March 24, 2012

Dick Cheney had a heart transplant.

Cheney is 71, he's had 5 heart attacks, and he waited for a donor for 20+ months.

ADDED: I expect jokes to roll in on Twitter. Yeah, as I wrote that, this popped in:
BREAKING: Cheney Receives Heart Transplant; Bush Still on Waiting List for Brain
And this:
cheney gets new heart.. still waiting on soul donor
AND: The truth is that heart is a real person's heart. Somebody died and made that heart available. And Cheney was on a course to die if that heart's donor had not died and let it go to him. It's really one of the least funny things in the world.

54 comments:

John Lawton said...

God bless Vice President Cheney with wishes for many many more years.

Roman said...

I suspect the leftist barbs will be flying quickly. There are no depths too low for some to go.

I wish the Mr. Cheney a quick and complete recovery. I may have questioned some of his decicions, but I never questioned his patroitism and love of country.

Rockeye said...

The joke potential here is such low-hanging fruit I only expect the lamest of "comedians" to go for it.

Tom Spaulding said...

Too bad we didn't vote the heartless, soul-less brainless, baby-daddy, whore-monger John Edwards for VP when we had a chance.

Tweet that.

chickelit said...

Great news! I hope Cheney lives all the longer!

Michael Haz said...

Best wishes for a full recovery, Mr. Vice President.

traditionalguy said...

A change of heart is a good thing.

Those tickers are amazing coordinated muscles without which the blood stops circulating your life within, and you are dead.

But we are going to have to see the birth certificate of Cheney's new heart's donor. If he was not a Natural Born American, then Mick will sue to disqualify Cheney for VP or President ever again.

Synova said...

I think that any time anyone starts to whine about the 1% or being oppressed they should (if they're capable of it) think about what it means about our society that a person who was the Vice President of the nation, the person who, if the President dies, will be the most powerful individual in the entire world (more or less)... waits 20 months for an organ transplant. We are, each of us, Kings.

God Bless America.

Michael said...

The oil production we are now seeing springs from the "secret" meetings the VP had with oil executives in the early days of the administration. The oil that Obama brags about now is the fruit of Cheney's efforts.

I am glad he has a new heart and i hope he enjpys a long and happy life.

Sorun said...

But who's higher on the brain transplant waiting list - Bush or Biden?

DKWalser said...

Dick Cheney and his wife were my clients years ago -- after he had served as Defense Secretary and before he returned to politics. In my career, I've worked with a lot of famous, wealthy, and powerful people. The Cheneys were among the most gracious and kind people I've ever worked with. I pray that God may bless them both with good health and happiness.

m stone said...

We are, each of us, Kings.

Well said, Synova.

Baronger said...

Actually it could be ironically humorous, if the donor turned out to be one of those people who wished that Cheney would die.

Glad to see he got the transplant.

I ♥ Willard said...

Best wishes to Dick Cheney.

When he recovers, I hope Mr. Cheney will actively encourage more people to sign up to become organ donors.

David said...

Laugh if you wish lefties.

Now he may be healthy enough to run for President.

Rob said...

What's most interesting, and most admirable, to me is that Cheney waited 20 months for a donor heart rather than seek to elbow his way to the front of the line. Good luck to him; the guy is a mensch.

edutcher said...

A good man and a very eminent one.

And if the ZeroCare crowd had its way, people like him would die because they were of no further use to society.

And Roman's right, you don't want to go anywhere near the KosKidz' comment boards tonight.

Fritz said...

I heard he ripped the heart out of a liberal, and planted it in his own chest barehanded, without anesthetics.

Ignorance is Bliss said...

It's really one of the least funny things in the world.


Life's a piece of shit
When you look at it
Life's a laugh and death's a joke, it's true.
You'll see it's all a show
Keep 'em laughing as you go
Just remember that the last laugh is on you.

And always look on the bright side of life...

Synova said...

'I heard he ripped the heart out of a liberal, and planted it in his own chest barehanded, without anesthetics."

:P

Okay, that's sort of funny.

paul a'barge said...

