Reply #40: Stalin was vindictive that way [View All]

[clear eye]

and it didn't matter what the reason was, because once you've got the power of the state behind your petty-minded revenge, it becomes a big deal. The Soviets couldn't exactly dismiss Stalin's "low self-esteem" if that in fact was what motivated him.

In psych-speak, Palin is a "borderline personality". Such people develop in childhood in an atmosphere of an extreme, long-running power struggle in their nuclear family. They learn to curry favor w/ one person by siding w/ that person against their rival, spinning reality in the favored person's favor, then in the next moment, reverse their position and similarly suck up to the opposing person. They feel they are only valued for their support in battle, and become insecure and unsure about who they really are and what they really feel. However they can be quite powerful in their effect on others since they have deeply internalized that power is currency. As adults they crave attention and need everyone to like them, at least while they're directly interacting w/ them. They have frequent mood swings and habitually plot and scheme. They HATE people who see them as a whole and don't fall for their temporary "best bud" behavior. Their relationships are inevitably short or at arm's length, since close up their intensity and unreliability are hard to take. Their constant game-playing makes psychotherapy extremely difficult or even impossible depending on the severity of the disorder.

They are also big on "let's you and him fight". I'm guessing that Linda Tripp also has a borderline personality disorder, going by how she cosied up to Lewinski pretending to be a mother substitute, but by advising her to keep "the dress", in reality setting her up to be a danger to Clinton. Then she tried to parlay her inside knowledge to blackmail the Clintons for favors, while seeking media attention. Of course once she got her story all over the media, she lost her ability to get anything out of the info. People like her often sabotage themselves like that.