Pat Robertson: People with Alzheimers are already dead

[ck4829]

On the same "700 Club" program today in which Pat Robertson (And on the heels of the Tea Party cheering letting uninsured people die) said that Jews must convert to Christianity in order to enter Heaven, he also took on a question from a woman who was friends with a man whose wife is suffering from Alzheimer's Disease and has begun to date another woman and wanted to know what to do.

Robertson's advice was to encourage the husband to divorce his wife with Alzheimer's because she was, for all intents and purposes, already dead. Co-host Terry Meeuwsen understandably wondered if that would not violate the "til death do you part" provision of the wedding vow, which Robertson just pretty much dismissed, saying "he certainly wouldn't put a guilt trip" on anyone who decided that divorce was the answer.

http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/robertsons-marital-advice-divorce-your-wife-alzheimers

This, BTW, is the same Pat Robertson who said that Michael Schiavo may have murdered his wife.

[Zoeisright]

1. Why is Pat Robertson still alive?

He's just a mean old fart who is a waste of oxygen.

If there was a God, I would bet he doesn't want Robertson in the afterlife any more than we want him on earth.

[tsuki]

31. According to him, he's not. nt

[roguevalley]

43. first two posts, awesome.

[QC]

47. YOU WIN!!!!!

[yardwork]

49. Totally wish I could rec this reply!

[demosincebirth]

34. Only the good die young.

[demosincebirth]

35. self delete

[11 Bravo]

2. But Terri Schiavo was alive and kicking, right Pat? God, I despise these people!

[pacalo]

27. He based that on her ability to eat & swallow. So can Alzheimer's patients.

[WilliamPitt]

3. I'm sure the Reagan family appreciates the sentiment.

Or not.

[11 Bravo]

38. Once again, my friend, right on the button and cutting to the bone.

[Broderick]

4. What a turd

hypocrisy knows no bounds.

[Initech]

5. I hear the Grim Reaper is a big fan of the GOP now.

[GreenPartyVoter]

6. While I disagree with the religious gymnastics he went through to get to his answer, I do

agree that there are times when a spouse may want a divorce from their loved one with Alzheimer's, and that they shouldn't be guilt-tripped over it.

[get the red out]

11. Yes, but

you are not demonstrating blatant hypocrisy.

[GreenPartyVoter]

17. Well there is that, true. He's a hypocrite of the highest order.

[notadmblnd]

57. ou're right. No one should be guilted for dumping their long term partners

when they're no longer useful to them. :sarcasm:

[The Genealogist]

7. Pat has certainly gone around the bend himself

Even that chirpy talking head he always has with him was questioning this reply. Divorce her because is is pretty much dead anyway? And it is gay folks who are destroying marriage. If there is a time when a marriage is tested, it is when a spouse is ill like that. The sick spouse needs his or her mate more than ever. And this nutcase's response is to divorce her and start anew. Pat is, himself, ill, me thinks. He has always been wacky, and said crazy things, but this is just...bizarre.

[Frustratedlady]

21. Amen! That response was promoting a selfish action on the part of the spouse.

Did he forget the "in sickness and in health" bit in the marriage vows?

I cared for my spouse who was suffering from ALS and it was a privilege to do so. No wonder these people can walk away from people in need.

That really burns me! Pat is the one who is pretty much dead. Jerk!

[undeterred]

8. So Nancy Reagan was just a fool and not a devoted wife.

Maybe Pat has a lot to learn about love.

[The Genealogist]

12. I'll have to say I admire Nancy Reagan's devotion to her husband.

Ten years of caring for the man, sticking with him as she did, til the end. And then her support for the right causes that flew in the face of her party's stance. Took courage. Pat has no courage, no honor, no heart. Never did.

[undeterred]

15. That's real love. Plus her fight for stem cell research.

She's the real deal.

[Tikki]

48. Do you think nancy actually did the hands-on, day-to-day caring for that man?

I doubt it.


Tikki

[undeterred]

51. I'll bet she did some of it.

She certainly did not stuff him away in a nursing home where she never had to be bothered by the thought of him or his presence. And she remained married to him till the day he died.

[Tikki]

52. I bet she did very little, if any, of it....

Tikki

[undeterred]

54. What axe are you trying to grind here?

[roody]

45. Robertson would probably not say that to a woman

whose husband suffers from Alzheimer's.

[Blue Owl]

9. WTF?

This seems like the most UNCHRISTIAN things imaginable.

How I detest the venomous snake-oil salesmen of organized religion.

If Pat's "Christian" followers actually bought this bullshit, they are lemmings who have already leapt off the cliff.

[formercia]

41. What do you expect?

Pat Robertson isn't a Minister, he's a Lawyer. That's the kind of reasoning he drills into his Law Students.

[LynneSin]

10. Ironically most of us think Pat Robertson is brain dead

:eyes:

[sinkingfeeling]

13. Really, Pat Robertson gets to rewrite the true word of God? Matt. 19:9 seems to disagree.

Jesus said, "And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery," (Matt. 19:9).

[rhett o rick]

55. Matt. 19:9 is so yesterday. Pat speaks directly to God after after a couple of snorts of his special

"medicine".

[Enrique]

14. it's ok to take their money too

it's in the Bible.

[madrchsod]

16. wow! that`s really sick

i`m sure there are more than a few in his flock that are upset about those remarks

[yardwork]

50. I doubt it. They are, after all, members of Pat Robertson's flock.

Think about it.

