Gooooooo Boooooooooosh!

I really should have become a sociology professor. I've been saying this stuff for years:

Lohse, a social work master’s student at Southern Connecticut State University, says he has proven what many progressives have probably suspected for years: a direct link between mental illness and support for President Bush.

Lohse says his study is no joke. The thesis draws on a survey of 69 psychiatric outpatients in three Connecticut locations during the 2004 presidential election. Lohse’s study, backed by SCSU Psychology professor Jaak Rakfeldt and statistician Misty Ginacola, found a correlation between the severity of a person’s psychosis and their preferences for president: The more psychotic the voter, the more likely they were to vote for Bush.

Shocking...Just shocking...And James Dobson always seemed so centered and in control of his mental faculties.

“Our study shows that psychotic patients prefer an authoritative leader,” Lohse says. “If your world is very mixed up, there’s something very comforting about someone telling you, ‘This is how it’s going to be.’”

Yeah, that pretty much sums it up. I would have thought the more direct correlation would be stupid people and Bush voters, but psychotic sounds correct as well. Certainly he would appeal to people who are confused and angry, which I suppose applies to the psychos among us.

Unfortunately, if this is true, around 20% of our population (the hardcore Bush base) is made up of psychopaths. Remember that the next time some friends in Tuscaloosa want you to pay them a visit.

Now, if there are any conservatives left among my readership, you're probably thinking to yourself that this is another biased librul study from some secret librul enclave designed wholly to discredit Dear Leader. Well, it's simply not so:

The study was an advocacy project of sorts, designed to register mentally ill voters and encourage them to go to the polls, Lohse explains. The Bush trend was revealed later on.

This explains a lot. Not only how Lohse stumbled upon the link between psychotic mental disorders and Bush fandom, but how Republicans managed to have such electoral success over the past few cycles...More and more mentally ill people have been going to the polls!

I'm not saying there's anything wrong with encouraging the mentally ill from voting. An American citizen is an American citizen, whether or not they have severe OCD. It's just interesting that there's a major advocacy project designed specifically to target these potential voters. What about all the young women who aren't mentally ill who don't vote? Shouldn't we go after them first, if only because there's so many more of them, and then worry about the lunatics?

“Bush supporters had significantly less knowledge about current issues, government and politics than those who supported Kerry,” the study says.

I don't know...To me, this is the more compelling link than the mental disorder thing. People who vote for Bush are fucking stupid. As George Carlin explains, it's not hard to spot them. (You have to get through about 2 hilarious minutes of material on cancer before getting to the part about stupid people, but it's worth the wait.)



Thanks to The Editors for the link.