"Psychopath" is one of those terms that gets thrown around, but real, clinical psychopaths exist. It's a sociological reality, and there is a clinical psychological definition.
To put it simply, a psychopath is someone who does not have a sense of empathy. They are not burdened with a conscience.
I came across this article today by way of slashdot - it's about what qualities make a psychopath, and whether this illness might be disproportionately present in our corporate leaders.
It's of course not too far of a leap to wonder the same about our political leaders.
Psychopaths have a profound lack of empathy. They use other people callously and remorselessly for their own ends. They seduce victims with a hypnotic charm that masks their true nature as pathological liars, master con artists, and heartless manipulators. Easily bored, they crave constant stimulation, so they seek thrills from real-life "games" they can win -- and take pleasure from their power over other people.
The article mentions a 20-item personality evaluation test that can help to identify someone with psychopathic tendencies. But they also make a distinction between two kinds of psychopaths - the high-functioning sort that isn't necessarily violent, and the anti-social sort that is more likely to end up in prison.
Corporate psychopaths score high on Factor 1, the "selfish, callous, and remorseless use of others" category. It includes eight traits: glibness and superficial charm; grandiose sense of self-worth; pathological lying; conning and manipulativeness; lack of remorse or guilt; shallow affect (i.e., a coldness covered up by dramatic emotional displays that are actually playacting); callousness and lack of empathy; and the failure to accept responsibility for one's own actions. Sound like anyone you know?
Again, sound like anyone you know? These descriptions could be used to represent any of a number of Republicans in office (and maybe some Democrats, too).
There's a test you can take to determine whether you boss is a psychopath - but it can just as easily be used on your representative, senator, or president. You can take the test here. It's especially interesting to read the questions while thinking of Bush's response to Sheehan. It's also interesting to compare the questions in the test to the principles that drive the entire Republican message machine: Never admit you're wrong. Never apologize. Never show "weakness". Stay the course no matter what the effect. Stick to the message.
Clinton was both celebrated and derided for his sense of empathy. It's illustrative that "empathy" becomes yet another quality to be even-handed about, when in non-political life, it's the one quality that determines whether or not someone is a psychopath.