"Alzheimer's was too good for Reagan as far as I'm concerned"

[liberalhistorian]

I overheard this little gem just now at a local restaurant where I was having lunch and was really disgusted. Now, those of you who know me here know that I'm certainly no fan of Reagan at all, quite the contrary. I believe he did incalculable damage to the country, although he was a far better president than the current WH occupant (like that's really hard!) I absolutely hated it when he was president, as did the majority of my family.

HOWEVER. Reagan was not just a president and a politician, he was also a man and a human being. Alzheimer's is a horrible, nasty, insidious disease, a horrible way to die, and not just because it's so long and drawn-out even though that's certainly part of it. NO ONE deserves to have it and to die like that, I don't care WHO it is. And NO ONE deserves to see their spouse, parent, etc., slowly waste away from it and become a shadow of what they once were, either. NO ONE. To be the spouse, child, sibling of someone with Alzheimer's is almost as bad as suffering from the disease.

I know this personally, my stepdad has early Alzheimer's. He's only 63, but had to retire from teaching eight years earlier than normal, at the age of 57, because it was just starting then and, even though we didn't know what it was yet, he simply was not able to handle the rigorous duties his job required. Mom had to do most of his lesson plans and grading for him. The day he took my son out to a movie and couldn't remember how to get back home even though it was only ten minutes away and he'd lived there for thirty years was the day we really had to start to face reality.

He is just a wispy shadow of his former vibrant, alive, intelligent, funny self. The man who once taught Shakespeare, Yeats and Hemingway and who could argue the merits of Hemingway vs. Fitzgerald for hours at a time can no longer even understand anything he reads, even simple stuff. The man who used to write the most beautiful, thoughtful poetry and who won several poetry contests throughout the years can no longer even put two or three words together that make sense. The man who used to have a quick, improvisational sense of humor and who could make anything funny now no longer understands the simplest joke. He now has to have help to shower and dress. I could go on, but it's too depressing to even think about at times.

Yes, I agree with most of you about Reagan and I always will. But let's separate the president and politician from the man and the human being. What's truly insidious about this horrible disease is that the victim actually knows for several years what is happening to him or her and has to deal with that. I have no doubt that Reagan knew as did his family. It didn't and doesn't matter how old he was, he and his family still suffered terribly. How many times have we rightfully slammed freepers for rejoicing in the diseases/deaths of certain people? Let's not do the same thing ourselves. Let's show some humanity.

[LaurenG]

1. I agree with you, have a heart and some class.

[insane_cratic_gal]

2. I agree as well

My Great Grandmother had it.. I've seen several people (work in a hospital) who suffer from it.

Wishing any sickness not matter how much of a scum that person may be, is certainly not an enlightened way of thinking.

[BOSSHOG]

3. My father died of Alzheimer's

It is an incredible strain on a family. I'm not sure what I would do if I were ever diagnosed with it but I wouldn't want my wife to go through what my stepmom did.

I still believe that those who oppose stem cell research should be locked in an Alzheimer's Ward of a nursing home for at least six months.

Ronald Reagan was an evil republican in my mind but he would have been better off dying peacefully in his sleep at a younger age.

[LisaM]

4. No one deserves AIDS either

and many people died from it because Reagan refused to acknowledge it, and to fund early research (I have two friends whose brothers died right before the newest batch of drugs were available). It's really really hard for me to have sympathy for Ronald Reagan. BTW, my mother-in-law died of Alzheimer's last year, and now my father-in-law also suffers from it. THEY did not deserve it. Did Reagan? I don't know, I really don't. It's a tough call for me.

[liberalhistorian]

Look, I certainly agree with you about

his (non) response to AIDS and the needless suffering that that caused. Any other infectious disease would have been immediately acknowledged and swiftly funded and dealt with. It wasn't until Rock Hudson went public with his HIV-positive status that he made any mention of it at all, which was years after it was first recognized. I've always been furious about that. I had several friends die of AIDS and others who are HIV-positive. I KNOW the suffering involved in that, suffering that no one deserves, no matter what.

Again, however, he was still a man and a human being and, while you don't necessarily need to be truly sympathetic, it's still a horrible, nasty way to die and for your family as well, and he didn't deserve it, no one does.

