Along with 151,600 other people died today: http://www.ecology.com/birth-death-rates…

Offset by 360,000 new births daily.

Human race: 1. Planet Earth: 0. (Human race at some point in near future: uh oh.)

Please be nice all.

Here she is singing Thanks for the Memory on Bob Hope's birthday.

Scalia. McClendon. Reagan. Almost makes up for Bowie.

Just say no.

I like to think of Nancy Reagan as rolling her eyes when she read about how the likes of Ted Cruz beatify her late husband, and saying to herself, "He's not the Messiah," (*sigh*) "he's a very naughty boy".

I wish heaven existed so that Rock Hudson could laugh as she was turned away and cast into the lake of eternal fire.

@2 - Be nice? Why? Because she's dead now, a state we'll all be someday..? It's been suggested that Ronald Reagan's Alzheimer's & his mental decline in general started while he was still in office, & that Nancy Reagan had huge influence over policy decisions. She definitely had her husband's ear, regardless of how true the reports of the President's health were / are.

Under the Reagan Administration, communication director Pat Buchanan was able to say that AIDS is "nature's revenge on gay men" & still keep his job. Reagan steadfastly refused to comment on the AIDS crisis at all; more & more cases kept happening, & he said nothing while thousands - mostly gay men - died. In 1983, there were over 1000 cases w/ 394 deaths; in 1985, Rep. Henry Waxman said: ""It is surprising that the president could remain silent as 6,000 Americans died, that he could fail to acknowledge the epidemic's existence. Perhaps his staff felt he had to, since many of his New Right supporters have raised money by campaigning against homosexuals."

By the time Ronald Reagan finally publicly addresses the AIDS epidemic, 36,058 Americans had been diagnosed with AIDS & 20,849 of them had died. That's disgusting on every level.

The disease had also spread to many other countries. The Reagans' friend, actor Rock Hudson, wrote to them directly to appeal for help when he contracted AIDS; he wanted to be moved to a French hospital but needed a special dispensation. The Reagans refused the request. A;though some have said Nancy Reagan pushed her husband to finally address the AIDS crisis, other reports say it was superstar Elizabeth Taylor who was the motivation behind Nancy's finally changing her mind. Nevermind all the dead Americans, a Really Famous Person (who didn't have the 'icky' disease) said do something, so things finally started happening.

Also, in 1982, Ronald Reagan declared a "war on drugs". The policies enacted in this pointless "war" have cost the country a stunning amount of money & primarily target poor & minority non-violent offenders. Those laws & attitudes were enforced & amplified by both Presidents Bush & the first President Clinton. The USA is currently an incarceration nation; only 5% of the world's population but about 22% of the world's jailed population.

So no. I don't have to be nice, & anyone else who lived through the horror of the ACT-UP activism days doesn't have to be nice. Nancy Reagan may have been beloved by many, but I remember the first person I knew who died of AIDS, Thomas. He was a sweet young man with a kind face who was a customer at my mom's bookshop, where I sometimes worked after school. He got very sick & started losing a ton of weight. Then he was just...gone. The local hospital was one of the few around that were treating AIDs patient, so I had my suspicions about what happened to him, but my mom just said "pneumonia" & changed the subject. The second, third, etc, times I saw it, I knew what it was. The fear & misinformation the Reagans allowed to happen while the country was under their care is responsible for thousands of death that might not h ave happened had Falwell not had their ear, had they been able to see gay men as fellow humans.

She had some pretty dresses but they're both better off as tree food. I don't have to be "nice"for the sake of the memory of someone who had immense power, wealth & influence, but narrow, discriminatory views that cost people their lives.

(sorry for any typos, BTW, I've developed a corneal condition & so can't read small type ATM.)

@5: Oh DOUG, that was great.

@9: Eva Hopkins: Very well said. Brava!

Ronald Reagan was an incompetent idiot, but Nancy Reagan was the evil puppeteer. Together they fucked this country but good.

@9, thank you.

@9: Yeah, so, you're right on all what you said. However, Elizabeth Taylor was not married to Ronald Reagan, Nancy was. Nancy could have said yes to that hospital flight for Rock Hudson, but she unfortuantly caved to pressure from the White House staff and said no.
The 'Just say No' was a fluff campaign, the insane jailing of of people for tiny amounts amounts of meth and other drugs started under her husband and increased through subsequent presidencies.
Nancy Reagan was a First Lady, not a president.
I lived through the 80's as a young man. I remember how long it took for Ronald Reagan to even mention AIDS - in fact I remember that press conference and how awkward he was when asked about it. As hurtful as those things were to the gay community could you imagine if we had a Trump back then as president? Reagan was tragically oblivious to AIDS, yet the silver lining is the he was not proactively rounding up gays for quarantine.
One can remember all those years, and yes, still be nice and respect the First Lady for her charm, elegance, and restoration projects she did for the White House, the state dinners, or even her sitting on Mr T's lap in front of the Christmas tree. If you think that's silly, that's fine with me.
I find ruminating in the past boring and depressing.

