Dick Cheney is one tough SOB

[Silcc69]

Washington (CNN) -- Former Vice President Dick Cheney was recovering Saturday evening after undergoing heart transplant surgery, his office said.
Cheney, 71, had surgery at Inova Fairfax Hospital in Falls Church, Virginia.
He had been on the cardiac transplant list for more than 20 months, a statement from his office said.
"Although the former vice president and his family do not know the identity of the donor, they will be forever grateful for this lifesaving gift," it said.
Cheney has a history of heart trouble, suffering at least five heart attacks since 1978. His first occurred when he was 37.
In June 2010, he was hospitalized at George Washington University for conditions related to his coronary artery disease. He had a left ventricular assist device (LVAD) implanted to help his heart pump.
In June 2001, Cheney was implanted with a pacemaker after he experienced irregular heart rhythms.
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http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/120325011142-tsr-blitzer-cheney-heart-00003120-story-body.jpgCheney speaks about heart troubles
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http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/120228034158-hm-getting-a-new-heart-00000709-story-body.jpgGetting a heart transplant
The former Wyoming congressman served as an influential vice president with President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2009.
In January, Showtime announced that it was producing a documentary about Cheney, tentatively titled "The World According to Dick Cheney."
The network said filmmaker R.J. Cutler "will offer up a measured, layered profile of the polarizing, controversial former vice president."
As vice president, Cheney worked diligently, mostly behind the scenes, to forge the Bush administration's identity and broad policy positions. He was considered the administration's point man on three major issues: energy, global warming and domestic terrorism.
Cheney also served in the Nixon White House and was chief of staff to President Gerald Ford.


http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/24/politics/cheney-transplant-surgery/?hpt=hp_bn3

[flabbybody]

I figure keeping this guy alive over the years must cost in the millions.
Wish we all had his health coverage. A person with his condition would not have reached their 50th birthday if they were uninsured.

I'd be curious to hear Vice President Cheney's views on universal coverage when he's back on his feet.

[Ben]

I figure keeping this guy alive over the years must cost in the millions.
Wish we all had his health coverage. A person with his condition would not have reached their 50th birthday if they were uninsured.

I'd be curious to hear Vice President Cheney's views on universal coverage when he's back on his feet.

He wouldn't and doesn't support universal coverage -- or single-payer.
He's rich. Actually, he's super rich. So, why would he support it? Why should he care whether or not some woman in, say, Narberth, Pennsylvania has health care. I mean, why?
I mean, it certainly goes against core human values: caring about other people. But America is a business run society. Business comes first. And whether or not some woman in, say, Denver, Colorado has health care is secondary.

GRITtv: Dean Baker: We Need to Keep Up Public Pressure to Reform Health Care - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6osZKDTkGM)

[Ben]

Noam Chomsky on the US Healthcare System - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMvLJlmHFDI)

[Ben]

AMERICAN HEALTH CARE VS CANADIAN HEALTH CARE - YouTube.flv - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQuJ_oesDrA)

[Prospero]

Well at last evidence hat he now at least has a heart. previously seemed like a totally heartless bastard.

If I Only Had A Heart - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aE-nMS9Mnk)

[onmyknees]

I figure keeping this guy alive over the years must cost in the millions.
Wish we all had his health coverage. A person with his condition would not have reached their 50th birthday if they were uninsured.

I'd be curious to hear Vice President Cheney's views on universal coverage when he's back on his feet.

What a novel concept.....so you're saying if you're successful in public and private enterprise you actually get better health care, drive better cars, have better attorneys, ( ask OJ about that) live in a bigger house, take more vacations, drink fine wine, send your kids to better colleges....? it's all quite unthinkable. Where is this all happening ? You want his health care? Become successful. Welcome to America land of opportunity, and more recently land of whiners and the bitterly envious.

[BluegrassCat]

When access to life-saving care is tied to whether you're rich or poor, you're effectively denying life to the less wealthy. Healthcare isn't just another consumer good like an Ipad. The rich can and should be able to afford luxuries denied to the less wealthy but not access to life itself. And in a country that has soaring economic inequality and less economic mobility than most European democracies the idea that we have equality of opportunity is shown to be merely one more empty promise. Thankfully, Obamacare will go a long ways towards reducing this grossly immoral situation.

[trish]

Did the poor donor know his heart was going to give Dick Cheney a longer lease on life? Would he have donated it had he known? Is the poor dude spinning now in his grave? A working heart is a valuable thing to waste!

[onmyknees]

Did the poor donor know his heart was going to give Dick Cheney a longer lease on life? Would he have donated it had he known? Is the poor dude spinning now in his grave? A working heart is a valuable thing to waste!

Someone might just whisper that anyone saying that would be an A-hole. And Cheney's response...........? "BIG TIME"

And who could argue with that?????? LMAO

[Faldur]

Prospero, that was priceless.. :)

[buttslinger]

Word on the street is it was the victim of a shotgun blast to the face......

