After a series of minor strokes, the other pair of the Conservative Revolution, Thatcher can vividly remember distant events but not very recent ones.

This strange memory loss echoes Eco’s novel "The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana," which tells the story of Yambo, a rare-book dealer, who can remember the plot of every book he has ever read, every line of poetry, but no longer knows his own name, doesn’t recognize his wife or his daughters, and remembers nothing about his parents or his childhood.

But it’s still roses for Thatcher because of her recollection of her glory days as Britain’s prime minister, for which she got credit from Tories for setting Britain a new course in the 1980s, "transforming the kingdom’s woeful economy into a powerhouse."

Alzheimer’s is an aging disorder but in our country it seems to have transmuted into a political disease. Of course, this is not a medical diagnosis. Doctors and observers can only give it the vague label of "selective memory" or "lapse of judgment."

"Garci" vividly remembers names but not where he put his passport. Certain congressmen do not remember familiar voices. Cabinet members forget the simplest laws. On the other hand, the silence of the AFP as to who ordered the tapping of GMA’s conversations with "Garci" may just be stonewalling rather than loss of memory.

Where Thatcher can remember past events, our own "Iron Lady" and her spokespersons forget past statements. Instead of just saying that a pledge or revelation was "no longer operative," they just come out with contradicting ones.

The common suspicion is that they are relying on the political saw that people have short memories, so that it’s sufficient unto the day the fabrication thereof.

Nothing’s as frustrating as politicized Alzheimer’s in action.