Breaking news: NBC News: Reagan may be dying.

[Padraig18]

The White House was told that 'the end may come soon'. More as this develops...

[Cooley Hurd]

1. link:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5144264/

PARIS - Former President Ronald Reagan’s health has deteriorated, the White House has been told.

The White House was informed that the 93-year-old former president’s health had changed significantly in the past several days, a person familiar with Reagan’s condition told The Associated Press Saturday.

[Padraig18]

2. Thanks for the link.

I was listening to the Today Show, and was typing as the story was being read.

[Cooley Hurd]

5. Nothing on CNN yet...

...and I can't bear to watch Faux.

This might be the real thing. The date line on the MSNBC article says "Paris," which is where the WH entourage is now (they just arrived in Paris from Rome)...

[Padraig18]

7. I agree.

I don't think they would have said anything, if it wasn't the real deal. They likely know far more than they're saying publicly...

[No2W2004]

27. more:

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=578&e=3&u=/nm/20040605/ts_nm/people_reagan_dc

PARIS (Reuters) - Former U.S. President Ronald Reagan (news - web sites)'s health is deteriorating and he could only have weeks to live, a U.S. source close to the situation said on Saturday.

"I was told it could be soon -- it could be weeks, it could be months," the U.S. source said of Reagan, adding he had long suffered from the brain-wasting disease Alzheimer's disease (news - web sites) and his condition had worsened in the past week.

[prodigal_green]

3. ding dong

the witch is dead.

Where will he be buried, I'll grab my dancing shoes and meet you there.

[No2W2004]

32. at his library in this:

Wonder what day the astrologers told Nancy would be a good one for his funeral?

[PeaceForever]

51. That's inappropriate

No matter what his actions were, Ronald Reagan is a human being with just as much worth as anybody else. As the Dalai Lama put it, "We are all basically the same human beings, who seek happiness and try to avoid suffering."

[Warpy]

63. dying doesn't confer sainthood

While I can sympathise with his family, I can't ignore the fact that this man did more damage to the working class than anyone else. I will not be taking part in the ashes and sackcloth. I will celebrate that another fascist is dead, although the evil he did will live on.

Dying is something everybody will do, and many of us will do it sooner than we should because of this man's policies.

[PeaceForever]

64. I didn't say it would confer sainthood

Sorry if I was misunderstood.

I will not, however, be taking part in your celebration.

[Deja Q]

4. Good riddance to bad bacteria.

His whole presidency laid out the mess our country is armpit-length deep in today. (Although he made it only hip-deep, I have to give him some respect here...)

[WolverineDG]

12. i am NOT a fan of reagan now

but in my younger, stupid days, i do admit to voting for him.

that said, the man has alzheimer's disease, which has also struck my family. i can tell you it is one of the most evil, insidious diseases. it not only takes away the patient's memories, but affects the entire family as well. the last time i saw my uncle, i cried for hours. here was a man, a wwii vet, who was acting like a child, he didn't know who i was & barely recognized his own wife, whom he had been married to for almost 50 years. he no longer recognized any of his kids, including the one he was closest to. he died 5 years ago & she's still not over that. it can rip a family apart, and my aunt, who was his primary caretaker, almost had a nervous breakdown.

i realize many people hate reagan, but i tell you this, alzheimer's is NOT something i would wish on anyone, no matter how much i couldn't stand them.

dg

[Q]

6. Hayzeus...who really gives a shit?

...Looks like we're going to get minute by minute reports on this while Bush's* America burns to the ground.

- And once again we have to blame an American media that would rather cover sensational stories than inform the people about their government.

[Padraig18]

Like it or not, it's newsworthy.

:shrug:

[Jawja]

50. Yes, it IS newsworthy,

and will perhaps pull *'s big D-Day appearance at Normandy off front and center?

The Chimporer is upstaged by Saint Ronnie.