@10 - I believe studies show that the human brain overlooks small typos. That's why we all miss copy editors. I only do post a comment corrections if my words could be misconstrued.

Dan, Dan, Dan, these long heartfelt obits you post just bring me to tears. ☺

Also, what @9 Eva Hopkins said.

Wallow in you hatred Eva, that's what happens when you dwell in the past. I knew Bob Campbell in my high school days yet I do not hold Ronald Reagan, let alone Nancy, responsible for his tragic demise. Maybe Dan should call in the Stranger staff and send out for champagne, cake and ice cream; I'm sure he'd invite you too.

Selling arms to terrorists, ignored the deaths of tens of thousands because they were "only the gays" - and in so doing caused millions to die needlessly around the world. The Reagans and their minions should have been prosecuted and imprisoned for their horrible crimes against humanity! My brother and many of our friends died just before the drug cocktail was found. They might still be alive today if those soulless people hadn't ignored the AIDS epidemic because of their bigotry. Yeah, so I'm sad that hell doesn't exist and I can't say Rest In HELL.

@15 The past creates the present we are in. If all those talented, kind, and loving people hadn't died of AIDS, we'd be living in a better world. NO, I will NOT forgive what they did.

@17 we don't need a party, I heeded Rob Roy's Mary McGregor's: "I will think (them) DEAD until (they are so), and then I'll think of them NO.MORE!" C'est fini.

@18: Nobody's asking for forgiveness here. It's perfectly fine to have conflicting views on historical figures. Perhaps a little credit for Nancy's continuous fundraising for stem cell research for Alzheimer disease up is worthy of your consideration.

@15, I remember Nancy Reagan sitting on Mr. T's lap, even though I was just a kid. I understand that she was "just" First Lady. But she had a huge influence on her husband & was a powerful presence in his Administration. It's been said in political circles that if Ronald hadn't married Nancy, there would've been no Governor Reagan or President Reagan. President Obama just said about her: "She redefined the role of First Lady." (There ya go, I said something nice. Oh wait, she also made Ronald Reagan apologize for the Iran-Contra arms deal..so there's TWO nice things.)

“It’s hard to envision Ronnie as being a bad guy,” she said in a 1989 interview. “And he’s not. But there are times when somebody has to step in and say something. And I’ve had to do that sometimes — often.” - Nancy Reagan

The restoration & redecoration of the White House - one of things you mentioned - came at a time when the rest of the country was suffering through a recession; inflation was high & so was unemployment. Yes, she had a love of glamour, big parties & high fashion, & the office of the Presidency is expected to have a certain level of style when entertaining heads of state. Some of the excesses of that Administration didn't reflect well on their empathy for the people they governed & their economic struggles, though.

I'm hearing from other online circles that the Reagans had gay friends. The first openly gay couple to spend the night at the White House - Ted Graber, the Reagans' interior designer & his partner - stayed in the private White House quarters one night. It's a shame whatever relative tolerance for individual gay people they might've had didn't extend outward into their policies. I'm sorry if what good their was in her life is outweighed by them turning them back, repeatedly, on Americans less fortunate than themselves, but to me, that is their legacy.

(Thanks for the kind words about the typos, though. May have to have corneal surgery & am trying to figure out how the hell I'm gonna afford that. Yay, we have such a great health care system!)

@19.....I think that is probably the best attitude. I am no fan of Ronald Reagan but I do not believe that Nancy had influence in governmental policies. I've never liked people who dance on other's grave and act smug.

@20, I *did* forget to mention her later-life activism about Alzheimer's.

I just can't forget how the setup from back then - the huge religious influences of that administration, the war on drugs, the lavish lifestyle in the face of a troubled economy - has contributed massively to the setup we have today. & the tens of thousands of people dead from AIDS before it really had research dollars & basic compassion thrown at it.

