Years in Congress ended on troubled note (Karen McCarthy, D-Missouri, 1947-2010)

Washington Post ^ | October 6, 2010 | Adam Bernstein

[Second Amendment First]

I disagreed with everything she stood for, particularly gun control, but she is now at rest in her fight with all her demons.

[fieldmarshaldj]

RIP.

[ScottinVA]

Alzheimers at 63... damn.

RIP.

[rightwingextremist1776]

I’ll bet it’s hot where she’s headed......

[wideawake]

Alzheimer's sufferers who die at 63 are usually sufferers of early-onset Alzheimer's.

When she retired in 2004 at the age of 57 she almost certainly was already seriously affected by the disease.

The claims of alcoholism and of bipolar disorder may well have been accurate, but it looks to me like she was already not mentally fit for office - Alzheimer's usually first affects memory and usually only after it has already seriously compromised cognitive faculties does it begin to affect motor skills.

Her tumble down the stairs that led to her eventually not seeking reelection on grounds of alcoholism may well have been Alzheimer's-related apraxia.

If so, she was not in her right mind during her last term in office, which would include her lauded Iraq vote.

May she rest in peace. That's a very hard way to go. God deliver us from it.

[wideawake]

Besides her 2002 vote against the war in Iraq, her legislative record in the U.S. House was undistinguished. She had spent much of her career in the minority and admitted she had not sponsored a lot of bills.

Pretty sharp-edged commentary from the Washington Post about a Democrat Congresswoman who just died after a terrible, lingering illness.

[PLD]

Alzheimer’s, is an awful disease..I have had a few member of the family that had it,not blood, but by marriage..it took two wonderful people from us.and to sit and watch this awful disease take hold of these people is so very sad..

From what I have read it is something that runs in the family..I would say that is true since both of my relatives had mother and one had mother and father with Alzheimer’s..

Pray for the family they need it.The person no matter how bad they were left that body a long time before the disease took their life..

[ryderann]

This reminds me of what happened to Rita Hayworth...everyone thought she was drunk and it turned out to be some sort of dementia.

[Second Amendment First]

I was also surprised at the tone of the article, especially about a democrat.

Thanks for the insight on Alzheimer’s.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

Suffering with undiagnosed bipolar disorder for ten years would have been extremely difficult and the alcoholism may have been a result of self-medicating with alcohol.

[Huebolt]

It sounds like she tried very hard to do a tough job in a very hostile environment. Calling her "undistinguished" is a direct result of her being " ...a centrist Democrat who sought consensus with Republicans."

[Pan_Yans Wife]

I agree.

[wideawake]

Suffering with undiagnosed bipolar disorder for ten years

That's one of the things I'm questioning. People suffering from Alzheimer's have periods of rage and depression, which alternate with more upbeat, lucid periods.

The "bipolar disorder" that she was "self-medicating" with alcohol may simply have been undiagnosed early-oinset Alzheimer's.

And there may not even have been any alcoholism - she may have used a claim of alcoholism as an excuse for her falling down, which might really have been due to apraxia instead of drunkenness.

Her family kept the Alzheimer's a secret for years until just a few months ago.

Bipolar disorder and alcoholism may well have seemed to her less embarrassing to admit to than dementia.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

Bipolar disorder and alcoholism may well have seemed to her less embarrassing to admit to than dementia.

I find that interesting. The ignorant call people with mental illness "crazy" and make jokes about people with bipolar disorder. I have never heard anyone disparage anyone with Alzheimers. Have you? Is there a prejudice against people who have Alzheimers?

[wideawake]

I’ll bet it’s hot where she’s headed......

Wow. That's some statement.

I will say that if her aides and advisors knew that she was mentally unfit for office, and they manipulated her vote on legislation for their own partisan purposes, then that is beneath contempt.

One of the reasons why her vote against the Iraq War was celebrated is because it was not completely expected - a lot of moderate Democrats (40% of the caucus) voted for it.

[John O]

The claims of alcoholism and of bipolar disorder may well have been accurate, but it looks to me like she was already not mentally fit for office

She was a democrat, she was never mentally fit for office. I wonder if in her great reward she'll have to listen to teh cries of the babies she had a hand in murdering.

[Just mythoughts]

If I am not mistaken she was formerly Karen McCarthy Benson, former wife of the lawyer that handled the Kansas City Missouri School District .... (mess)

[Huebolt]

The person, no matter how bad they were, left that body a long time before the disease took their life..

That's true. It is still unsettling to think that the mind and the body are so inextricably linked...

[wideawake]

Is there a prejudice against people who have Alzheimers?

I don't think she was afraid that she would be taunted for having Alzheimer's - although the comments made about the late President Reagan who was diagnosed 6 years after he left office were often brutal and completely beyond the pale, as were the comments made about Charlton Heston - I think she was worried that people would consider her to have been a puppet.

That because of her dementia she wasn't the one making the decisions, that she was a vegetable being directed by outsiders.

And there may have been some truth to that, and she may have been humiliated by that.

[dfwgator]

No comment.