Liberals == moral monsters

Wince said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ignorance is Bliss said...

And of course, who could forget:

John: Oh, I say, have you seen page eight? Nixon’s had an asshole transplant.

Terry: Ohhh, have you seen the stop press then?

John: No.

Terry: The asshole has rejected him.

Wince said...

Iron Dick Cheney: "Go Fuck Yourself".

Rick Caird said...

I wonder, though, if Obama would have recommended the "blue pill" instead. What would the IPAB have said about a 71 year old former politician.

Elle said...

This mommy blogger had to shut off Twitter.

THAT's how bad it was getting.

Speedy recovery Mr. Cheney.

MadisonMan said...

I hope he recovers quickly.

So did the donor sign his (her's) driver's license card? :)

Christopher in MA said...

So, none of our usual lefty scum? No garbage, no alpha, no ritmo or jeremy or anyone?

They must be too busy fapping themselves raw at Kos. God knows they couldn't control their orgasmic death wishes here.

MathMom said...

My husband waited only 17 days for his heart. He weighed 155 lbs at the time, which helped a lot.

God bless Dick Cheney, and may he have many more years of being husband, Dad, Grandpa, and patriot.

Tyrone Slothrop said...

Dick Cheney is the finest man to render public service in this century and a good part of the last. Let the liberals put that in their bongs and smoke it.

bagoh20 said...

We live in an age of daily miracles, but some of us still grunt next to the fire.

David said...

The main KOS post I found on Cheney:

Contrary to popular belief Dick Cheney does have a heart. $omehow a man his age has come up on the transplant list. His condition has not been released besides his presence in the ICU.

In other words, he's too old to be permitted a transplant. Can you say "Death Panel?"

MadisonMan said...

Dick Cheney is the finest man to render public service in this century and a good part of the last

Just ask him!

shiloh said...

"I expect jokes to roll in on Twitter"

Feeble attempt at childish baiting notwithstanding, Althouse must be disappointed w/this thread.

(8) years of cheney/bush beget Barack Hussein Obama. :) Thanx! Again, the yin and yang of politics!

Except for an occasional heart attack, I never felt better! Dick Cheney

William said...

Cheney will have much discomfort and not all that many years. Edwards will probably break ninety. I sometimes think that all our fervor surrounding justice and equity is a way of distancing ourselves from the sad fact that we can only arrange justice and equity in most trivial places.

MadisonMan said...

He weighed 155 lbs at the time, which helped a lot.

Does weighing that much (? little?) expand the donor pool?

Methadras said...

Leftards do what they do best, practice their death cult musings on anyone they hate. They always live up to their stereotype.

Kirk Parker said...

Fritj,

Are you really Frank J in disguise? :-)


Tyrone,

Cheney's fine, indeed, but is he really that far above Rumsfeld?

The Drill SGT said...

MadisonMan said...
He weighed 155 lbs at the time, which helped a lot.

Does weighing that much (? little?) expand the donor pool?


I suspect that it means the new heart has to work a lot less, which might also open up some additional donor hearts (e.g. the heart of some small woman for example)

Roger J. said...

The politics of this notwithstanding, organ transplants keep others alive longer and make their lives better, irrespective of their political orientation.

Please consider being an organ donor--you will be dead, but someone else might live longer and better.

MathMom said...

Weighing so little helped him a lot. Most hearts from from young healthy men who die in motorcycle accidents, according to my friend, a cardiac nurse. (They call them "donorcycles"). Our donor, Luke, was 130 lbs, my husband was 155. A donor heart can handle the sudden jolt of pumping blood for someone 25-30 lbs heavier, but would be killed by trying to pump blood in a 180 lb person. You are also higher on the transplant list the sicker you are, and the younger you are. My hubby was 57 when he received his heart. Cheney at 71 may have received the heart from a 40-50 year-old donor, where my husband's was 21 years and 3 days old. I was told by our transplant team that a woman's heart is never put in a man, because it can't take the strain, but a teenage boy's heart may be put in a woman.