:evilgrin: :bounce:

[Mikimouse]

8. Not to be too ugly about this...

but there is always the danger, especially with his mental state, that he might forget that he's dead and stay with us a long while yet.:scared:

[Tarheel_Dem]

13. i sure wish the old f****r

would hang on 'til after the elections. does that make me evil?
:evilgrin:

[Darth_Kitten]

20. Maybe in a way he should stay on.......

last thing we need is a martyr for the republicans in election year. :(

Tributes and whatnot from clearly confused and deluded right-wingers might stir up the repub voting base. (make the angry white men and the stepford wives feel all patriotic and whatnot) ;)

[Tarheel_Dem]

24. my thoughts exactly.........

and the media will have a field day. wall to wall raygun; 24/7, right up 'til the election.

[Tansy_Gold]

60. My first thought was that it will be timed for during

the Dems convention.

I hope it's sooner. Over, done with, flags back to full staff, mourning out of the way, nancy in seclusion, etc., etc., etc.

[Tarheel_Dem]

66. we can only hope tansy.........

n/t

[linazelle]

9. Campbell Brown and Lester Holt are lauding him....ugh

They just said "stay tuned to NBC and MSNBC all day" for news about Raygun.

[Darth_Kitten]

23. Right, it's summer and beautiful out.....

and we should stay glued to a t.v? :evilgrin: ;)

[spanone]

10. Shrub snubs Chirac to be by rayguns bedside.......

[nostamj]

16. Nancy wouldn't let the chimp within 100 miles

remember, she hates the bushes.

[vickie]

17. This negative talk about Reagan's near death condition is very

offensive. I know most of us probably disagreed with his policies but he is a human being and he did serve this nation.

Please let's have some class, dignity and humanity.

Vickie Carter
Redondo Beach, California

[Anarcho-Socialist]

22. Welcome to DU, vickie!

[Padraig18]

25. I agree with you, Vickie.

How would WE like it if the Repugs did the same thing when carter dies?

Think about it, people, and try and behave like civilzed human beings, won't you?

[w13rd0]

44. Actually, they DID...

...they ridiculed the Wellstone memorial, and I heard more than a few of them make ignorant, unthinking comments about Sen Paul Simon when he was in his last days.

[SayitAintSo]

47. But we ARE better than that - who cares what they did

Regardless of politics, he is a dying man with a family that loves him - let's show some respect and class.

[w13rd0]

54. Frankly, I care...

...to not care at all (let them use the corpowhore media to stir up public sentiment against the last minute replacement candidate of a man who served in the Senate and died shortly before the election, while giving them a pass while they lionize and grant sainthood to Reagan), would be stupid and weak. They have the WH, the Congress and the courts. Why?

Because we are weak, and too damn nice. We believe in democracy, we believe even the stupid should have a vote. We believe in free speech, and think that even saying sometimes reprehensible things should be protected. We believe in hope, not fear.

The end result is we've had a good portion of both parties taken over by the narrow minded and short-sighted agendas of a few wealthy white men. The end result is we've been kicked in the balls, OVER and OVER and OVER.

Nobody here is expecting to have Kerry come out on stage and pronounce Reagan the anti-Christ, but some people are going to react vicerally. Hey, if the "worst" we come up with after 16 years of Reagan/Bush is a few harsh words about a mans final passage (when his mind left decades ago), we're doing just fine...

[PeaceForever]

61. Two wrongs don't make a right . . .

. . . is such a basic ethical principle that I'm shocked more people don't know it. Too bad Gandhi and MLK lived in previous eras, when we could really use their moral teachings today . . . now more than ever, I'm afraid.

[Darth_Kitten]

26. I don't think the people here mean to be offensive.....

and on a human level, we don't wish anything bad for anybody. In fact, we are probably being kinder to the Reagans than they were to others during the Reagan presidency.

People let off steam here......Welcome to DU!!! :hi: :)

[PeaceForever]

62. Who cares if it's offensive? It is unethical though.

Even if 99% of the population were happy to see a person die, that would not make it ethical.

