Dick Cheney Likely Has End-Stage Heart Disease

[IScreamSundays]

Source: ABC News

Former Vice President Dick Cheney, 69, who underwent surgery last week to implant a pump to assist his heart, may be only one step away from a heart transplant, according to cardiac experts. They say he could find himself on a wait list for "months or years."

Cardiologists say the former vice president has a left ventricular assist device (LVAD), which is often used as a so-called "destination" or permanent device, but in his case is likely a "bridge" that will keep him alive until he can receive a transplant.

The device is implanted next to the heart to help its main pumping chamber, the left ventricle, pump blood through the body. Such devices are used mainly for short periods, to buy potential transplant candidates time as they await a donor organ.

"It's a really good strategy," said Dr. William Abraham, director of the division of cardiovascular medicine at Ohio State University, which does 75 to 100 implantations a year.

snip>

Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/dick-cheney-heart-operation-vice-president-ready-heart/story?id=11170179

[Beetwasher]

1. "End Stage"

In this particular case, I like the sound of that.

[Zhade]

119. I'd rather the fucker was rotting in jail, but I'll take his death if it's all we can get.

NT!

[saigon68]

124. The mother fucker should have his bones picked by Vultures

[WillParkinson]

2. I don't get it. Why is something wrong with his heart?

I mean it's not like he ever used it. It should still be in the wrapper.

[Journeyman]

13. LOL. . .

how apropos. . .

[No Elephants]

15. From what I've heard and read, the less used a heart is, the sicker it is.

[louis-t]

29. Atrophied from lack of use.

[xxqqqzme]

53. Use it or lose it!

Seems to apply here.

[condoleeza]

110. Medical studies in the future, funded by our beloved drug companies,

will likely show that Dick and other "Dick's" like him, just had bad hearts to begin with. It wasn't their fault they were "Dick's".

[Thor_MN]

111. Given that they just installed a booster pump, one could say that

his heart really is three sizes too small...

[DavidDvorkin]

3. I bet he won't be on the wait list for long

Mysteriously, he'll be among the first in line.

[TwilightGardener]

11. Yes--and we won't hear about it until he's out of surgery, either.

Just like this bullshit with the VAD implanted.

[DavidDvorkin]

21. You're probably right about that.

[grasswire]

37. yep -- I wouldn't be surprised if he had henchmen stalking a victim

....to "capture" a heart. Well, I guess there are details like blood type etc. to finding a donor. But he's such a ghoul that I would expect he will jump the line and use money or intimidation to get what he needs.

[DavidDvorkin]

38. "The donor was accidentally shot in the face while on a hunting trip."

[AllyCat]

68. I thought the same thing. Sad.

[Mz Pip]

73. Read the book Bloodwork

by Michael Connolly. Good book. Not so good movie. In this book the recipient of the heart transplant ends up investigating the murder of the donor.

[Cleita]

91. There are plenty of fresh organs coming out of Iraq

and Afghanistan in the bodies of dead soldiers. I don't think he needs a black market organ.

[CTyankee]

157. It'll be the heart of some healthy kid who got killed in an auto accident...

some 18 year old with a really, really good heart...Liz Cheney will approach the family of the kid with an "offer."

[wordpix]

127. and I'm sure his surgery and hospital room are paid for by US taxpayers but

WE MUST MAKE GOVERNMENT SMALLER!!! :sarcasm: (unless that government is for the personal use of Cheney & Co)

[Taverner]

131. They'll probably steal one from a small child

[theHandpuppet]

145. A 70 year old should not be at the top of any transplant list!

And I say that as a person on the fast track to 60 y.o. Donor hearts should go young folks with a life ahead of them, not one they reflect on in the rear view mirror.

[Junkdrawer]

158. Don't be surprised if doctors find other organs that need to be replaced...

multi-organ patients move to the top of the list. It's an old trick to cut the wait for VIP patients.

[Junkdrawer]

159. Take Bob Casey, for example:

...

