Heh: Master's Degree Student Proves Link Between Conservativism and Mental Illness

We're not just stupid, we're crazy.

Meanwhile, those who advise "talking to" Iran are completely sane.

A collective “I told you so” will ripple through the world of Bush-bashers once news of Christopher Lohse’s study gets out.

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.

But before you go thinking all your conservative friends are psychotic, listen to Lohse’s explanation.

“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.’”

There actually may be something to that; who knows. But obviously psychotics, representing less than a tenth of a percent of the population, splitting for Bush 60-40 (or whatever) is not a good basis from which to draw larger conclusions.

And at least our crazies are actually locked up in mental health facilities.

Theirs are... not.

posted by Ace at 05:25 PM

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