A Presidential candidate has MS

[Mark Rand]

In the campaigh I'm working on, which may be set in the GURPS IST universe, the public, due to the events at the end of Angel: the series, is aware of the existance of supernaturea evil.

Michael Moore has claimed that George Bush, Jr. is linked to Wolfram and Hart, who is linked to Hell.

The world knows that his opponant, Jed Bartlet, has the relapsing-remitting form of Multiple Sclerosis.

Is Jed still a suitable candidate for the Presidency?

[Greatwyrm]

Re: A Presidential candidate has MS

 

Why not? Didn't FDR have polio? He was a good enough president. Back then the public wouln't have gone for it, but I don't think it would be nearly the problem now. Sure, some people would object, but some people always do. Some slimy political planner could find a way to make a few poll points on it.

 

As an aside, what's the timeline you're running in? If by George Bush, Jr., you mean GWB, he wouldn't be able to run for the office again. Or are you referring to someone else entirely?

[McCoy]

Re: A Presidential candidate has MS

 

As MS is a progressive disease, I think more than average attention will be paid to the running mate.

[sinanju]

Re: A Presidential candidate has MS

 

In the campaigh I'm working on' date=' which may be set in the GURPS IST universe, the public, due to the events at the end of [i']Angel: the series,[/i] is aware of the existance of supernaturea evil.

Michael Moore has claimed that George Bush, Jr. is linked to Wolfram and Hart, who is linked to Hell.

The world knows that his opponant, Jed Bartlet, has the relapsing-remitting form of Multiple Sclerosis.

Is Jed still a suitable candidate for the Presidency?

 

No, because he's already served two terms as President.

[Mark Rand]

Re: A Presidential candidate has MS

 

Why not? Didn't FDR have polio? He was a good enough president. Back then the public wouln't have gone for it, but I don't think it would be nearly the problem now. Sure, some people would object, but some people always do. Some slimy political planner could find a way to make a few poll points on it.

 

As an aside, what's the timeline you're running in? If by George Bush, Jr., you mean GWB, he wouldn't be able to run for the office again. Or are you referring to someone else entirely?

Sorry. I should've been more specific. I was referring to the 2004 election.

[Haven Walkur]

Re: A Presidential candidate has MS

 

Multiple sclerosis is a neurological syndrome with wildly varying effects. Literally, every person's experience of MS is different...and the neurologists still don't know what causes it, what it will do or how to cure it. The neurologists don't even know why some of the anti-MS treatments work, just that they do.

 

Some things to bear in mind for your "Jed Bartlet" character where MS is concerned: in someone who has MS, prolonged exposure to heat and humidity make an attack (referred to as a 'seizure') more likely; fatigue is the most common MS symptom, a fatigue that does not respond to stimulants or "uppers"; men appear to get MS half as often as women do and twice as severely -- the syndrome progresses faster in men. (But on the other hand, my husband's male thesis advisor has MS, had one seizure that left him with a slight, permanent limp, and has not had any further trouble in the last 25 years.)

 

I have remitting-recurring multiple sclerosis, and it doesn't affect me much on a day-to-day basis. I was diagnosed in 1998, during a seizure that left me staggering and my field of vision narrowed to a "letterbox". I was hospitalized for a week, receiving massive IV doses of steroids, and then released. I've never had another seizure that bad.

 

When the MS flares up, I get visual 'fogging' and some weakness on the left side of my body -- always the left. I become intensely fatigued and have problems with concentration and recall. But that said, I only have identifiable flare-ups once or twice a year, if that often. These are treated with outpatient steroid infusions, or low-dose infusions of Novantrone, a chemotherapy drug used in cases of breast cancer (go figure) that somehow helps reduce the frequency and severity of MS seizures.

 

After diagnosis, I started a regimen of Copaxone, a daily subcutaneous injection...not that big a deal, though keeping the vials cool while travelling was a pain sometimes. And every so often, I have an unaccountable allergic-style reaction to the drug. My neurologists assured me that it wasn't doing me any actual damage, but with the flushing, gasping, racing heart and severe muscular pains, it felt as if I were having a heart attack for 30-45 minutes!

 

Copaxone is one of the big three anti-MS drugs approved by the FDA in 1995. The other two are Avonex and Beta-serone, both of which are immune-suppressants, and both are needed less often than Copaxone (one is every three days, the other every week), but require an intramuscular injection. OUCH!

 

Your Jed Barlet will probably be using one of the three A-B-C drugs for this condition. He may receive periodic low-dose IV infusions of Novantrone as an outpatient. He may be taking anti-fatigue medications, with limited success; MS fatigue is neurologically different from normal tiredness, sleepiness or even exhaustion, and is difficult to treat with medication. He may also be taking anti-depressants, as MS can cause a depressive syndrome which is neurologically different from clinical and situational depression. But from my experience with MS, Jed's daily life may not be affected much overall.

