Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau for October 04, 2016
Transcript:
Roland: March 24, 1987-- it's been seven years since my last trek through Reagan's brain... What a bleak, ravaged landscape greets us. Cranial coils lay heaped in lifeless disarray. Neurons are stretched and frayed, their dendritic spines worn away. In short, nothing has changed.
BE THIS GUY about 8 years ago
Knowing what we know, this is kind of hard to read.
Renatus Profuturus Frigeridus Premium Member about 8 years ago
Nothing?Really?
Flash Gordon about 8 years ago
Reagan didn’t care about we the people, he just cared about the very wealthy and well connected. Why should we care about him?
snoopy1959 about 8 years ago
as my sister use to say: “life is not a pony farm.”
alviebird about 8 years ago
My mother had Alzheimer’s. If you haven’t dealt with it, you do not, cannot, know.
Evan2061 about 8 years ago
Majority of audience: this is insensitvie
Trudeau: too soon?
cripplious about 8 years ago
I dont know how true it is but Trudeau is running what he believes is the highlights of the strip. And why not kick a corpse while hes rotting
chuck_henebry about 8 years ago
Note that this strip ran well BEFORE Reagan was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, when his faulty memory was the excuse that kept him from being impeached over the Iran-Contra illegal diversion of funds.
mourdac Premium Member about 8 years ago
The ‘pubs knew Mr. Reagan was having severe cognitive issues to the point where Mrs. Reagan and his top advisers wondered if he’d be able to finish out his term.
David Illig Premium Member about 8 years ago
Reagan: developed Alzheimer’s at noon on January 20, 1989.
caligula about 8 years ago
I’m sorry, almost mentioned the HUGE debt accumulated by one recent President in comparison.
Must be illegal here.
Gordon Fleming Premium Member about 8 years ago
Too soon. It may never be a good time.
Kip W about 8 years ago
A lot of us were saying he was senile at the time, and the GOP closed ranks and hotly denied it. ’’’’’’’’’’’’’’ Mom died from something probably related to Alzheimer’s. I’m not inclined to sweep it all under the rug. I’d rather we be bothered enough by it to find a cure.
route66paul about 8 years ago
Anyone who watched him on the news in his second term knew that he had a problem – kind of like watching the news and seeing Hillary fail.Roosevelt had physical problems, but his brain was sharp, voting for and allowing a president who has age related brain problems is a BIG deal.
RayThomas101 about 8 years ago
Trudeau remains a fool who hates Reagan because he did a good job. The only president in recent memory who did.
By-jiminy about 8 years ago
Sympathy for Reagan only shows why people need to be reminded what he did. The context of this series was the Iran-Contra scandal. Just a reminder, since it’s been erased from the popular memory:
REAGAN ILLEGALLY SOLD MILLIONS OF DOLLARS OF WEAPONS TO AYATOLLAH KHOMEINI IN IRAN
and
USED THE MONEY TO ILLEGALLY FUND TERRORISTS IN CENTRAL AMERICA.
When caught, his defense was, “I can’t remember.”
Citing Alzheimers is letting him off easy.
rudym300 about 8 years ago
How disrespectful.
3pibgorn9 about 8 years ago
Well, at the time we didn’t know about the impending Alzheimer’s. Trudeau shouldn’t have included this in his retrospective, though.
DeeBeeS about 8 years ago
Reagan was aware that he did have memory problems back in ’87 and probably earlier. After he left office, his staff would tell stories of how, in meetings, he would look quizzically at a staffer when he mentioned a name of a person or a policy issue that Reagan should easily have recognize.
Canajin eh about 8 years ago
This is a cartoon. What better way to bring Alzheimer’s to the forefront of people’s minds than to poke holes at it as well as be serious. Those who never dealt with it, also don’t read up on it. I’m not afraid of dying – I’m terrified of Alzheimer’s. I can appreciate the humor in the strip and feel for those who have put up with Alzheimer’s. You can whine about poor taste or you can find the opportunity to inform.
Malcolm Hall about 8 years ago
The strip was funny then, but it is sad now. I don’t think Reagan was an evil person even though I disliked his policies. He had a sense of humor which is a rare commodity today.
Mark McKay Premium Member about 8 years ago
Well, this is in extremely poor taste, given how President Reagan suffered from Alzheimer’s.
Randall Uhrich about 8 years ago
Who was RBH ? (or RSH ?)
dliley about 8 years ago
This really depresses me. It’s mean and makes me sad.
water_moon about 8 years ago
Dementia — of any kind — is not kind. But the fact is, this was written while Regan was pres, and long before any form of diagnosis. And to MAKE A POINT about his convenient “forgetfulness.” If I sign a classmate’s yearbook and accuse him of losing his mind as a teenager and then many years later he gets brain cancer, that does not invalidate his yearbook.
thejemmster about 8 years ago
Formidable.Trudeau’s proving here that while you were saluting and voting for GOP anything – Reagan in this case – sentient creatures including your cartoonist could already tell that your hero had a brain disorder & was unable to think clearly. Not a disqualifying factor for the sheepishly faithful and ideological blog warriors such as your goodself but for the rest of us …
rugeirn about 8 years ago
I’ve said it before and I’m going to say it again so long as this arc lasts. This strip is in abominable bad tastes. I’m nobody’s idea of a Reagan fan, but resurrecting strips that satirize the way the man died is sick. There’s no excuse for inflicting pain on his family this way. Shame on you, Garry Trudeau!