So how did Governor Casey get to the top of the list so fast? Well, it seems that UNOS maintains a separate list for heart candidates and another list for patients needing a liver. They listed Governor Casey on still another list for patients needing both a heart and a liver¼ this is a very short list. Combined heart/liver transplants are rare. Doctors in the United States have done only six.

No one will ever know exactly how the beating heart of 34 year old, William Michael Lucas, ended up beating in the chest cavity of the most powerful man in Lucas' home state. The New York Times reports that Lucas was brain dead as the result of injuries sustained in a beating a week earlier. The body of this unemployed man remained hooked up to a respirator keeping the organs vital until transplanted.

The questions that give those of us pondering the Casey Heart/Liver Transplant the most problems are these. First, when did the doctors and Mr. Lucas' family decide to cease life support? If they made this decision prior to Governor Casey entering the University of Pittsburgh Transplantation Institute on 13 June, it raises a second question: why did they wait rather than give the organs to one or more of the 6,000 transplant candidates already on one of the lists? If they made the decision to terminate Mr. Lucas' life support after Governor Casey entered the Transplantation Institute, it raises a different question: did Governor Casey's need of a new heart and liver influence those making the decision to terminate life support for Mr. Lucas, given the remarkable timing of the two events.

...

http://www.majorcox.com/columns/casey.htm

[WI_DEM]

4. Would he, given his health, even be a good candidate for a heart transplant?

[jezebel]

10. I doubt it. I lost my Mom a year ago last May and the Drs had debated using this device but didn't

put it in because they said she wasn't in good enough health to survive a heart transplant. And she hadn't had multiple heart attacks like Cheney, she had just had congestive heart failure for several years. She was 63 years old.
But I suspect the Dr's will go above and beyond normal practices for someone like Cheney.

[No Elephants]

18. I'm so sorry about your mom.

[jezebel]

42. Thanks, I appreciate it. :) nt

[juajen]

96. The difference

With Cheney, there will be no insurance company refusing to pay, as he is rich enough to get any procedure he wants. If he wants a transplant, he will get it.

[Robb]

12. Not if he were you or me.

However I agree with the poster above, despite his health and age he will miraculously be put at the top of the list.

[mike_c]

51. that's the crux of it, I think-- otherwise I doubt he'd even be a candidate....

He's old and sick, yet some younger transplant candidate will likely die so that Cheney can waste a new heart.

[Frisbee]

85. Don't you mean...

"waste another heart"?

[TwilightGardener]

19. Depends on his other organ systems. And age.

And condition of his vascular system. And whether he has any concurrent conditions, like diabetes, hypertension, etc. I don't know, there are a lot of factors.

[jobycom]

34. Not health, maybe, but probably wealth.

Given his wealth, he could just have a peasant knocked off and have the surgery done in private in Saudi Arabia.

[another saigon]

120. I seriously doubt they would even consider NOT doing it

As long as he has breath the US funded PREMIER health care that he has at his disposal would use up several hearts before calling him DEAD. Fuck the poor non-elite saps who would have a better chance!

How fucking sad.

:(

[Gormy Cuss]

5. He's had a bad heart for decades

and it doesn't work that well either.}(

[Love Bug]

6. Wow -- it must be nice to have access to the best health care possible

Too bad millions of people in this country don't have that, too.

[bdamomma]

28. yea for sure.

but sooner or later karma will bite him back.

[Zoeisright]

49. Yeah, right. I'm still waiting for karma to do its job.

He's living in the lap of luxury, had incredible power, a healthy family, and is beyond the reach of the law. Where, exactly, is karma?

[superconnected]

72. He's been living near death with a faulty heart since he was 37 - young to start having heart

attacks. I don't think he's escaped a life of pain. I just don't think it's improved him, I mean if it has, what kind of monster was he before?

[pattmarty]

64. I never believed in that goes around comes around shit. It only gives..........

........people that want to believe the warm fuzzies. Good people die early every day and bad people (like Cheney) live to be old and evil. There is no karma and there is no god, just everyday life.

[SomeGuyInEagan]

123. Yep. Nothing more needs to be added. n/t

[Ian David]

7. So? n/t

[Zorra]

8. I feel sorry for him.

If he has a conscience, it must be awful, facing impending death, and knowing in your heart that you lived a lie and deliberately hurt so many people during your lifetime.