[JVS]

18. I don't think his advice is that bad, but his reasoning about why to do it is lousy..

I guess the crux of the issue here is what does a couple do when one member of the couple is unable to reciprocate their end of the marital relationship and extramarital relationships are forbidden. We've had threads here at DU before where people have debated weather someone having sex with his "no longer of sound mind" wife one last time in a nursing home constituted rape. I'd much rather see such a situation resolved by marrying again. Of course, in an ideal world people would simply be able to wait out the expiration of the sick member of the couple, but the increased quality of care is making prolonged period of morbidity more of a norm. I think the key here has to be amicability. As long as the divorce would not cause distress to the sick member of the couple, would not result in a worsening of care, and would not involve the the healthy party renouncing their obligation to tend to the sick, then I would approve of that course of action. In fact, I could even support not getting a divorce and merely entering a second marriage in such a situation.

Robertson's reasoning is faulty. The grounds for this is abandonment on the part of the spouse who is unable to reciprocate the nurturing relationship between the couple. This is abandonment without malice, but the effect is the same. They are sadly no longer capable of participating in a marriage.

[Frustratedlady]

32. There is much more to marriage than sex.

When a spouse is in need, how could anyone walk away?

I am livid over the comments by Robertson. He needs to disappear. No wonder some of his followers are so screwed up. He is a slimy snake.

[JVS]

37. True, there are also things like emotional support, which spouses of sufferers of Alzheimer's...

also eventually have to do without. I'm not saying that the sick people are bad, cruel, or mean. I'm just saying that just because you want a new spouse doesn't make you bad, cruel, or mean either. It also doesn't mean that you're walking away from the first person. You can provide what they need without being married to them.

[arbusto_baboso]

19. Pat Robertson is already dead then, since he obviously has no heart or soul.

So sayeth Arbusto Baboso, which has as much force as any "scripture".

[gratuitous]

20. "In sickness and in health"

Weren't you paying attention when you made that vow, Pat? You were up in front of God and everybody. Or did your wedding vows begin and end with your bride talking about obeying you?

[pipi_k]

53. That's really the bottom line here

I think some people when they get married and take that vow don't stop to consider that either of them might get old or sick.

I guess it's hard to imagine when you're young and healthy and full of vitality. And that's sad. I always have to roll my eyes a bit when people say they're getting married because "we're so much in love".

[Walk away]

22. Note to Pat's wife: Keep your wits about you!!!! na

[nadinbrzezinski]

23. T-4 Pat? I am sure he'd love to

[lpbk2713]

24. Those who are willfully ignorant might as well be dead.

Over the years I have gotten to the point where nothing
Pat Robertson says or does surprises me any more.

[Hubert Flottz]

25. If Pat goes to heaven my goldfish will...

Poontang Pat is just saying what he'd do out loud.

[astonamous]

26. so Pat what would you liike us to do with your body?

You have obviously lost your damned mind years ago.

[Sherman A1]

28. So, Pat becomes his own Death Panel?

He gets to decide the rules all by himself....


How F - ing charming.....:banghead:

[dtexdem]

29. Then he must be in favor of euthenasia for those with Alzheimers.

Even those who have lucid moments. Who'd have thunk it? Well, actually, any of us might have predicted it.

[Vinca]

30. Decades ago I worked with Alzheimer's patients and, while I don't agree

with much of what he said, it was pretty clear to me that the spark had gone out in the poor people at the end stages of the disease. You'll never forget it once you see it. In many ways they are dead. And sometimes it's so horrible you wish they would go to sleep and never wake up. (It kills me to be within any kind of striking distance in agreeing with Rev. Nutjob.)

[Frustratedlady]

33. Cancer patients can also lose their "spark" but imagine the criticism if you

divorced your spouse in that circumstance. No different.

`Til death do us part means exactly that. Robertson knows that or should get out of the business if he doesn't.

[Vinca]

42. I agree. Maybe "spark" was not the right word. There is no right word.

I remember 2 ladies in particular who recognized no one or nothing and wandered the hallways mumbling jibberish. They had no control of their bodily functions, couldn't feed themselves - didn't recognize food, and when people came to vist it was the most heartbreaking thing you can imagine. I guess it's like being dead alive. I know if I was ever diagnosed with Alzheimer's there would come a point when I would commit suicide.

[ck4829]

36. I think this is particularly interesting because of the stunning hypocrisy of the Schiavo debacle

This is the same guy who said that removing Terri Schiavo's feeding tube was 'judicial murder' and was also cooking up conspiracy theories and saying that her husband might have did something to Terri to put her in the state she was in.

[robertpaulsen]

39. Once again, Pat, how "Christian" of you!

:eyes:

[arikara]

40. How sick and disrespectful is that

People that I know whose mate is in care because of dementia and alzheimers, if they start a relationship with another person they don't divorce the sick spouse. They continue to visit and care for them, sometimes even the new person visits and becomes a caregiver too. I would never begrudge my stepmother a new relationship, Dad has been in care for years now and I know she is lonely. I also know that she would never abandon or divorce him because she loves him. He certainly isn't dead to any of us.

[eShirl]

44. For all intents and purposes, he can go choke on a hubbard squash.

[scarletwoman]

46. Wait! I thought marriage was so sacred that letting gays marry would defile it.

Apparently it's NOT so sacred that the vows (taken before god and everybody) that commit you to your marriage "in sickness and in health" and "'til death do us part" can't be broken when they become inconvenient.

Feh...

[AsahinaKimi]

56. What a piece of work this guy is....

I hope all this HATE SPEECH he gives out as advice comes back to smack him into next week.