[LisaM]

22. That's why I'm torn.....

because I know how awful Alzheimer's is; I know it first hand. It's terrible. Like others, I would have preferred that he had stayed compos mentis and been tried for his crimes. I've often questioned why he ran for a second term. At that point, he or those around him, must have known something was the matter. Yet they jeopardized our entire country in their power grab.

[ComerPerro]

39. hell, he didn't simply refuse to fund research. He and a lot of RWers

figured that it was a gay plague, and that the victims deserved it

[hlthe2b]

5. I refuse to believe that many lib/progressives would feel this way

To wish a horrendous disease like Alzheimers on anyone is a betrayal to humanity--much less progressive ideals or the tenets of any religion I am familiar with.

I'm sorry for the pain, liberalhistorian that overhearing this comment has caused you.

[liberalhistorian]

25. Exactly, thank you.

Unfortunately, it appears that there are some who have no problem with it and who don't seem to understand truly progressive, humanitarian ideals.

[QuestionAll...]

6. I have great sympathy for his family during those awful years...

but my feel sorry dance card is pretty full up with people that bastard threw to the curb.

[AlCzervik]

7. thats awful. I had a similar experience at a board i moderate at, it went something

like this--"arlen Spector looks like shit these days, is he drinking or something haha?" Um no asshole he has cancer.

[liberalhistorian]

23. Yikes, that's awful!

What was the reaction when you pointed out to them that he had cancer?

[AlCzervik]

41. he had no reaction and then never came back, he was actually a pretty long

time poster too. I think he was embarrassed.

[Warpy]

8. I have to disagree, because for most of the course of that disease

the people who had to survive the real horror of it were his family, not Reagan, himself. He had no clue. That's the mercy of the disease to its victims and the curse of it to their families.

I take no delight in what happened to him or his family. My mother had spotted his dementia in 1982, so she felt a certain vindication around people who worshiped him and pooh-poohed the idea that the great man was losing it.

However, I'd have greatly preferred to see an Attorney General during the Clinton years actively pursue all the criminals his administration produced along with Reagan, himself. They were second in corruption only to this current gang. I'd have preferred to see him spend his remaining years defending himself in court, not pardoned for his crimes by illness.

[liberalhistorian]

19. I'm sorry, but that isn't true that he had no clue.

Believe me, those suffering from this horrible, insidious disease have every clue of what's happening to them for several years, at least, even if it seems that they don't. They may not have a clue the last couple of years, but the rest of the time they most certainly do. And to know what's happening to them is one of the cruelest things of all, I've seen my stepdad's reaction to it.

And, again, can we please try to separate the politics from the human being? Why does everything have to be political all the time? There are some things that definitely transcend politics, and this is one of them.

[ComerPerro]

40. I think its funny as hell, and I am not ashamed to say it

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

9. I totally agree.

And Rick Santorum's concession speech absolutely was not hilarious.

Not at all.

[acmavm]

10. That wicked, evil, lying, selfish, disgusting old man turned

mentally ill and sick people out into the streets to fend for themselves. They were homeless, they were frigging hungry, they were sick, and in some cases they died out there alone on those streets.

That rotten bastard was allowed the luxury of not having to live with the evil he did for the last few years of his life. I myself would have preferred him alive, in full mental health, and on the streets like the thousands and thousands that he condemned to that life.

Fuck Reagan. If what that person said upset you than you'd really have a spastic hissy fit at what I would have wished for the wrinkled poor excuse of a lower life form.

P.S. He was a terrible actor too.

[SammyWinstonJack]

11. !!

[jgraz]

14. Went through Alzheimers with my Grandpa and I'm with you on this one

My only regret is that the evil bastard wasn't in more pain while it was happening.

[liberalhistorian]

21. God almighty, if you've been through it with

a family member, how in the hell can you possibly even think such a thing? I'm sorry, but that's really sickening and disgusting.

[jgraz]

46. God almighty, if you've been through the Reagan administration,

how in hell can you possibly think as you do? I'm sorry, but that's really spineless and pathetic.

Everyone has different reactions to events. If this is how you want to express your pain about your stepfather's situation, that's OK with me. Just don't put your shit on other people who don't agree with you.

