ANN ALTHOUSE: “Memo to Purdum, Dowd, and the several people there in Alaska: Everybody who runs for high office will have a lot of check marks on the DSM list of symptoms of ‘narcissistic personality disorder.'” She continues: “I mean, maybe Fred Thompson didn’t, but you see, it’s a problem if you don’t have these things. Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Joe Biden, etc. etc. — who among them lacks a pervasive pattern of grandiosity, need for admiration, blah blah blah? Oh, but they have empathy, you burble. Bullshit! Watch all the Democrats try to claim the empathy loophole to the narcissistic personality disorder diagnosis. Ha! Bullshit! They all have it. And don’t throw your money at a prospective candidate who doesn’t. He’ll poop out, like Fred.”

Perhaps we should try reconfiguring our system of government so that it attracts sane people, instead. And yes, we’ve been here before.