[niyad]

17. if he had a conscience, he couldn't have done the things he has done.

save your pity for someone worthy of it.

[Zorra]

35. I suppose you're right. How could someone do all those heinous things

if they had a conscience? Anyone with a conscience that did only of fraction of the evil things Cheney did in this life would have either descended into utter madness or hung themselves long ago in order to escape the all pervasive guilt.

[damntexdem]

25. I feel sorry for his thousands upon thousands of victims.

I have no sympathy left to waste on him.

[BillH76]

44. Don't go all wobbly on us, Zorra. (n/t)

[Zorra]

50. LOL.

I know. I'm bad.
;-)

[pattmarty]

67. I don't want to bust on ya, but jeez, this motherfucker REALLY deserves..............

.........to die a slow, painful ass bleeding death.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

9. I predict he flies off to an unknown destination

and reappears in a few months looking tan fit and ready to pick up his war against the forces of light.

In other words, I'm sure he doesn't plan to sit around and wait for his name to come up on the American transplant list.

[damntexdem]

26. Yeah, but will the devil be willing to do another deal with him?

Jus' askin'

;-)

[glitch]

75. Why not? From Satan's perspective he's an excellent performer. nt

[bluestateguy]

14. Did you know Lindsay Lohan is in rehab now?

Gosh, that just shocked me.

[liberal N proud]

16. As someone told my sister several years ago...

The only reason your father is alive is because he has good health insurance.

Cheney is only alive because he has access to the best care available in the US. To hell with the rest of us.

[valerief]

20. He'll be missed…like shingles. nt

[pattmarty]

71. Like syphilis.

[valerief]

108. Like shingles on a syphlitic sore. nt

[Jennicut]

22. When congestive heart failure was mentioned the other day I knew that this was not good for old Dick

My aunt had that and died within two years after getting diagnosed with it. His heart is essentially on life support. But I bet he gets a transplant right away. He has connections. Dude may never die.

[bdamomma]

31. who would be a donor for that SOB?

[Dogtown]

36. We'll never know

because of the black bag over the donor's face.

[bdamomma]

65. where's rummy??? just kidding

[Brother Buzz]

74. I believe they have located a viable donor

Stress tests on the BOP are being conducted as I type.

[Jennicut]

41. Any family that wants a lot of money.

He would probably bribe someone.

[xxqqqzme]

57. My former spouse died

from congestive heart failure. I knew darth was in deep doo doo when those pictures surfaced of him nodding off in meetings. My ex was like that. He couldn't hold a conversation because he would nod off after saying something. There's just not enough blood circulating. His legs and feet were so swollen,the skin was shiny. Not an easy thing to see in a person you can remember as robust and active.

[Jennicut]

61. My aunt barely moved toward the end.

She had no energy at all. It was tough to watch her go through that too.

[damntexdem]

23. Then hurry up and indict him for war crimes and other crimes against humanity, ..

or it will be too late.

But if they decide to do a heart transplant, what type of donor will they seek? A skunk, a snake, what would be close enough for his body to accept? I mean, I don't slime molds have hearts, so the donor would have to be something less similar to Cheney.

[eilen]

135. The heart of a jackal will do. nt

[Desertrose]

24. And he has no pulse...seriously....

he needs to get plugged into a power source every night.

Anyone else think this is rather telling?
:evilgrin:


(It was on Rachel Maddow last night- she interviewed a cardiologist re Cheney's condition.)

[Bette Noir]

82. He's undead.

[Wickerman]

27. I'm sure Cheney will be fine in a month or two

and somewhere, someplace, some once young and healthy cadaver will turn up sans heart.

Waiting list? Cheney doesn't do waiting lists.

[Botany]

30. Even if they get a heart for Dick it doesn't mean he will live any longer .....

.... it will be very hard to find vessels that will be able to be used to reconnect
his heart to ..... odds are pretty good that he would die on the operating table.