Transplantable hearts are a precious, limited resource, and you have to be approved by many medical tests before you can be considered a potential transplant patient.

Cheney's LVAD experience, which brought his weight down significantly, was probably one of the reasons he was able to get a transplant. Donors who already weigh 190 lbs are rare.

I know a transplant recipient who is 6'5" and 250 lbs, very fit. They left in his native heart and grafted a donor heart on as well. He laughs about any time a new doctor listens to his heart(s) - he says they always jump back and wonder what the HECK is going on in there!

MathMom said...

Roger J is right. Consider being a donor. Luke's family donated his organs and tissues, and this donation helped 87 people. We met the two kidney recipients at a donor reunion the family held on the first anniversary of his death. His liver and pancreas were donated as well. His eyes were not usable because of the wreck, but bone, muscle, intestine - you name it - went far and wide.

A person can have an open casket funeral even if they are donors. Morticians replace lost body mass with fillers so you look ok.

Jason said...

Putting the organ donor sticker on your ID is the easiest thing a person can do. Best of luck to VP Cheney in his recovery.

Of course, the left's reaction isnt surprising. They support "health care for all", unless its someone they disagree with...which fits their montra with just about everything to a T.

jimspice said...

Liberal solution to organ donation: make system opt-out rather than opt-in.

Conservative solution to organ solution: allow the buying and selling of organs.

Take you DL out right now. Does it say "Organ Donor?" Shame on you.

HT said...

Maybe I've missed it, but where is the evidence that Cheney has adjusted his lifestyle over the years? Presumably he did quit smoking after his first attack at 37 years old. Did he need to lose more weight than he did (before now)?

Or failing that, where is the detailed analysis of an extraordinary case of congenital heart disease?

Yeah, I'm a little bit skeptical, but i do realize I could be wrong about Cheney. On the one hand, I'm glad that unlike almost everyone else, he is one politician we never had to see in running shorts, but on the other, what measures did he take? Or, where is the article detailing the genetic roots of his heart disease.

I realize that he soldiered on in one of the most stressful positions in the country. I get it.

MathMom said...

HT -

Mickey Mantle was an alcoholic who ruined his liver by drinking, but they gave him a liver transplant anyway. What is your point?

Joe Schmoe said...

Take you DL out right now. Does it say "Organ Donor?" Shame on you.

Shame on me because it says Organ Donor on my license? What kind of a self-righteous, misinformed prick are you?

How much blood did you give last year? If less than 4 pints, and you meet all of the Red Cross donor criteria, then shame on you, prick.

Are you on the bone marrow donor program list RIGHT NOW, prick? Cuz I am, PRICK.

Fuck you. Fuck you. Who the hell do you think you are? Conservatives run circles around you libs when it comes to actually serving our fellow man, not just using it as some sort of public display to reinforce how much better we are than everyone else.

Your hubris is astonishing. And this is not the thread for your flat-out wrong-headed scolding.

Joe Schmoe said...

And long live Dick Cheney.

MathMom said...

Joe Schmoe -

I think jimspice assumes most people do not have "Donor" on their DL, and he wants people to change that and become donors.

YMMV.

ken in tx said...

If he is Darth Cheney as the left claims, he could have just taken over another body.

BTW, I admire Cheney. I pray for him.

Beldar said...

I dunno, Prof. Althouse. I would bet you a large amount of money that at his next public speaking opportunity, Vice President Cheney himself makes at least one joke about his new heart. And I further predict it will be original, dry, and very funny indeed.

HT said...

There is scant discussion of other options Cheney had. For example, was it possible to reverse his heart disease? Did he rely on medical technology to save him? This article is a hint of an alternative point of view, one we rarely hear of.

http://www.newsmax.com/InsideCover/dickcheney-dr-crandall-newsmax/2011/07/25/id/404805

Yes, of course, save him. Give him what he needs.

jimspice said...

Hey @Schmoe, do you do parties? You're very entertaining.

rhhardin said...

"Cheney gets new heart, endorses Obama" is the only one I've heard.