 

Jed may tire more easily and when tired, take longer to recover (but I was still capable of walking ten miles with my mother the other day). Again, everyone's different. He'll probably find the heat more uncomfortable than he did, and his night vision may become unreliable (I no longer drive at night). He may have problems with MS depression, and probably will have MS fatigue...but there's no reason he can't carry on with even a high-stress professional life, as long as he's aware of his symptoms and seeks treatment when an MS flare-up occurs.

 

After all, the MS "experts" are only guessing based on a patient's past symptomology. The sad truth is, nobody -- neurologist, pathologist or patient -- really knows what will happen with MS or when it will happen.

 

Much like FDR having had polio, the MS can be an non-issue if Mr. Jed Bartlet is determined that it will be a non-issue.

[transmetahuman]

Re: A Presidential candidate has MS

 

No' date=' because he's already served two terms as President. [/quote']

Hehehe

In the campaigh I'm working on' date=' which may be set in the GURPS IST universe, the public, due to the events at the end of [i']Angel: the series,[/i] is aware of the existance of supernaturea evil.

Michael Moore has claimed that George Bush, Jr. is linked to Wolfram and Hart, who is linked to Hell.

The world knows that his opponant, Jed Bartlet, has the relapsing-remitting form of Multiple Sclerosis.

Is Jed still a suitable candidate for the Presidency?

The question becomes, how *much* does the public know about the supernatural? And how has the political and national defense system altered to accomodate that knowledge? If the power brokers and intelligence agencies of the world know about this stuff, I don't think it's gonna be Michael Moore that first finds out about it. If the spooks are all pawns of evil, Moore will very quickly have a discrediting breakdown. If they're not, there'll be more evidence gathered about Bush's involvement than the word of one documentary director, and certain people would already be acting on it..

 

In Angel, I got the impression that the big guys mostly knew about it, but were either in on it (giving them a reason to keep quiet), or "had no proof" to start changing the system. Actually, the whole world was pretty loopy that way - if there was enough proof around that something like the Initiative could be created, a LOT more would be changing about the world. I can't imagine a reason so many people would keep quiet about that kind of thing, and if one was presented in either series, I never heard about it.

[Mark Rand]

Re: A Presidential candidate has MS

 

The idea for the public to know about demons and such came from the story Slayers CSI VI: Cold Cases at fanfiction.net. The URL is http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2264093/1/. In its prologue, the fight in LA is being carried on two different channels, Michael Moore is on two others, a soldier is talking about fighting HSTs in South America in a fifth, Buffy is with the British PM in the sixth, the seventh was Captain Jim Brass talking about his department's relationship with the Slayers. Law enforcement agencies would receive briefing packets from the Los Vegas Police and the FBI. Slayer Central would put most of its information on the web for anyone to view.

Presumably, the Secret Service was notified once all the Slayers were activated and the Sunnydale Hellmouth was closed.

Jed's running mate is John Hoynes.

[assault]

Re: A Presidential candidate has MS

 

It depends on how deeply you are going into the Buffyverse, but the existence of the Initiative in season four suggests that the US government knows that the supernatural exists and has at least attempted to respond.

 

That doesn't rule out a candidate with links to Wolfram and Hart.

[Mark Rand]

Re: A Presidential candidate has MS

 

It depends on how deeply you are going into the Buffyverse, but the existence of the Initiative in season four suggests that the US government knows that the supernatural exists and has at least attempted to respond.

 

That doesn't rule out a candidate with links to Wolfram and Hart.

Agreed. As I recall, the existence of the Initiative was known only to a select few. It's quite possible that they were using the demon community to create some kind of super soldier.

Although this kind of creation might not be against international law in the CU, it is in the IST universe. The Edicts, signed by President Carter in 1982, prohibit military supers. Of course, the increased nationalism of the 1900s and the America First movement could've let the people who created the original Initiative think they could get away with it.

On a somewhat related matter, one of the White House aides is a Slayer and several Secret Service agents have Watcher training. In both universes the Slayer is sanctioned by the federal agency that sanctions them and is monitored by the Secret Service.

[Mark Rand]

Re: A Presidential candidate has MS

 

In my next few postings, I'll be using the terms white witch and guardian witch. A white witch is any witch that uses her powers for good. The Charmed Ones are white witches and their male counterpart is a white wizard. A guardian witch is a white witch that has taken an Oath of Guardianship. These oaths are sworn before whatever higher powers the witch worships and always involves the protection of humanity. A male guardian witch is a guardian wizard. When a guardian witch or wizard uses their powers, their hair turns white.

A few guardian witches have been Called as Slayers. The White House's Slayer is one of them. She's Kathy Nakamura, Deputy Communications Director Sam Seaborn's aide. Additionally, Carol Fitzpatrick, Press Secretary C.J. Cregg's aide, and Bonnie, a Communications Aide, are guardian witches and Abigail Ann "Abbey" Bartlet, M.D., the First Lady, and Margaret Hooper, the Chief of Staff's Aide, are white witches.

(A/N: The designation of these four ladies as witches is from a fan fiction story that I once read and Kathy was given the last name of the actress, Susy Nakamura, who played her on the first season of The West Wing.)