[trish]

Someone might just whisper that anyone saying that would be an A-hole. And Cheney's response...........? "BIG TIME"

And who could argue with that?????? LMAOI just asked a few questions. If you find that objectionable, perhaps your answers were wrong.

[onmyknees]

I just asked a few questions. If you find that objectionable, perhaps your answers were wrong.

Just little ole Trish with the tact of a grizzly bear making some benign comments...huh?

I didn't find it objectionable at all. I actually saw the thread, then set my stop watch on how long it would take you to respond to the key word "Cheney"...with all that love in your heart. You didn't disappoint. You're a lot of things....one of them is surely predictable. BIG TIME lol

[flabbybody]

What a novel concept.....so you're saying if you're successful in public and private enterprise you actually get better health care, drive better cars, have better attorneys, ( ask OJ about that) live in a bigger house, take more vacations, drink fine wine, send your kids to better colleges....? it's all quite unthinkable. Where is this all happening ? You want his health care? Become successful. Welcome to America land of opportunity, and more recently land of whiners and the bitterly envious.

So the 911 dispatcher with only one available ambulance should ask which emergency phone caller has the highest income?
No doubt the wealthy can afford the best houses, cars, vacations, lawyers and whores but health care resources should not go to the highest bidder.
The services of hospitals, medical equipment, doctors and nurses are not ordinary commodities. They are the power of life and death.
I have a problem with one person's life being worth more than another, and deep down I think you feel the same.

[trish]

You made a prediction? You surmised the exact time between post and response?? So exact that you set an alarm on your stop watch??? Really???? And it went off exactly when I responded????? Liar! BIG TIME lol@u

[robertlouis]

What a novel concept.....so you're saying if you're successful in public and private enterprise you actually get better health care, drive better cars, have better attorneys, ( ask OJ about that) live in a bigger house, take more vacations, drink fine wine, send your kids to better colleges....? it's all quite unthinkable. Where is this all happening ? You want his health care? Become successful. Welcome to America land of opportunity, and more recently land of whiners and the bitterly envious.

No problems to all of the above with the obvious and glaring exception of healthcare. It's one of the greatest failings of your otherwise mostly admirable nation that you can't seem to understand as most of the civilised world does that universal healthcare at the point of demand should be seen effectively as a right. The idea of someone's life fading away while the bureaucrats debate their health insurance status is an obscenity that no civilised society should tolerate. If you do, then shame on you.

[robertlouis]

Oh, and just for the record, I don't for a moment begrudge Cheney his successful heart transplant. Any human being who needs organ replacement surely deserves it. Just as long as there is never any queue-jumping based on ability to pay, although I guess OMK, from his own words, would have no problem with that concept either. SMFH.

[onmyknees]

No problems to all of the above with the obvious and glaring exception of healthcare. It's one of the greatest failings of your otherwise mostly admirable nation that you can't seem to understand as most of the civilised world does that universal healthcare at the point of demand should be seen effectively as a right. The idea of someone's life fading away while the bureaucrats debate their health insurance status is an obscenity that no civilised society should tolerate. If you do, then shame on you.

When will you get it through you're part time saloon singer head that we're not the UK ? We settled that score some time ago. We don't want to be like you, with all due respect...although if Obama gets his way our GNP will match yours pretty quick. lol

In case the bias BBC hasn't informed you, Obamacare is nearing the 60 percentile in unpopularity...so it ain't just me. From the mandate, to the way it was rammed through with sleezy backroom deals, to the thousands of exemptions given to FOB ( friends of Barry) to the 10% raise in working people's premiunm to date, to the revised CBO budget busting numbers, to the year it took to pass it...it's a steaming pile of garbage. We've passed the bill, and now we see what's in it, and the majority of Americans don't like it.

[robertlouis]

When will you get it through you're part time saloon singer head that we're not the UK ? We settled that score some time ago. We don't want to be like you, with all due respect...although if Obama gets his way our GNP will match yours pretty quick. lol

In case the bias BBC hasn't informed you, Obamacare is nearing the 60 percentile in unpopularity...so it ain't just me. From the mandate, to the way it was rammed through with sleezy backroom deals, to the thousands of exemptions given to FOB ( friends of Barry) to the 10% raise in working people's premiunm to date, to the revised CBO budget busting numbers, to the year it took to pass it...it's a steaming pile of garbage. We've passed the bill, and now we see what's in it, and the majority of Americans don't like it.

Answer the fecking question, you hopeless apology for a demagogue.

Should the availability of healthcare be determined primarily by the ability to pay? Yes or no.

[BluegrassCat]

Don't forget, the GOP is the party that literally cheered the idea of letting the uninsured die.

Tea Party Crowd Cheers Letting Uninsured Die - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irx_QXsJiao)

[Silcc69]

Answer the fecking question, you hopeless apology for a demagogue.

Should the availability of healthcare be determined primarily by the ability to pay? Yes or no.

LOL good luck with that one.