[liberalhistorian]

27. Well, then, I actually feel sorry for you if you carry that

much hatred as to wish something like Alzheimer's or even worse on a fellow human being, regardless of what they've done.

Although, I do certainly agree that he was a terrible actor! Not that that has anything to do with anything that truly matters.

[acmavm]

32. Don't waste your pity or expect me to give you that pat on the

back that you want so badly (in fact, I suspect that's the reason you started this thread).

edit: And don't start thinking that you are the only one who's familiar with Alzheimers and its effects on the human brain. That's how my Grandmother went out. Heart disease and Alzheimers. So it's not out of ignorance that I said what I said. In fact, it's because I know that they bastard got to avoid facing what he was at the end of his life that I find disgusting.

[liberalhistorian]

42. And just what in the hell makes you think

I think I'm the only one who understands or has experienced Alzheimer's? I said absolutely NOTHING of the kind, nor would I. I'm simply making the point that, if you've personally experienced it, then it's truly amazing to me that you would wish it on someone else, no matter who it is. That is truly disgusting.

[jgraz]

51. In other words, if you've truly experienced it you couldn't possibly feel differently than I do

The Pope just called, your Canonization ceremony is penciled in for next week.

Edit: fix rage-induced spelling errors.

[mitchum]

57. THAT is exactly why I had no pity for Reagan...

other people had to deal with their mental illness while sleeping on the streets, under bridges, etc...
Reagan at least was allowed the luxury of dementia surrounded by his family while receiving the best medical care OUR $$$$$$$$$ could buy.
Good riddance to that folksy fascist.

[Nick Fallon]

87. He's dead, it's over

What more do you want? IYHO, do you believe Hinkley should've finished the job?

[Odin2005]

12. IMO Reagan was a naive puppet, anyway, IMO.

His "underlings" were the ones who were really in charge, he was just a charismatic face who, sadly, was deluded by RW ideology.

[Benhurst]

13. I also agree with you; but ...

the care lavished upon him at great expense to the taxpayers was uncalled for. Our public officials, even former presidents, should be treated the same as other citizens.

I felt sorry for Nancy Reagan, as I do for all family members of an afflicted person, but she, unlike the rest of us, did not have the additional burden of having to provide or find care for her husband. Nor did she have to figure out how in God's name how to pay for what care was given.

No wonder our politicians are so out of touch with reality.

[liberalhistorian]

28. That's definitely a very good point,

and the financial aspect of it all is one of our main concerns, especially as things progress. The very last thing people should have to worry about in situations of medical crisis or chronic illness is money and finances. Why the hell should you work hard all of your life just so that everything you have goes to enrich doctors and hospitals? I saw that happen with my grandparents.

That being said, it still doesn't lessen what he and his family went through. There's no amount of money that can make up for that kind of pain.

[Name removed]

15. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[htuttle]

16. I hate to say it, but the OP seems like a classic straw-man argument

If you were responding to something someone had said here on DU, it would be one thing, but telling us about something you overheard someone say in a restaurant, and then presenting an argument against it seems to beg for someone to publicly disagree with it. For example, "Let's not do the same thing ourselves. Let's show some humanity." seems to scold us for something that someone else said somewhere else.

That being said, I present you with an echo of how I remember Reagan's reign:

Old Mother Reagan

Old Mother Reagan
And her crew
Took away
From me and you
I hope she goes far away
She better go far away
Y'know it ain't right
When it's all wrong
This is the Old Mother Reagan
Protest song
Old Mother Reagan
She's so dumb
She's so dangerous
How come...
Old Mother Reagan went to heaven
But at the pearly gates
She was stopped!
-- Violent Femmes, Old Mother Reagan, 1986

[novalib]

69. AGREED! TOTALLY!

The OP could have posted the story about his stepdad, and the tragedy of Alzheimers.

Instead, the OP posted a scolding diatribe -- one that actually suggests that those of us who LOATHE REAGAN and all he stands for are somehow defective human beings!!!

[cspanlovr]

17. I doubt Nancy was cleaning bedpans.

[liberalhistorian]

24. And just how do you know that?

Were you actually present in their house when she was taking care of him? And even if she wasn't doing the physical "dirty work", it certainly doesn't mean she suffered any less dealing with it.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

26. She's a filthy rich Reagan.

Probably had an illegal immigrant do the work.

[liberalhistorian]

33. Oh, so that means that she didn't feel

anything or suffer at all watching the man she loved waste away like that? So, because someone doesn't do the actual physical work of caring for a loved one who's terminally ill, and frankly, most people don't, especially toward the end, that means they don't suffer and it isn't painful for them? Wow, that's news to me.

Again, some things transcend politics and money and this is one of them.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

36. Oh, she certainly suffered.

So do the wives of death row inmates.

[novalib]

50. Nancy Reagan "Suffered"???!!!!!

Your comment is predicated on the notion that Nancy Reagan is somehow capable of suffering emotionally.

Of course, that is absurd, since Nancy Reagan has no emotions -- ICE WATER flows through her reptilian veins!!

It would be nice to think that Nancy Reagan suffered emotional distress, but I fear it is just not possible.

[LeftishBrit]

18. I agree with you

I loathe Reagan, and always did, and always will, but I wouldn't wish such a disease on anyone.

I do think that he probably had the early stages of it when he was president, and was therefore medically unfit for office (apart from all the other reasons why he should not have been president). On hindsight, his frequent verbal errors and 'fluffing' of his statements should have alerted people -after all, he'd been an actor, so his verbal memory must have been good at one time.

I am really sorry about your stepdad, and wish him and all the family all the very best.

[QuestionAll...]

30. quite a difference between 'wishing ill' on someone and

not being as sympathetic as some think all should be.

so who are these evil voodoo people that 'wished' this disease on the Ronny? powerful mojo.

[ComerPerro]

I confess, I did it. I caused it. You can thank me later

[QuestionAll...]

67. you put in the wrong order!

it should have been a small cubicle with bars and bread and water for the rest of his life - with an active healthy memory of what havoc he has done. you're slipping!

[ComerPerro]

74. i never claimed to be GOOD at voodoo, just that I did this...

[LeftishBrit]

83. Now, I agree with THAT (especially for Bush and Cheney)!!!!

I think that the bad guys deserve to be punished as criminals.

However, I don't think a disease should be seen as deserved. I'm not implying that anyone would have literally 'wished' illness on Reagan or anyone, but to say he deserved it, is a bit too close to the right-wingers who say that gays 'deserve' AIDS, or (in the 19th century) that people who got cholera, etc. brought it on themselves by being immoral or drunk. Of course the attitudes reported by the OP are not nearly AS bad, because whoever expressed them had no power to deny medical help to the Reagans, or get them treated as pariahs for his illness. Views expressed by the powerful are worse, as they can be translated into action. But still the attitude that anyone 'deserves' illness is something I will argue against.

Not a question of being specially sympathetic to Reagan either. I hated him from as long as I can remember. I cheered when he lost the primary to Ford, and was devastated when he beat Carter 4 years later. He and Maggie were two of a kind in many ways! And while I am sorry for him having Alzheimers, I am MORE sorry for the country and the world being, for several crucial years, in the hands of someone who was truly mentally unfit for office.

So my criticisms of the attitudes reported by the OP do not stem from any special sympathy for Ronnie or his family, but more from sympathy for ALL people with Alzheimers (and other serious diseases) and their families.

[QuestionAll...]

84. I'll pass on my sympathy for Ronny list onto my next generations...

maybe they'll get to it in a few decades or 9.
All those others who have been stricken with this terrible disease get priority over him.

[Doctor_J]

20. Or, as one poster on another board put it,

"I hope his Alzheimer's receeds enough for him to realize he's sitting in his own crap".

Seriously, if he knew years ahead of time that he was losing lucidity, he should have stayed the hell out of the White House.

[Benhurst]

34. I heard the historian for the Reagan Library say several years ago

that it was clear from Reagan's diary that he was in the throes of Alzheimer's just months after taking office for his first term. The course of the disease was probably hastened by the trauma of the attempted assassination.

[lpbk2713]

29. The backlash is coming.

People are wising up to the lies and deceit pulled by the BushCo regime and the whole GOP will suffer for it.

[liberalhistorian]

37. Umm, excuse me, but what

the FUCK does that have to do with this? NOTHING.

