# News Flash! Some old coot in Philadelphia has a stroke; news at 11. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 3, 2000, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-flash-some-old-coot-in-philadelphia-has-a-stroke-news-at-11/28002 "2000-08-03T16:12:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2000, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-flash-some-old-coot-in-philadelphia-has-a-stroke-news-at-11/28002/1 "2000-08-03T16:12:45Z")
This is bound to generate a large number of humble opinions, and I know it was Gerald Ford, but still… I saw the news and wrinkled my forehead trying to figure out how much of a serious impact this had made on me. None, it seems. And now I have to sit through a ten minute rehash every time I watch almost _any_ news broadcast, and it’s not over then! That gets followed up with a 20 minute story on the mechanism of a stroke & finally an interview with Ronald Reagan’s daughter Maureen about how terrible Alzheimer’s disease is, in case anybody didn’t know. Don’t thousands, maybe tens of thousands of people have strokes each year? Why has this made international headlines just because it’s happened to a has-been president? I could understand some anxious media behaviour if it had happened to a _sitting_ president, but for cripes sake Ford has been out of office for almost **24 years**. I think I’m coming here for all my news from now on. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2000, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-flash-some-old-coot-in-philadelphia-has-a-stroke-news-at-11/28002/2 "2000-08-03T16:20:54Z")
Old _National Lampoon_ headline from 1975, just after the Squeaky Fromme assassination attempt: \*\*PRESIDENT FORD SHOT IN BRAIN, NO DAMAGE REPORTED “…thank god Gerry wasn’t hit in a vital organ,” commented First Lady Betty Ford.\*\* ---
**Author:** ![oldscratch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ed655f/32.png) [@oldscratch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oldscratch)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2000, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-flash-some-old-coot-in-philadelphia-has-a-stroke-news-at-11/28002/3 "2000-08-03T16:44:31Z")
Do you like Beer Homer? ---
**Author:** ![ren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@ren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ren)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2000, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-flash-some-old-coot-in-philadelphia-has-a-stroke-news-at-11/28002/4 "2000-08-03T17:38:49Z")
So he shows up at the hospital the first time with slurred speech, difficulty comprehending others, and a swollen, painful tongue, and they check him for an ear infection and send him home. WTF??!?!? Mental note: If ever sick in Philadephia, avoid that hospital… ---
**Author:** ![Rosebud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ea666f/32.png) [@Rosebud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rosebud)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2000, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-flash-some-old-coot-in-philadelphia-has-a-stroke-news-at-11/28002/5 "2000-08-03T19:10:06Z")
I think it’s getting a lot of attention simply because it happened during the convention. If he’d had his stroke a month ago, or a month from now, it would be considered newsworthy but not to the extent it is right now. That said, I was watching him talk to a reporter Tuesday evening, and I thought to myself that he looked, well, like he’d had a stroke, or was in otherwise poor health. Apparently I wasn’t the only one; since then I’ve read/heard that others who were watching convention coverage that night wondered what was up with him. So I think ren has a great point-- if people watching the man on television could tell something was wrong with him, how could the hospital miss it?! ---
**Author:** ![Triskadecamus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@Triskadecamus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Triskadecamus)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2000, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-flash-some-old-coot-in-philadelphia-has-a-stroke-news-at-11/28002/6 "2000-08-03T19:43:25Z")
Bill Maher reported last night that Ford’s condition had been upgraded from “Reagan” to “Cheney.” Tris ---
**Author:** ![CnoteChris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/278dde/32.png) [@CnoteChris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CnoteChris)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2000, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-flash-some-old-coot-in-philadelphia-has-a-stroke-news-at-11/28002/7 "2000-08-03T21:00:39Z")
Damn Rosebud… That’s what I was thinking too. I also saw him being interviewed on Tuesday night and thought, ‘Damn, he’s drunker than a freshman at Madison!’. I even thought of starting a thread that night about it. I didn’t. I kinda felt bad for him. If I had to spend a night around with that bunch, I’d be a bit liquored up myself. Ditto on your other points. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2000, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-flash-some-old-coot-in-philadelphia-has-a-stroke-news-at-11/28002/8 "2000-08-03T23:51:18Z")