[Individualist]

43. You bring up a good point

His vascular system must be in terrible shape after all the heart attacks he's had.

[Botany]

58. He has a stint in one vessel and the tissue of the other vessels must ...

.... be in terrible shape I know plants and you can only graft viable tissue
to viable tissue. Betya lots of his vessels wouldn't hold a suture very well.

I hope Dick is in pain and drowning in his own fluids ..... I am helping a
vet w/ brain cancer who did 3 tours in Iraq ...... Dick started that war to
make money.

[Demeter]

56. Don't Go Getting My Hopes Up!

[Bette Noir]

83. We should send him to Princeton-Plainsboro.

The Australian guy can do the surgery.

[Frisbee]

87. Now THAT was funny!

At least to another House fan! :fistbump:

[Art_from_Ark]

118. I hear Dr. Gumby's available

[LibertyLover]

107. Not just the blood vessels, but

his kidneys are probably in bad shape as well. Without a good pulsatile flow of blood, they damage easily.

[rfranklin]

32. Probably some young marine in Afghanistan...

will give his all for Cheney.

[rfranklin]

33. Probably some young marine in Afghanistan...

will give his all for Cheney.

[Poll_Blind]

39. Related: Cheney family asks all killers to aim "above the neck" until a suitable donor found.

The press release was distributed in English, Iraqi Arabic, and Pashto.

PB

[markbark]

40. For those who say Dick Cheney doesn't have a heart

SURE he does!

Of course it used to belong to an Iraqi child and he keeps it in a jar on his desk......
:evilgrin:

[Warpy]

45. His money might not be able to buy him a heart

Heart transplantation is a very finicky business, with extensive tissue matching, size matching, and other considerations like exposure of the donor to diseases which never made him sick but which can kill a transplant recipient on immunosuppressive drugs very quickly if he, too, hasn't been exposed and developed antibodies.

You just can't put out a contract and have somebody whacked so you can get the heart, in other words. It doesn't work like that.

While he'll undoubtedly be at the head of any list, it's unlikely he'll survive the surgery and rehab period. He's not in good shape. Because he continued to smoke after his first heart attacks and surgery, he's probably got clogged arteries all over his body. He's obese. He's likely also got considerable lung damage.

I knew when I saw him in a wheel chair at Obama's inauguration "for his back" that he was in end stage heart failure, a cardiac cripple. Subsequent videos of appearances on gasbag shows when he was gasping after speaking a few words confirmed it. He probably had the pump implanted because doctors gave him only a few weeks (or days) to live.

The pump will make him feel quite good compared to being near death. However, he needs to view it as a permanent fix, not a stepping stone. Getting another ten years after a transplant is unrealistic for him.

[superconnected]

69. Good post!

[pattmarty]

76. That old adage keeps going through my mind; "couldn't happen........

.......to a nicer guy".

[glitch]

79. If it did work like that it would have been done 10 years ago. nt

[Hekate]

133. Thank you for those encouraging words, Warpy.

[Nexus7]

153. Of course you can't just do so...

But the suitable donors have been identified years ago, and are under close surveillance.

[Downwinder]

46. Send him to Arizona to be frozen. We can thaw him for trial.

[Faith No More]

47. I wonder who will die

so this arrogant bastard can go to the front of the waiting list?

[fl_dem]

48. I shiver at the "what if" thought

"had Cheney been elected instead of Obama" Palin would be a heartbeat (literally) away from being President...ooohh that is pure nightmare material!! I need happy thoughts now, lots happy thoughts!!

[SoapBox]

52. We can only hope...

Since I am one of those left-wing-liberal-nuts with no "soul" (according
to the RushTurd-Conservaturd-Religious-Crazies)...I hope he
is on the express run to "you know where".

[Politicalboi]

54. Hopefully, The Dick is in his

Last throws.

[dmosh42]

55. Who paid for that surgery??

Probably through his gov't plan as a former VP.

[Plucketeer]

59. Wonder how a "Death Panel" would rate this draft dodgin' ass hole???

Let him have FIVE transplant deferrments first! :grr:

[truth2power]

60. Ah...so they ARE looking for a transplant...

I just posted on another thread that I'd heard nothing about that.