[lpbk2713]

47. I'll explain for your benefit.

You overheard people in a public setting (not a political forum) and they were talking in unfavorable terms about Raygun. My point was the average person's sentiment seems to be turning against the GOP and they will suffer for what the GW Bush administration has done to this country.




Sorry about your stepdad. He and I are the same age. Each day is a blessing.

[JVS]

31. fuck ronald reagan

[uppityperson]

35. Reagan the person I am sorry for. Reagan the politician? No

I can separate my feelings for someone into for the person as a person and for the person as a politician. For the politician part of Reagan, I thought it ironically amusing. For the person Reagan, I felt much pity.

[ComerPerro]

38. you know what? Fuck him. He was inhuman, and did some really evil shit

[baby_mouse]

43. Cough. Hurricane Katrina changed everything....

... or something.

You're right, but I think your desire for civility will be thrust against a rising tide of pent up feelings over the next few years.

And, to be honest, I;m of the opinion that it's better to save this civility for those who will be civil to you.

[Brewman_Jax]

44. Sorry, no tears for that

sorry bastard. His policies of deregulation, denial, and derision have allowed the neocons free rein, the decline of labor, corporate supremacy, revival of overt racism, ignoring AIDS, destruction of social programs, to name a few. The damage he did to the country will likely not be repaired in our lifetime. He can rot in the hell of his own creation.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

82. also seconded. the man is not seperate from the politician.

he created policy that affected millions.

[novalib]

45. Reagan DESERVED What He Got!!!!!!!

I'm quite sorry about your stepdad.

BUT I AM NOT SORRY about REAGAN's death!

I take that back -- I AM SORRY that Reagan's death did NOT involve MORE pain and MORE suffering!

REAGAN DESERVED ALL THAT HE GOT -- and MORE!!

The man was EVIL -- PURE EVIL!!!!

He was a TERRIBLE PRESIDENT who took delight in inflicting pain on others who were not rich!

[Dangerman]

53. Remember kids...

This guy and his friends supporting Saddam Hussien and Marcos. And he was involved in the Iran-Contra affair. Forget all the "good" things he's done, what about the bad things?

[novalib]

58. He INVADED GRANADA!!

And he funded and armed the scum who fought against Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua -- causing untold economic misery to the people of that Central American country.

He was a VILE BULLY who pursued a foreign policy of BULLYING!!!

[jgraz]

62. That nice little city in Spain? The bastard!

[novalib]

66. He WANTED TO (I think)

But I was actually referring to an island in the Carribean.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

54. seconded.

[liberalhistorian]

55. And yet you'd probably be

one of the first people to howl in rage when freepers say the same kind of thing. Give me a fucking break.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

56. When freepers say the same kind of thing about whom?

[uppityperson]

60. perhaps people mix politician part with human part

YOU THINK?!?!?!?!

[novalib]

61. I Seriously Doubt That Freepers

I SERIOUSLY doubt that the Freepers would ever say anything bad about one of the gods in their pantheon!!

To a Freeper, Reagan ranks right below Jesus in divinity!

[insane_cratic_gal]

64. Anger and hatred has a tendency

to blind people to truth of matter.. We see it on both sides of the political spectrum.

It's ugly and nasty, and honestly it's not worth defending to people who aren't willing to see it for what it is.

How many times have you seen people say in the last month (since the election) I didn't know how angry I really was..

People are mainly decent but when it comes to politics some how it just gets ugly.. people are divided between Us and Them. I don't think we know how to be any other way

[La Lioness Priyanka]

68. who would freepers say this of? and did this person cause untold misery?

if so i might side with the freepers...

[La Lioness Priyanka]

48. did your stepdad ignore the AIDS crisis? alzheimers was too good for reagan while for most people

its devastating. while i have sympathy for most people suffering. someone who just let gay men die, is hardly going to get any tears from me.

[jgraz]

59. Jesus, I was so bugged by the OP that I left that off!

I watched friends die of AIDS in the 80s.

Fuck that degenerate monster. I momentarily renounce atheism to hope that he's burning in hell.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

63. me too..only time i want to believe in god..is when men like him die...

then i sure want eternal torture for them.