You realize of course, that the ten minutes a newscaster spends talking about Gerald Ford’s condition is ten minutes taken away from yet another rehash of the Convention. We should be grateful for the interruption. ---
**Author:** ![Jello](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@Jello](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jello)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2000, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-flash-some-old-coot-in-philadelphia-has-a-stroke-news-at-11/28002/9 "2000-08-04T23:46:10Z")
Anybody seen that Dana Carvey thing on SNL where he was Tom Brokaw and kept repeating “Former President Gerald Ford _died_ todaayyy…”? ---
**Author:** ![sorrel554](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/91b2a8/32.png) [@sorrel554](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sorrel554)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2000, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-flash-some-old-coot-in-philadelphia-has-a-stroke-news-at-11/28002/10 "2000-08-05T01:16:09Z")
Jello: Yes, and that’s all I could think about when I heard the news! Someone e-mailed me the sound file of Carvey saying, “Former President Gerald Ford was chopped into little bits by the propellor of a plane…” ---
**Author:** ![obfusciatrist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4af34b/32.png) [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2000, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-flash-some-old-coot-in-philadelphia-has-a-stroke-news-at-11/28002/11 "2000-08-05T01:22:47Z")
I’m afraid I am going to have to take the blame for Ford’s stroke. That night, when we hard that Ford was in the hospital is turned to Baglady and said: “Just imagine the jokes if he fell down. Of course, if he DID fall down he would probably claim he had a stroke before admitting it.” Woke up the next morning to learn that it HAD been a stroke. At least this doesn’t compare to Baglady killing Jimmy Stewart. (She wasn’t said “did Jimmy Stewart die a while ago?” and two days later he was.) As for the question of the OP, a former president having a stroke is definitely more newsworthy than the weekly Gumbel/non-Survivor interview. ---
**Author:** ![evilbeth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/evilbeth/32/2268_2.png) [@evilbeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/evilbeth)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2000, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-flash-some-old-coot-in-philadelphia-has-a-stroke-news-at-11/28002/12 "2000-08-06T06:11:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by obfusciatrist \* > \*\* > At least this doesn’t compare to Baglady killing Jimmy Stewart. (She wasn’t said “did Jimmy Stewart die a while ago?” and two days later he was.) > \*\* Well, my best friend has repeatedly accused _me_ of killing Jimmy Stewart so I think Baglady is off the hook. See, my best friends’ two favorite actors are Jimmy Stewart and Robert Mitchum. Well, when Robert Mitchum died, I heard about it and called her to tell her. While I was waiting for her to pick up the phone, I was thinking, “Boy, she likes lots of old actors, Robert Mitchum, Jimmy Stewart…” Anyway, when she picked up the phone, I said, “Sorry to hear about you favorite actor dying.” and she said, “Who?” and, without thinking, I said, “Jimmy Stewart. No, wait, Robert Mitchum.” About 24 hours later, Jimmy Stewart was dead, too. She will never forgive me. ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2000, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-flash-some-old-coot-in-philadelphia-has-a-stroke-news-at-11/28002/13 "2000-08-06T10:15:41Z")
**Evilbeth** It all starts to make sense!!! ---
**Author:** ![beakerxf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc79bd/32.png) [@beakerxf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beakerxf)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2000, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-flash-some-old-coot-in-philadelphia-has-a-stroke-news-at-11/28002/14 "2000-08-06T17:09:47Z")
No, no, no, **evilbeth** and **baglady** , **I** killed Jimmy Stewart. I was in the car driving to work thinking, “Now that Mitchum is gone, which screen legends are left? Well, there’s Katarine Hepburn and Jimmy Stewart. Of course, now that his wife is gone, Jimmy Stewart can’t hang on much longer. Poor guy.” He died within the next 24 hours. As for Ford, I agree that it’s only getting the coverage its getting because of the timing of the stroke. That type of irony is something news channels love. I can also understand how the stroke was misdiagnosed since he had an infected tongue that would explain away slurring problems. Though, how they diagnosed his case as a sinus infection, I have no clue. I got admit that I had an ultra-cynical thought after hearing about his stroke. I thought that if he had died from the stroke that Republicans would have milked it for all its worth and try to get some sympathy votes. Something along the lines of “Ford died while campaigning for Bush. Vote for Bush so Ford’s vision of a Republican government doesn’t die with him”. Man, I need this election to end so I can go back to being my optimistic self again.