@17, It's not "wallowing in hatred" to not lament the death of someone who turned a blind eye to so much suffering. Nancy had massive influence in that White House, both on policy and (famously) on personnel choices / hirings / firings. We as a nation have a tendency to beatify people after their death. Yes, Mrs. Reagan had a complex life, & I didn't know her personally. I'm sorry her husband got Alzheimer's. But they encouraged the religious influence still currently tainting politics & ignored a huge health epidemic that carved huge holes in other people's lives & families.

The rest of the media is paying tribute to Mrs. Reagan. On Slog especially, it would feel disrespectful to Thomas's memory - & so many others - to not acknowledge how fucked up their treatment of gay people (we didn't say LGBTQA back then) & poor / minority people was.

She had a peaceful death at 94. Good for her. But I'm not going to suddenly forget how it really was back then because she's no longer living. It's not dancing on her grave to remember how the actions of her husband's Administration affected people.

Wow Eva, you will have also have to release your venting when Barbara Bush and Laura Bush die.

Oh raindrop. Kisses.
Yes Eva, I remember those dark times, when nobody in authority did a fucking thing. I was talking to one of my sons about this time, and told him of the amazing support so many gay people gave each other during this time. How many partners stayed and nursed their sick lovers.

Sorry. I won't feel guilty about remembering history, & those who died in the 80's, & how society talked about them / treated them. This tendency we have to speak kindly of people because they're deceased is a polite glossing over of the messiness of life. People were also quick to laud Richard Nixon for being a statesman right after he died; there wasn't much mention of Watergate.

I don't have anything unkind to say about either of the Mrs. Bushes, but they didn't play as strong a role in their husband's Administrations as Nancy Reagan did in Ronald's.

Lava @26..yeah..watching people all around me die with nobody seeming to care..that has stayed with me. Seeing couples torn apart, people shunning them, families not supporting them..the memories of that grow dim, but they're not forgotten.

HIV isn't the likely death sentence it was when it first appeared & now that we have antiretroviral drugs, the horror of AIDS going ignored for so long feels like forever ago, most days. Just, not as much today.

@27: Let's boil this down. It doesn't even have to do with Nancy Reagan. It could be anyone. Despite your (or anyone's) grievances about how the deceased, it does not negate the reverence of those who loved or admired the deceased. There's no winning argument because both camps are valid.

Nancy Reagan was a silly, venal woman who bought a tacky Hollywood faux elegance to the White House. She and her husband were living, breathing examples of the gullibility of large swaths of the American public, who can be swayed by the appeal of celebrity.

I can't find much to mourn in her passing. She had a good long life, and pretty much always got what she wanted. I feel bad for her son Ron Jr and her daughter Patti, who I think are good people who loved their mother, but that's about it. As the saying goes, "Death is the great equalizer".

Fair enough
Eva. A good thing to pause and remember, then. The gay community, so many of them, showed true love and courage thru those tragic, tragic times.
Let this woman of little merit, let her passing mean something strengthening.
We pause to remember those brave people, like yourself, on the Front Line.
Mostly, those whose young lives, were taken so brutally.

@28: "it does not negate the reverence of those who loved or admired the deceased."

So fucking what?

I don't even understand why you think anyone would care. Of course even people who tolerated terrible things will find those to care about them.

The Syrian refugees, another tragedy;
in our times. The west govt have to all work together with their peoples, to help help help here. The ignore response is just leaving it for the few to cope with.
And where is our collective compassion for these suffering people. Solutions have to be found. That will never happen if nobody talks about it.

The Onion's obituary for Ronald Reagan:

http://www.theonion.com/graphic/nancy-re…

@8 I too have a similar wish.

NR was responsible for the War on Drugs and subsequent mandatory sentencing laws that disproportionally incarcerated people of color per drug policy.org (http://www.drugpolicy.org/resource/drug-…) "...although rates of drug use and selling are comparable across racial and ethnic lines, blacks and Latinos are far more likely to be criminalized for drug law violations than whites."

I'm going to take a stab at generalizing here, and guess that the people who revere and mourn the Reagans never visited Bailey Boushay during those dark and excruciating days, never volunteered for the Chicken Soup Brigade, never cried over those memorial quilts. I was very young then, but I'll never forget how it was.