[Behind the Aegis]

49. Here's a switch.

I agree with you. As repulsive as his presidency was, as many lives as he cost by not acknowledging AIDS, which I don't think I can EVER forgive him for, I fail to see how it is humane to wish such a dreadful disease on him, or think it was "too good for him." What did they expect, leprosy?! It isn't a matter of having sympathy for him as an individual, but having sympathy for his being a human. There are many horrible people in the world, but I fail to see the point of taking joy in someone else's pain.

I am sorry to hear about your step-father. I watched the same happen to my great-grandmother and this was before it was being called "Alzheimer's."

[jobycom]

52. Man didn't put him in prison, fate did. I disagree that he was better than W

People overestimate his presidency, and under-remember his criminal actions as president. He helped kill hundreds of thousands in Central America by supporting terrorists, he slaughtered millions by egging on a war between Iraq and Iran, supplying weapons to both sides so they could continue fighting long after their resources would have naturally died out. He refused to develop an AIDS policy because he thought it was a deserved punishment for gays. He kicked off his presidential campaign in Philadelphia, MS, a place famous only for the murders of three civil rights workers, and in that speech he praised states rights--code for supporting segregation. He was a racist, vile, traitorous, corrupt monster.

I won't comment on whether he deserved Alzheimers. But I won't shed a tear over his fate.

[geniph]

65. I may sometimes think it, but I don't say it publicly,

and I don't even mean it all the time. Then again, there are times I think about the policies he put into place with a smiling facade that put THOUSANDS of people who were mentally far worse off than he was out in the street, without shelter, without food, without help, without hope...and then that bad thought comes back into my head.

I will say that, as much as I always disliked Nancy Reagan, I respected her stalwart support of him during his long decline. That's a tough thing to do - whether she was cleaning bedpans herself or just trying to keep reintroducing herself to him every morning, it's always hardest on the spouse, I think. I still don't like her, but I have a bit more respect for her.

As to St. Ronnie the Raygun himself - well, I feel some pity and sympathy for what he and his family went through, but, yes, there are transient feelings of just desserts in there sometimes too.

[jgraz]

70. Do you also feel bad for Pinochet and his heart troubles?

I hear heart attacks really hurt. A lot. You gotta feel for the guy.

While we're at it, let's all say a prayer for Dick Cheney.

[jgraz]

71. Oh -- and Hitler committed suicide! Depression is such a terrible disease

My heart goes out to him and his family. What a difficult time that must have been for them.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

72. You beat me to it.

[ComerPerro]

75. lol, good points

[Cleita]

76. I do and I have close ties to Chile. I disdain everything he did

as much as I do Henry Kissinger who was his partner in crime from our country. I want to see Pinnochet tried in a court of international law, as well as Kissinger and Cheney under our laws, but I don't relish putting them through that knowing that we are doing this to physically broken old men.

[novalib]

78. Plenty of "Physically Broken Old Men"

Who were overseers at Death Camps in Germany were (justifiably, in my view) borught to justice.

I feel NO PITY for Pinochet!

The fact that he has been able to enjoy his life so that now he is an OLD MAN is an OUTRAGE!

[jgraz]

79. hey, I'm sure most of us respect your position

What we're objecting to is being called "disgusting" because we have a different take on it.

[Cleita]

73. I agree. If I feel a politician should be made accountable, it should be

through the courts. This is how I want George W. Bush made to face his crimes, not through some kind of karma terrible disease payback.

[novalib]

77. Why Not BOTH????

Somehow the thought of George W. Bush, Richard Cheney, Condoleeeeeza Rice, and Rummy Rumsfield all rotting in solitary confinement in some stinkhole prison, while they suffer from Alzheimers and Leprosy REALLY APPEALS TO ME!

[La Lioness Priyanka]

80. in Reagan's case because of the AIDS crisis a terrible disease was apropos.

not that i wished one on him, or had any control over it. just that i am not sad it happened.

[noonwitch]

81. I didn't like Reagan as president, but was sad for he and his family regarding alzheimers

His family suffered as much as he did. Also, his daughter Maureen died before he did-that had to have been hard for him to deal with in his condition at the time. I never liked Nancy much, but there was no way not to feel sympathy for her while watching his funeral-she looked so exhausted and frail herself, even though she was always a pretty tough woman (in the political sense) prior to that.