If Cheney gets a transplant, I don't want to hear ONE WORD regarding any other American NOT getting a transplant based on conditions similar to Cheney, ,e.g., age or whatever.

[pattmarty]

62. Fuck 'em. I don't care who sees my post, let the evil motherfucker die.

[Frisbee]

90. I completely agree...

While I don't make it a point to wish for someones death, this bastard was a special kind of evil. Smoke a turd in Hell, Dick!

[pattmarty]

93. Ya know it's funny, I have an ex wife who I am not the fondest of and......

......have met plenty of people I don't like, but I really don't or never have "hated" someone or wished harm to someone. Cheney won't get half the pain back he has caused others, so yeah let him die with an extremely painful case of ass cancer.

[larf007]

63. He has a heart?

lolz.

[AllyCat]

66. He won't wait. They'll find a suitable living donor and suddenly that person will meet

their untimely demise so that Darth might live.

It works in Monty Python.

[bdamomma]

70. I think each time he defies death, he gives us all the finger.

[awoke_in_2003]

77. To paraphrase Dirty Harry...

"I am all busted up about that man's heart". Oh, and he will be put at the top of the donor list- he has the cash to make it happen.

[sce56]

78. Someone posted on an earlier thread for Dick to "Go into the light"

I say it is not the light that he'll see!

[MarkInSavannah]

80. Not that anyone really cares but.........

.......do you realize what fodder threads like this are for the rw sites? Just provides ammunition that we're nothing more than spiteful, hateful people wishing ill (and worse) on anyone. The vitriol I've seen in this thread goes beyond the pale; surprisingly worse than the things I've read here about Osama Bin Laden.

[Bette Noir]

84. Cheney has killed more people than Bin Laden has.

[DBoon]

130. More people than Pinochet (nt)

[mitchum]

88. Fuck that scolding noise; Cheney is a loathsome creature who has earned contempt

[Individualist]

89. +1

[Name removed]

100. Deleted message

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

[MarkInSavannah]

101. Wow.......was that response directed at me?

Not really sure I deserved that response, but OK! What is FR? - Free Republic?

[Boudica the Lyoness]

109. Well said..

:)

[Name removed]

115. Deleted message

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

[vanboggie]

112. Osama who?

As a long-time DU member, I've not read much at all on DU about Osama Bin Laden being the villian in starting two unnecessary wars for personal profit.

[DearAbby]

132. Whatever floats their boats

this 'thing' Cheney has caused more pain, grief and destruction, all for his GOD the almighty dollar. I don't care what the little weasles say at FR, knock yourselves out. :shrug:

[SalmonFritters]

138. You must be new here

When it comes to the rw heirarchy, vitriol is virtue. I was a little surprised myself at the hate that flies around here. Gotta keep your opinions to yourself though or you'll get banned faster than a couple of socialites crashing a State dinner. This site was created by like-minded progressive people for others of the same bent so they can agree with each other on issues. Which is perfectly fine, just gotta know what you're getting into. It's pretty much in the rules if you read them upon signing up.

[burnsei sensei]

151. Threads like this are evidence

that there is honor among liberals.
Honor and shame-- they're as old as society itself.
This isn't aberrent behavior on the part of a few people.
What you're reading here is part of human nature. Granted, it's the more irrational part, but still a part.
In our eyes, Mr. Cheney is a criminal, a mass murderer who has been protected by elite status and under the collar of authority.
If we don't shame him for his guilt, no other faction will.

[AC_Mem]

81. End Stage Cardiovascular Disease

My dad had end stage cardio-vascular disease and had many of the same symptoms that Cheney has/had. When it got to this stage there was no way a transplant would have done any good. It is not just the heart that goes bad, its the arteries that feed the blood to the heart and circulate it in the body. It was everywhere, in his carotids, in his femoral arteries, it was an all over, end stage condition. Once he started going down it was 6 months until he passed.

You also have the lung issues that go with the end stage condition.

[EFerrari]

103. 6 months? Our poor mods.

