Dick Cheney's heart transplant

Dick Cheney had heart transplant surgery yesterday at age 71, and is reported to be recovering at a hospital in Virginia. According to The Wall Street Journal, Cheney, who had his first heart attack at age 37, was on the transplant list for nearly two years.

In July 2009, I blogged about Cheney's successful operation to install a VAD, or ventricular assist device, and cited an article then from The Wall Street Journal. Reader comments were many and visceral. It's no different after his transplant operation yesterday.

Here are a few of the "get well soon" comments:

• "Get well soon Dick Cheney, we will keep you and your family in our prayers."
• "Best wishes for a speedy recovery, sir, you are a fine man and did great service to our country. Best wishes also to your wonderful family- I wish Liz would run for President."
• "Best of luck and a quick recovery. It must be a terrible feeling going to bed each night not knowing if you will wake up next morning or getting ready for a surgery that one might not wake up from. I can't imagine it and I wouldn't wish that on anyone. This is why organ donation is so important. It saves lives. What can be more noble than that ?"
• "Here's praying for a speedy recovery."
• "I voted for him twice and would again, but didn't always agree with him. Always respected him though."

And some from people who wish Cheney something else:

• "Dude, Dick got his first heart in this operation, it was no transplant."
• "He'll need extra recovery time, this being his first heart and all. Next he needs a brain transplant."
• "Dick Cheney? The last President? The one who threw the country under the bus? There needs to be a heart in his chest in the first place for there to be something called a transplant."
• "His body will reject a real heart."
• "Cheney swallowed the new heart whole in order to gain the donor's soul."
• "Cheney is already dead."
• "He needs to dance in hell as soon as possible."

 Meanwhile, The New York Times' editor of its editorial page recently ran an article titled "Has Political Discourse Hit Rock Bottom?"