[Pab Sungenis]

85. Alzheimer's is less a curse on the sufferer

than it is a curse on their families and loved ones. You lose an Alzheimer's victim years before they actually die.

No one deserves to suffer it, or have someone they love suffer it.

[dogday]

86. My Grandfather, a rather large man at 6'5" and 275 pounds

weighed a little over 100 pounds when he died from complications due to Alzheimer's. I have no respect for anyone who does not understand this disease and what it does...

[SeattleGirl]

88. Thanks for your post, liberalhistorian

Alzheimer's is a horrid disease, and it affects not only the individual who has it, but the family and friends of that person. How anyone could think it's a good thing, how anyone could be happy that a particular person has it, is beyond me. If being happy about such a thing, just because of what that person did in their life, is what being a liberal means, then count me out. It's disgusting, and disheartening, to think that people would actually think that Reagan, or anyone, "deserves" it.

[jgraz]

91. People who express moral outrage are not "disgusting"

In the same way that your compassion does not make you a spineless, pathetic worm.

Calling someone "disgusting and disheartening" frames the debate in terms of your personal reaction, making the entire discussion about you.

If you wish to make a reasoned argument as to why your perspective is better than mine, go ahead. I'm much more interested in that than how you're feeling today.

[Name removed]

89. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[uppityperson]

90. sexual orientationist much?

how about making it simply "rape him" since that would cover so much more.

[IdaBriggs]

92. Your stepdad has early Alzheimer's because Reagan stopped RESEARCH

for TWELVE YEARS that could cure or prevent it.

TWELVE YEARS OF RESEARCH LOST BECAUSE THE SON OF A B*TCH LET *HIS* RELIGION OVERRULE YOUR STEP-DAD'S SCIENCE.

The scientific research he STOPPED FOR TWELVE YEARS would have been instrumental in addressing disease that not only include Alzheimers, but also Parkinsons, Multiple Sclerosis, and Diabetes.

He also refused to do anything about AIDS because "it was God's punishing the Gays" and now the disease has nearly destroyed an entire continent full of people, creating MILLIONS of orphans who not only have the disease, but no one to take care of them.

He cut funding for CANCER RESEARCH, took money away from widows and orphans (literally), and STOPPED infertility research in this country FOR TWELVE YEARS because "it was too much like playing God."

You may call him a human being, but I would like you to remember the difference between Ronald Reagan and your step-father --

One had the chance to do something about the suffering of other human beings, and instead gave "tax breaks" to his rich cronies.

The other has early onset Alzheimers.

I think the person you overheard was being gentle. Personally, I'm hoping the son of a b*tch is burning in hell. Then again, I've battled infertility for eight years, lost my father to cancer, my sister to multiple sclerosis, and a beloved great aunt to Alzheimers. My contempt for the "man" you think of as a "decent human being" is scathing.

There is a reason politics matter -- and you are going to see it every day as you watch your beloved step-father battle his disease. You may want to ask yourself, "would TWELVE MORE YEARS OF RESEARCH have made that much of a difference in the quality of his life?"

If your answer is "no," then feel free to continue condeming the informed, but if you think more than a decade of research counts, don't be surprised if you find yourself a little bit angry, too....

[jgraz]

94. Excellent, excellent point

People often forget that Reagan was the first President to oppose stem cell research. Probably because we're all still outraged by his reaction to the AIDS crisis.

How many people would still be alive if this guy's Alzheimers had decided to kick in around '75? So sad.

[warrens]

93. My mom died this summer of complications related to Alz...

I didn't care for Reagan, but he wasn't evil, unlike, say, Cheney. I even chatted with him briefly one time, just a couple of years before they announced the Alzheimer's. He was pretty nice.

[ronnykmarshall]

95. Great post.

Some of the postings when Reagan died made me sick.

[pitohui]

96. people who listen in on other people's convos are seldom happy abt what they hear

to be honest, i feel the same way that you do, but considering that you "overheard" the conversation it's getting a little close to telling people "watch what you say," i know people in a restaurant having drinks among friends who might make such over-statements, do we really want to get in the business of policing everybody's bad idea of a joke or an over-statement made for emphasis?

[pinto]

97. Locking.

The man is dead, the disease is ugly and the thread is locked.