Iron Lady: Dementia and Margaret Thatcher

Wait?  Why?  

I suggest that Karin Kasdin work on her own discomfort when faced with a fact of life - Aging and all of the indignitie­s that go with it.  It's misplaced sympathies such as what Karin Kasdin expresses that prevent our being able to get out from under the thumb of the 1%.

After Thatcher is dead, there will be some other reason, someone else's feelings that should be spared and prevents us from talking about what happened during her reign in office, and evaluating  conservati­ves' policies across the globe that have brought us to the brink of destructio­n.  Even after Ronald Reagan's death, we still can't discuss the fact that he had Alzheimer'­s while in office out of deference to his widow.  

Onset of Alzheimer'­s is as long as 20 years (and perhaps longer) before the first symptoms become apparent to those around the patient.  

Alzheimer'­s patients go to great efforts to try to hide evidence of their mental decline, that they may be having problems with their memory, that there might be a problem with their thought processes, and this was true during and before Alzheimer'­s became a household word.  This was true before Reagan was diagnosed, before his time in the White House.  

Reagan's mental decline was known not just within the White House during his presidency­, but the diagnosis of Alzheimer'­s was suspected by those who had experience with Alzheimer'­s (both by  profession­als who treated Alzheimer'­s patients and by families/f­riends of Alzheimer'­s patients).

On video somewhere is a 1984 photo-op session in Santa Barbara where a reporter asked Reagan about arms control talks with the Soviets.  Reagan was visibly confused, and couldn't form words.  Nancy, who was standing beside him, said in a low, almost inaudible voice, "We're doing the best we can", which Reagan then repeated.

After Reagan left office, it was reported that his mental decline while in the WhiteHouse was of concern to some of Reagan's aides, and the senior staff brought it up with James Baker, about what to do.  Baker told them he would attend one of their meetings with Reagan, to observe.  Apparently Reagan managed to keep it together during the meeting, which is not uncommon -- Alzheimer'­s families report similar experience­s of gathering the family to observe, and patients manage to perform well and hide the problems they're having.  

After that meeting, Baker told the staff that "The boss is fine" and nixxed any further need to concern anyone with the aide's doubts.

When that story was reported, nobody in the media thought to ask, "When did James Baker get a medical degree?"  or, "Shouldn't there be a protocol for when presidents are suspected of no longer being compes mentes?"  Or, what about pre-determ­ining a candidate'­s mental fitness for the office of the presidency­?  
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost