So Reagan's RW staffers know more about his mental

[malaise]

state than his son. These fuckers are priceless. Ron I'll take your word for it over those LIARS every day of the week.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

1. Info would be helpful.

Never mind if you're just shouting at the moon.

[Ichingcarpenter]

2. Most be an American TV thing she's watching

I'm listening to the Freedom Sessions by Sarah.

I did not expect to find Ron's statement on his Dad's
problems would cause a media reaction

I thought we all knew that, maybe not then,
I did but I don't count.

it was explored years after by historians
and even Ron's wife Nancy.

[malaise]

4. Reagan aides have attacked Ron for this

http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/01/14/reagan_alzheimer_s/index.html
<snip>
War Room
Friday, Jan 14, 2011 18:24 ET
Did Reagan have Alzheimer's while he was president?
The former president's son now says that surgeons saw signs of it back in 1989
By Steve Kornacki
The Washington Post's Stephen Lowman has an early look at Ron Reagan's new book about his father, which will soon be released to coincide with what would have been the former president's 100th birthday. Specifically, Lowman highlights passages dealing with Reagan's struggle with Alzheimer's disease, which was formally diagnosed in 1994 (and disclosed to the public in a dramatic handwritten letter by Reagan in November of that year). The most startling revelation may be this:

n 1989, doctors operating on Reagan expressed their belief he was suffering from the degenerative disease.

Ron Reagan writes that in July 1989, his father was thrown off a horse while visiting friends in Mexico. He received medical attention at a hospital in San Diego. When surgeons opened the president’s skull to relieve pressure they "detected what they took to be probable signs of Alzheimer’s disease." But no formal diagnosis was given.

By the time of that '89 accident, Reagan had been out of office for six months. But if his brain was showing evidence of the disease then, it seems logical that the disease actually would have started years earlier, back when he was in the White House.

[spanone]

11. they are protecting the franchise.....a son knows his father.

[charlie]

3. S'funny, this revisionist spinning

Plenty of the original staffers didn't try to hide addled state.

Mike Deaver used to laugh about strictly controlling access to Ronnie because he could be convinced by the last guy he talked to.

Larry Speakes wrote that he was disengaged and uninterested in his presidential duties.

Don Regan wrote a whole book characterizing him as an out-of-it galoot under the iron thumb of his missus.

[snagglepuss]

5. LOL It's been decades since I've come across 'galoot'. I didn't think anyone used the

word anymore, that it went the way of 'druthers':)

I've also noted the staffers you mention and will hunt for their books. Thanks for posting. :hi:

[charlie]

7. You can watch

Don Regan lean into Reagan's space while he was addressing Congress and tell him to "speed it up":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTcL6Xc_eMM

No one would think he could get away with that, unless his president was a dependent puppet.

[Kurovski]

6. Geez, most people paying attention knew SOMETHING was wrong.

Even a Republican wondered out loud in a Conservative rag of the day whether Reagan might not have been suffering from the big A. Maybe I'll go google.

[live love laugh]

8. I knew. Surely the movie Dave was inspired by him. nt

[SharonAnn]

9. Criminently! I knew something was wrong and suspected the big A.

And at that time I didn't have much experience with Alzheimer's patients.

But there was something "off" about his thinking and speaking and responding.

No apparent thought, just repeating cliches. No remembering the previous/day/week/etc.

It was really noticeable in his second term. Really noticeable.

If someone working with him didn't notice it, then it's because they didn't want to.

[malaise]

12. Or covering it up

which is more likely

[NecklyTyler]

10. K&R

[JanetLovesObama]

13. I don't understand

why Ron's revelation is so shocking to anyone. As soon as President Reagan was diagnosed, I knew he had to have had this during his second term. My Mom died from Alzheimer's and I know that the symptoms present only when the disease is well on its way. President Reagan was most likely in the mid-stages of Alzheimer's during his second term as President. Not an earth-shattering revelation.