Welcome to DU, AC_Mem.

[Beetwasher]

125. I'd Be Surprised If He Has That Long, If They Are Releasing This Info Now

They are starting the prep work. They don't do that for someone like Cheney until the very, very end. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if he was already dead.

[formercia]

86. Not to worry

Cheney's new heart will reject his body and commit suicide.

[MineralMan]

92. I heard they were testing for a transplant match...

On weasels in zoos around the world.

[Lost4words]

95. The former VP is reaching a point where money wont help him.

Having no pulse, thats ghastly!

[mimitabby]

94. he has a heart?

[2Design]

97. taxpayers have paid a lot of money to keep this person alive n/t

[Auggie]

98. Let's send him a "get well soon" bacon cheeseburger

:)

[tabasco]

99. LOL!

with a side of deep-fried lard.

[Mz Pip]

104. And a microwave oven

to heat them up.

[martymar64]

162. and the delivery person needs to suddenly shout at him

Maybe make lots of scary motions. Just enough to give ol' Dick a fright.

It worked in "Man Bites Dog"

[EFerrari]

102. I want to sign that card.

[vanboggie]

113. Bacon Cheeseburger and Microwave

hahahaha - I love DU humor. That's priceless :)

[vanboggie]

114. Bacon Cheeseburger and Microwave

hahahaha - I love DU humor. That's priceless :)

[wordpix]

128. put a little foie gras in there, too

[formercia]

141. Some of the VietNam era tropical butter with Silicone.

that he never got to try. It would have saved us all the misery.

[name not needed]

134. And a gallon of Red Bull to wash it down with.

[Delphinus]

105. I doubt this highly:

They say he could find himself on a wait list for "months or years."

He's a former Vice President of the United States. There's no doubt in my mind that he'll get preferential treatment.

[Earth Bound Misfit]

106. So? n/t

[BillH76]

116. It doesn't do any good for him to die now.

He's already done all his damage. This is evidence against the existence of God.

[Turborama]

117. How ironic would it be if he had to go to France for the transplant operation? n/t

[Ms. Toad]

121. Not that anyone cares, since rampant speculation is far more fun -

but here are the rules that are intended to prevent people with influence from jumping to the top of the list:

http://www.unos.org/PoliciesandBylaws2/policies/pdfs/policy_9.pdf

(Where you are on the list says nothing about all of the other other permitted means of discrimination against the have-nots, such as not having enough money to pay for the anti-rejection drugs for the rest of your life, not having a sufficient support system to provide help during recovery, not having insurance to pay for the transplant, not having the ability to move to (and live for an extended period of time) a location where organs are more frequently available etc...BUT position on the list is relatively free of status influence.)

[eilen]

136. So, your basically saying that as long as a person

has buckets of money for surgery, hospitalizations, medications, nurses and hotels/relocation, class status has nothing to do with how fast a person gets a transplant.

LOL.


So, let's see, if Elvis and Dick both needed a heart-- who would get it first?

Something tells me that Elvis would suffer an accidental overdose.

[Ms. Toad]

154. Not exactly. I'm saying there are two primary elements to who gets an organ

One has mostly to do with how quickly you move up the transplant list - because of questions in the past about giving organs to people perceived to be more important, UNOS has implemented pretty strict class neutral rules for allocation of scarce resources. Once you are on the list, money doesn't impact how quickly you move to the head of the list.

Getting on the list, on the other hand, does have to do with the ability to pay. You don't get on the list at all until you have the means to demonstrate that you won't "waste" the organ because you don't have the financial or family support resources to pay for the transplant (a half million dollar proposition for livers), treat it properly (support while you are recovering, and a lifetime anti-rejection drugs).

The only direct way I am aware of that money influences the time to transplant (at least with respect to livers - and I assume with respect to other organs as well) is that organs are allocated to some extent by regions - and different regions have more (or fewer) organs. If you have the resources to move to an area with lots of organs (and for livers, Florida is a good place to be), you get to the top of the list faster. If you have the resources to go through the listing process in more than one region, you have a better chance to get to the top of the list quickly because you are moving up on on multiple lists.

