Paul

[ananda]

2. I have a diagnosis for Rand Paul: eejit.

nt

[Horse with no Name]

3. Yeah that's because treating eyes and brains is so similar.

:crazy:

[PBS Poll-435]

4. I am going to have to get a second opinion

Paging Bill Frist.

Bill Frist, please pick up the white courtesy phone.

[bushisanidiot]

5. and Paul's followers are likely to be just as paranoid as the shooter is.

Paul and other repukes BANK on the fact that their followers are paranoid. they need them to be paranoid so that they will get their votes.

[bullwinkle428]

6. Great! The Senate has found its new Frist.

[Gamow]

7. paranoid schizophrenic vs Paul style libertarianism

kinda hard to tell the difference.

[goddess40]

23. Good one. lol nt

[luvspeas]

8. Rand Paul needs his eyes examined...

so he can take another look at his medical degree. Next time I get my eyes checked, I'll ask the doc for her opinion on all this. Next time I go to my psych, I'll ask him if I need stronger glasses (Do you think you need stronger glasses?).

[Renew Deal]

9. What's with the republican obsession of quackery?

Frist loved to do this too. It's unethical.

[musette_sf]

10. ah yes, Doc R Paul II weighs in,

he of his own made-up "National Board of Ophthalmology". Membership: ONE.

[somone]

16. Isn't it SEVEN?

And the headquarters is a P.O box...

http://wonkette.com/416013/is-rand-paul-a-board-certified-opthamologist

Rand Paul’s board has recognized a whopping seven doctors to do ophthalmology versus the 16,000 the American Board has. He’s probably lost some business at his eye-poking practice because The Market has provided us insurance companies that prefer not to give their money to random men by the side of dirt roads in Kentucky who say they do eye surg’ry good.

But are we right to assume the American Board is a better board simply because it’s recognized 2,286 times more doctors? Perhaps those 16,000 doctors went to Rand Paul for certification first but were denied because he’s really strict about who gets certified. That’s probably it. Rand Paul’s list of criteria probably looks like this:

1. Has to be Rand Paul or be friends with Rand Paul.
2. Rand Paul has no friends besides his dad, so we’ll define “friends” here as “people who are not statists.”
3. Has to yell something incomprehensible about criteria taking away his or her God-given ophthalmology freedom and kick Rand Paul’s clipboard out of his hands.

Did you meet those requirements? Congratulations, you’re an ophthalmologist!

[musette_sf]

20. okay, maybe it's 7

I was thinking of the "Welcome to Loserville. Population: YOU." joke.

[DCKit]

11. Schizophrenia of the Eye. Good Call Randy. nt

[somone]

12. based on his reading a textbook and a few weeks of psychiatric rotation

while in med school

[musette_sf]

13. And now, the Medical Student Flow Chart:

http://www.forusdocs.com/humor/flowchart.htm

[affrayer]

14. You're Kidding Right?

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) is a libertarian which is a person who believes in social spending BUT doesn't want to spend it. Such a person is the embodiment of schizophrenia...

[WinkyDink]

15. Gotta love it.

[Vinca]

17. The hate-mongering right should think about the mentally ill people

out there who will take their garbage and incorporate it into their fantasies and act out. The tip off with this guy is his apparent obsession with the gold standard. That screams Glenn Beck.

[mzmolly]

22. Yep.

eom

[spanone]

18. mr paul will receive the bill frist distance diagnosis award

[somone]

19. And don't forget this pic:

[mzmolly]

21. He is aware that there are many mentally ill people in the US, presumably?

This is who the Palin's and the Angle's reach with their dangerous rhetoric. They don't appeal to the sane.

[Bjorn Against]

24. "Weapons don't kill people"

This argument is so idiotic I don't even know where to begin. Do Rand Paul and all the other gun nuts who make this claim honestly believe that the shooter would have been capable of taking all these people's lives if he did not have a weapon?

I can understand and often agree with second amendment based arguments, but claiming weapons don't kill people is just plain stupid.

[fascisthunter]

25. Rand Paul should diagnose himself

before he diagnoses anyone else around him.... what a classic case of irony that the sickest on the right are already out there trying to distance themselves from this...pathetic.

[JDPriestly]

26. Has anyone else noticed how often these shooters from the right

are paranoid-schizophrenic?

Are paranoid-schizophrenics who tend toward violence just attracted to right-wing ideology?

Or does the right-wing ideology create paranoid-schizophrenics?

Or is right-wing philosophy inherently or basically paranoid-schizophrenic and a few of the most avid believers in the right-wing paranoid-schizophrenic philosophy act out that philosophy more than the less avid believers?

Or does the right-wing simply assuage its guilt feelings after some violent act by depicting the individual among its disciples who goes just a tad too far in acting out the movement's right-wing paranoid-schizophrenic fantasies by calling the person who went too far a paranoid-schizophrenic?

Dare I ask?

And while I'm at it, may I ask one more question of Senator Paul?

That guy on your security detail who stomped on the neck of the rather frail, nerdy-looking Move-On woman who wanted to have her picture taken with you as a sort of joke after the woman had already been taken down and was sprawled on the ground, was he also "paranoid-schizophrenic"? And if he was, why did you permit him to work with you so closely?

Does Senator Paul only acknowledge paranoid-schizophrenia after a violent act has been performed? As a doctor, shouldn't be be able to recognize it a bit sooner and not hand over authority for his security to someone who, shall we say, cannot control his temper?

Someone here is being quite disingenuous about this situation in my opinion.