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Ted Kennedy

AG/DC May 20 2008 11:57 AM

Brain tumor.

Benjamin Grimm May 20 2008 11:58 AM

Ouch. A malignant brain tumor.

Willets Point May 20 2008 12:14 PM

Ick! ]Malignant gliomas are a type of brain cancer diagnosed in about 9,000 Americans a year and are the most common type among adults. It's a starting diagnosis: How well patients fare depends on what specific tumor type is determined by further testing. Average survival can range from less than a year for very advanced and aggressive types -- such as glioblastomas -- or to about five years for different types that are slower growing. Sadly it seems the Senatah won't be with us much longer.

metirish May 20 2008 12:39 PM

Sad news but it was never going to be good news when you hear yesterday he had a seizure.

TheOldMole May 21 2008 08:06 AM

Edgy -- here's a letter I just sent to the Washington Post. If by .01 chance they should happen to print it, and you should happen to see it, let me know. ]Your editorial credits Ted Kennedy with the ability to "forge both friendships and working partnerships across the political aisle, all without yielding on principles... After having to abandon his presidential ambitions in 1980, Mr. Kennedy reapplied himself to becoming one of the most effective senators in history." Who else could this apply to? Twenty years from now, if she takes his example, to Hillary Clinton. She has his capacity for hard work, his capacity for forging alliances across the aisle, his capacity for compromise when necessary, and his commitment to making change for the better.

John Cougar Lunchbucket May 21 2008 08:12 AM

Mole I was thinking the same thing... Ted's big speech at the 80 convention and Hil's opportunity to say the same thing.

Willets Point May 21 2008 08:58 AM

I have a friend who is a nurse at MGH who says the media are circling like vultures and keep referring to Kennedy in past tense.

AG/DC May 21 2008 10:25 AM

David Broder wrote: Not since the day almost 45 years ago, when word reached Washington that his brother John had been cut down in Dallas, has there been news about an individual that struck so deep a blow to so many in this capital. Got to exhibit some perspective.

soupcan May 21 2008 10:29 AM

AG/DC wrote: ="David Broder"]Not since the day almost 45 years ago, when word reached Washington that his brother John had been cut down in Dallas, has there been news about an individual that struck so deep a blow to so many in this capital. If true, this surprises me. I've long thought that Ted was looked upon as a joke by peeps in the Beltway. 'Specially since the whole William Kennedy Smith thing.

Willets Point May 21 2008 10:36 AM

Regardless of what people think of Sen. Kennedy, there's a big difference between living a long life and getting a terminal illness that older people tend to get and getting cut down by an assassin's bullet in the prime of life.

AG/DC May 21 2008 10:44 AM Edited 2 time(s), most recently on May 21 2008 10:59 AM

His jokiness is trumbed by his status, name, seniority, wealth, and whatever talent he had embellished by his experience. If he crossed the aisle to work on legislation ---- Kennedy/Kasselbaum, Kennedy/McCain --- his stature lent a ton of weight to it, (pardon the inappropriate metaphor), even if the House bailed on Kennedy McCain It's a democratic town and peeps don't throw away a man that kind of influence trying to advance their agenda, even if that man is prone to waking up his son and nephew to go out partying. And one man's joke is another man's remarkably effective senator. Nobody out-performed Strom Thurmond's office when it came to being responsive to constituents. The only ones came close were Al D'Amato and staff. These guys, too, were jokes. I think another person in a good position to become a more effective senator in the wake of failed presidential ambitions might be his junior colleague from Massachusetts.

AG/DC May 21 2008 10:45 AM

Willets Point wrote: Regardless of what people think of Sen. Kennedy, there's a big difference between living a long life and getting a terminal illness that older people tend to get and getting cut down by an assassin's bullet in the prime of life. Sort of what I'm getting at. This city was nearly burned in the wake of King's death.

metirish May 21 2008 10:55 AM

Saw a bunch of his colleagues on both sides of the Senate choke up when asked about Kennedy after hearing what the diagnosis is , from anything I have read over the years and in recent days Ted Kennedy is genuinely well liked and certainly respected by his peers.

Frayed Knot May 22 2008 08:28 PM

The concept of 'perspective' rarely enters in things when the Kennedys are involved.