My brother and his friends died in their early twenties, they didn't get to live until they were old, unlike the Reagans. My brother was a composer, he made the best pizza I've ever tasted, he was gentle and kind, his soul was made of music,he bought all his socks in the same color so he didn't have to throw the singles out when the dryer monster ate his socks, he went to five different proms during senior year because he didn't want the girls who asked him to feel rejected, he loved festivals and the ocean - and his voice was like the warmest hug, no matter what was hurting or causing you problems, he gave you the courage to face it and go forward. For years after he died, I'd pick up the phone to call him whenever I was really upset, then I'd remember I can't hear his voice anymore. He was a lot older than me, but he talked and listened carefully to whatever I said as if I was his peer, as if whatever I was saying and doing was very important. He did this with everybody, so when you're around him you feel stronger, braver, smarter, cooler, more alive, more special, and LOVED. His friends, who also died young, one volunteered to teach English to immigrants - even though he was going to school full time and worked full time; one was beautiful and bright and loved mochas - at his funeral his mom, whom I've never met before, hugged me and his friends so tightly as if by doing so she could hold on to part of her son. There are many others, but I've started crying.

I'm sure there are many people on Slog who have stories like mine, who, when hearing of NR's death, experienced what Eva said so eloquently: "the horror of AIDS going ignored for so long feels like forever ago, most days. JUST, NOT AS MUCH TODAY.".

Don't ask us to be nice to spare the feelings of Mrs Reagan's friends and family. They were able to enjoy her company several decades longer than we had with the ones we love and miss EVERY DAY. Some wounds never heal. Maybe I'd be able to think better of her if she ever was sorry, but she wasn't. If she was, she'd have raised funds for AIDS research, and not for Alzheimer's and his stupid library that DOESN'T admit what he did to so many - the pain and suffering he caused. It's always about THEM with her, she didn't even try to understand, she never accepted responsibility for the devastation, SHE WASN'T SORRY! And I'm really angry these soulless people can still make me cry.

@35: A presidential spouse has no legislative powers whatsoever. Only influence.

@36: Well, you're guess is wrong. I visited my former roommate many times at Bailey Bushy. I took a course on care giving and had a man with HIV live with me for a few years. While I did not loose a family member or partner to AIDS, I lost a former boyfriend and dear friends.
We all work through these things differently, I wish you well iseult.

Bailey Bushay - P.S. to Eva: I do post corrections for proper nouns - especially when autocorrect is being mischeivious.

@35 On Slate Obit today:
"Ronald Reagan's Protector
Nancy Reagan devoted her life to safeguarding her husband's reputation. She succeeded"

I'm sorry that you lost so many friends, You're a bigger person than I am! I consider not wishing that those people would suffer the same excruciating deaths that so many did - because of their dereliction of duty and bigotry - as already being nicer to them than they were to us. I was very young, and not gay, so I can't even imagine the kind of pain the LGBT community went through at that time, with the stigma, the rejection and hopelessness. A friend of my brother said he was going to funerals several times per week, and he was afraid that some of his friends would kill themselves so they don't have to do it anymore.

Like I said, I followed Mary McGregor's creed, and have thought those people dead for decades. I hope my brother's loved ones have been able to do the same.

However, do consider whether the Trump/Cruz VILE Train could've gained so much steam if Nancy Reagan hasn't been spending all this time "safeguarding her husband's reputation". She worked extremely hard to make people like my brother, his friends, your roommate, your ex boyfriend DISAPPEAR.

I'm now going to think of her no more.

**I hope my brother's FRIEND'S loved ones have been able to do the same...

Donald Trump, Ted Cruz and the rest of them are a direct offshoot of the nightmare the Reagan's unleashed on this country. It was disgusting listening to Chris Matthews claim that Nancy and Ronnie represented some sort of "good old days" in DC. They represented the very type of hard right radical conservatism that is ripping the country apart.

@40 - I'm not a bigger man than you iseult, just older.

iseult. Thank you for sharing those stories.

iseult, your brother sounds like he was a beautiful man. So sorry you and so many lost loved ones thru AIDS.

Just say no to the Prison For Profit scheme under Nancy Reagan and Hillary Clintons failed War on Drugs policies against Black and POC citizens

@33: Well, you can hardly expect any commentary on the matter from Nancy.

I lived in SF in the early 80s.

I remember a friend's gay father suddenly avoiding all physical contact with said friend, because one of the father's friends was sick, and research hadn't yet shown the method of transmission. Why? No funding for the disease. I can lay that lack of funding directly at the feet of the Reagans.

@37, unless the actual president is non compos mentis due to his worsening dementia, and the presidential spouse essentially takes over his duties. Nancy Reagan was the de facto prez for two years at least.

@49: I wouldn't say two years - but the same could be said of Florence Harding. De facto is not legal.

As a liberal, I admit I felt no sadness upon hearing the news. As a widow, though, I found myself happy for her, immediately thinking: 'she's back with her Ronnie again'. All about perspective, I suppose.