[superconnected]

143. Do you now how many laws cheney and bush broke and re-wrote?

I don't think the rules are going to stop him. It will come down to people that support Republicanism at all cost making it happen.

[Ms. Toad]

155. Yep - but that is exactly why the UNOS rules were put into place

allegations of favoritism in allocating organs.

It might well make it happen fast, if a live donor would work - since they aren't governed by the same rules, but since a heart is not a live donor transplant, if he gets a heart out of order it will be subject to quite a bit of scrutiny because that is the very problem the rules were implemented to prevent.

[WhiteTara]

122. don't worry, he'll shoot someone in the face

and then steal their heart while they are writhing in pain from the buck shot.

[lonestarnot]

126. Shoot 'emintheface would have it gulped down before they could get it planted.

[WhiteTara]

152. ...

:spray: oh thank you :rofl:

[daleo]

129. Saddam Husseien, I'd like to introduce you to Dick Cheney

Dick Cheney, this is Saddam Hussein. Now I know you boys had your differences in the past, but you will find things are a bit different here in hell...

[raccoon]

137. Great post! nt

[Lilith Velkor]

139. Is he dead yet?Is he dead yet?Is he dead yet?

[Mz Pip]

140. That is pretty much the

first thing I look for when I log on every morning. It's not like I am wishing for him to die. I think that might be bad karma, but I won't be sad when he does.

[Lilith Velkor]

142. Well, I am.

His very existence proves that the Western interpretation of "karma" is total bunk.

[superconnected]

144. Article on common dreams: The Great Dick Cheney Empathy Test

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/07/16-6

Former Vice President Dick Cheney disclosed Wednesday that he has undergone surgery to install a small pump to help his heart work, as the 69-year-old enters a new phase of what he called "increasing congestive heart failure." -- Associated Press

Here's how it works. You read the story above. You note how Dick Cheney, former vice president, Bush babydaddy, sneermaster supreme, befouler of nations, lover of war, hater of, well, almost everything else -- has undergone yet another major heart operation, this time to place a little valve-assisting pump (called an LVAD) in his withered and long dysfunctional ticker.

You then read how Dick is recuperating in intensive care following said installation -- which, by the way, is usually only a stopgap measure, just a delay tactic until the device in question gives out and the patient requires a full heart transplant. Is Dick a candidate for that? Doubtful. Also, they say LVADs are usually reserved for patients with end-stage heart disease, a last resort, the final straw. It is, they say, only a matter of time.
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However, I'm quite sure I would not be the slightest bit displeased to learn that the laws of brutal karmic repayment have come into full, painstaking, searing effect on our boy Dick. No, I wouldn't mind that in the least. After all, it's the empathetic thing to do.

[okieinpain]

146. please let his transplanted heart be from a muslim. n/t.

[Mad_Dem_X]

147. Not gonna say anything...

Not one word...*tapes mouth closed*

[GoddessOfGuinness]

148. Dick, I hope your next incarnation will teach you compassion.

I truly do.

[bitchkitty]

149. Well, what can I say.

How fortunate for Mr. Cheney that he can afford the kind of care the rest of us can only dream about.

[NYC Liberal]

150. LOL, Cheney's not gonna be waiting on any "list"

His name will "mysteriously" be right at the top should the time when he needs a transplant.

Fuck the bastard.

[davidpdx]

156. I hope he dies a slow death

The amount of pain due that man would be no where close to what he deserves.

[lunatica]

160. If he dies, they're gonna turn him into St. Cheney and name an airport

and a bunch of downtown streets after him. Lynn will write his biography personally because she's long been a pioneer of 'positive' American history. Like Texas is. Cheney will be one of the US of A's biggest historic heroes. Right above St. Ronny. And Liz will do the rounds of all the talk shows to sell the book. And she'll spend the rest of her life doing the talk circuit to talk about her father.

[earthlite]

161. This thread makes us look bad.

I dislike Cheney as much as anyone and I wont exactly be choked up with grief when it's his time to go but some of the comments here are an embarrassment to Democratic Underground.