RIP Bill Richardson

[Regan MacNeil]

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2023/09/02/bill-richardson-dead-at-75/70750485007/

 

[Songbird]

Met him a few times. Gregarious to a fault.

 

[Vombatus]

Not A1. Timing.

 

[DanOregon]

One of those public servants who never stopped serving.

 

[Michael_ Gee]

One of those public servants who never stopped serving.

Perfect obit, Dan.

 

[Slacker]

Not A1. Timing.

Oh, shut the **** up.
Nobody needs that bull**** here.

Is that really all you have to offer?

 

[Vombatus]

Oh, shut the **** up.
Nobody needs that bull**** here.

Is that really all you have to offer?

Nope. I was very impressed with Richardson, and especially his efforts at freeing people.

 

[wicked]

It’s a Tony Kornheiser reference. He’s always going on about whether someone’s obit it on A1. Clearly he saw the Phil Collins thread here.

That said, Richardson was on A1 in the Post (below the fold, on the right).

 

[MisterCreosote]

RIP.

He was the subject of my hot take during the 2008 election cycle that America would elect a Hispanic president before a black one.

/priceisrightloserhorn

 

[Vombatus]

Funny enough to me at least, my gf said to me around noon today that she didn’t realize with all the Jimmy Buffett news that Richardson also died yesterday.

I raised an eyebrow and laughed.

 

[TigerVols]

Remind me not to be held captive in an adversarial country any time soon.

 

[User 149557]

I know this might be a stupid/insensitive question, but doesn’t it kinda show much better your level of healthcare becomes once you become President? Lots of people who run for President die at ages 70-80, but everyone who makes it to that post in the modern age lives past 90. I’m assuming you get scanned and checked on at a level even the merely rich and powerful don’t receive. Or have we just randomly chosen long-living people to be President?

 

[wicked]

I never thought of that. Ford, Carter, Reagan and Bush I all made it into their 90s. Didn’t Nixon come close? It’s remarkable given the stress that comes with the job. And all dealt with fairly major crises.

I’m mildly surprised Clinton is still kicking. He has never been the picture of health. He’s looked gaunt and withdrawn for the past 10 years. I know he needed to lose weight, but still.

 

[MisterCreosote]

The average lifespan of a president is 72 years. Though that is weighted heavily downward by the two presidents assassinated in their 40s and the good amount of 19th-century ones who didn’t make it out of their 60s.

Only six made it to their 90s, including John Adams. Surprised Jefferson and Madison both made it well into their 80s.

 

[User 149557]

Having slaves do all your work for you helps.

 

[User 149557]

The average lifespan of a president is 72 years. Though that is weighted heavily downward by the two presidents assassinated in their 40s and the good amount of 19th-century ones who didn’t make it out of their 60s.

Only six made it to their 90s, including John Adams. Surprised Jefferson and Madison both made it well into their 80s.

Yeah, we don’t have a large enough of a sample since modern advancements, but it was a musing. Trump surviving this long on McDonald’s and KFC is inexplicable beyond him being the actual devil, which this agnostic is open to at this point.

 

[User 149557]

I never thought of that. Ford, Carter, Reagan and Bush I all made it into their 90s. Didn’t Nixon come close? It’s remarkable given the stress that comes with the job. And all dealt with fairly major crises.

I’m mildly surprised Clinton is still kicking. He has never been the picture of health. He’s looked gaunt and withdrawn for the past 10 years. I know he needed to lose weight, but still.

Clinton is the one that made me think of it. All the others were naturally thin, active types. The type that probably live that long on average. I’d characterize Biden in that vein, too. (Obama’s smoking habit probably makes him a candidate to go earlier.) Clinton’s life expectancy for where he was born, how he lived, probably is not even the average American male’s.

 

[Webster]

In 2011, my then employer had a charity event where W and Bubba showed up. I saw W and shook hands and exchanged a couple of words with Bubba and they looked so different. W was vigorous but Bubba was scarily gaunt and moved very gingerly.

 

[User 149557]

Man, GWB would wrapping up his reign as the most popular MLB commissioner in history if my own dream timeline of history had occurred. We’d all have glowing stories that wondered how well he would’ve done had he become President.

 

[wicked]

Was he ever seriously considered?