Everyone has worth as a human being, and there are no exceptions.

[H2O Man]

36. bitterness

contaminates the vessle which contains it.

[JerseygirlCT]

41. I agree as well

I loathed the man as president. Absolutely loathed him and all he stood for. I hate hearing people talk about him as if he had been some paragon of American virtues or one of our best presidents. That's all bunk, and we know it.

But I think it would be nice to see our side behaving like the human beings we are. He's a person, he's dying what is a terrible death, and one very, very hard on family. A little compassion from the side that truly brings you compassion is not out of order, I think.

[Mel]

43. frankly I understand peoples anger his 'policies'

hurt a lot of people. I as a matter of fact was almost KILLED due to one of his so called 'policies' how many weren't so lucky as I? That said. Maybe, his death will make him a martyr for stem cell research to help people with diseases such as Alzheimer's.

[H2O Man]

49. I can say in full confidence

that I was (and still am) as opposed to his policies as any person in America. I recognized that he was fronting a dark force that took a terrible toll on the planet, and all life forms upon it. But that energy force has long since moved on, and has taken the form of bush etc. Reagan is a shell, a sick old man dying a sad and pathetic death.

If we want to continue on the divisive path that thr Reagan of 1968-1988 led us, then taking pleasure in his suffering makes perfect sense. But if we are looking for a national healing, which by definition must precede any international reconciliation, than we need to stop engaging in such foolishness.

[Catt03]

48. Yes

Some comments are so repulsive.... right wing, neocon, FR, Michael Savage language.

Yuk

[Nlighten1]

11. He has been dying for years...

There is no return from the disease he has.

[Padraig18]

14. Dying, yes; moribund, no.

This is what they mean, of course.

[Green Mountain Dem]

31. Might have been...

if Bushie had allowed stem cell research to continue without restrictions.

[Union Thug]

15. Good riddance...

You worker hating, union busting motherfucker. I remember all too well what your elitist regime and rich cronie's policies did to my working class father.

Go to hell, asshole.

[Poor Richard]

21. It pisses me of that the repukes named national airport after that bastard

the raygun worship is idiotic. the man is a criminal.

[KG]

28. there is an organization whose purpose is to get his name on

all kinds of public spaces.

[Cooley Hurd]

18. CNN now breaking with it...

I'm wondering if he might already be dead (and they haven't released the news yet pending Bush getting his ducks in a row - i.e. having the speech written that announces Reagan's death, because you just know he wants to be the one to announce it).

Faux's AP story:

PARIS — Former President Ronald Reagan's (search) health has deteriorated, the White House has been told.

The White House (search) was informed that the 93-year-old former president's health had changed significantly in the past several days, a person familiar with Reagan's condition said Saturday.

Reagan has been out of the public eye since disclosing a decade ago that he had Alzheimer's disease (search). He has lived longer than any other U.S. president.

Rumors about Reagan's health arose Friday and his office in California said it had received more than 100 calls. A spokeswoman for the former president said Reagan's condition will not improve, but that it has not deteriorated.

White House officials also checked on Reagan's health Friday. The White House was told his health has deteriorated and "the time is getting close," according to the person familiar with Reagan's health, who did not want to be identified out of sensitivity to the family.

[KG]

19. satan is calling one of his acolytes home.

roast in hell, ronnie, for that is surely your destination.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

29. aaawwwwww

[AlinPA]

30. $10 to a donut that he passes just before the Dem. convention. n/t

[Amaya]

33. It's going be a Ronnie love fest!

People are so deluded about this rotten excuse for a president!
Making him out to be some kind of saint... it's disgusting :puke:

Although I must say the manner in which he is dying, is ghastly.

[meegbear]

34. 24 hours of "The Real Reagan" ....

a faux newchannel "special" where people who think he's one of the greatest leaders get candid about him with an audience who feels the same.

No bias here.

[Stew225]

38. Gee, Liberals are really a sensitive lot.

But, as a liberal, I respect your right to say whatever you want about Reagan. I'm proud to be a liberal and feel bad that our country is so polarized that we've all (me too) become so densitised to hate.

I hope Reagan goes to heaven, gets straightened out by God, and then appears to the first Chimp and tells him he's an asshole.

Oh, good morning! Have a great day! Let's be on the lookout if any repuke makes a disparaging remark about our candidates and/or past presidents and then flame the shit out of them as being monsters!

[Amaya]

39. I'm sensitive

The media will make a saint out of him and he deserves anything but...

just sayin'

[Union Thug]

40. remember Wellstone?

Well fuck the repukes and fuck their buffoonish, clown icon. Reagan was a hater in life, so I hate him in death.

[fudge stripe cookays]

46. Well said.

I had a friend who was one of those Air traffic Controllers he fired. It gave him heart trouble that lasted the rest of his life.

and I was young and stupid and unconcerned while it was all going on, but now that I know what happened in Central America, I'm with you. May he burn in hell for the thousands of innocent lives he allowed to be slaughtered in the name of "fighting Communism".

[PeaceForever]

58. When did two wrongs make a right?

The fact that Republicans gloated in Wellstone's death does not make it ethical for us to engage in the same behavior.

[I thought so.]

35. Who cares.

Is it gonna be like Franco?
On the other hand Ronald Wilson Reagan is 666. Will it be the end of time? And all the colored girls sang OOP -A-DOO-Poop-oop-....just forget it. When will America grow up? I am sorry,my patience is gone.
HA! HA! the spellchecker only flagged DOO.

[Green Mountain Dem]

37. The day Ronnie....

fired the Air Traffic Controllers was the day that Corporations took over America and Democracy took a back seat.

[Union Thug]

42. Compassion? for this thug? oh please..

"With release of truth commission reports in several Central American countries - most recently Guatemala - there can no longer be any doubt about the historical reality.

In the 1980s, U.S.-backed forces committed widespread massacres, political murders and torture. Tens of thousands of civilians died. Many of the dead were children. Soldiers routinely raped women before executing them.

There can be no doubt, too, that President Reagan was an avid supporter of the implicated military forces, that he supplied them with weapons and that he actively sought to discredit human rights investigators and journalists who exposed the crimes...."

I am not mick jagger and i do not have sympathy for the devil...

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Ronald_Reagan/WarCrimes_Reagan_iF.html

[PeaceForever]

53. Someone's value as a human being does not depend on what they did. n/t

[Walt Starr]

45. I bet the boy king is pissed off at the timing

I'm sure he was hoping Reagan would die during the Democratic convention.

[MoonRiver]

52. After he dies

we'll be "treated" to one week of non-stop old Raygun movie, and pundits singing his praises 24/7 on cable t.v. Plus, * will get a little more deflection time.

[Walt Starr]

59. This is why my greatest fear this year was Reagan kicking the bucket

at the start of the Democratic Convention.

It's too early in the cycle to have a dramatic effect for the boy king.

[MoonRiver]

65. Isn't Reagan inconsiderate to be dying at such an inconvenient time for *.

It's pretty sad when AWOL can't count even on an old Repuke fogy croaking on cue!

[PeaceForever]

55. This thread does not reflect well on the ethics of many posters here

It's tragic that people who call themselves liberals would ever be happy about someone's death.

[teryang]

56. The Bushes loathe Reagan

Poppy tried to have him killed but that effort failed. The Reagans got the message though and placed George Bush I in charge of all government clandestine activities.

[dusty64]

57. Well, I was never a fan

and a HUGE opponent to his policies and administration, but never had the feelings of loathing and anger that I feel for our current squatter. I have grown to feel sorry for his wife and what she has gone through, the disease is a horrible way to go.