So Ted Has a Brain Tumor....
 

From the NY Times:
article

Do we care? It's been reported he's been given less than one year to live. He's 76. I was always of the opinion he should have quit 20 years ago...

I haven't always agreed with him (no child left behind, for one), but I will miss his voice in the Senate. I hope he isn't in any discomfort and is surrounded by friends and family during this difficult time.

And yes, some of us care.

Wow, that's rather viciously harsh. Just about the only public figures who I can manage to foster that kind of ill will for are Supreme Court Justices, and that's only because it's the only way to get rid of them.

Clearly, there are plenty of people who care, otherwise he wouldn't have been reelected so many times all these years. Whether you agree with him or not, he's clearly doing something right in terms of representing his constituents.

Compassionate conservatism?

He's lived a full life. I hope his last year is comfortable and that he retains his dignity.

That would suck for anyone to go through.

Well, I asked, I didn't say...
I don't want him to suffer, any more than I'd want anyone else to. There will be a huge to-do about his being the "last" of the powerful Kennedy's, which is not so, since he has all those nieces and nephews in public office.


































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I care. My heart goes out to Ted Kennedy and his family, though like will, I haven't always agreed with him. No family should have to deal with something like this, and it goes without saying that the Kennedys have suffered their fair share. I'm glad he has his family around him.

I care too.

In regards to his office, I think he and his family have served the public well and with good intent, and have suffered for it too, sometimes horribly and publicly. I will miss him, his passion his and obstinence.

I wish he and his family well.

I hope he suffers more than Mary Jo Kopechne did, he was only kept out of jail because he had the life of the privileged. Time for you to go to hell Teddy boy.

Jesus christ, he pleaded guilty for the car crash that killed Mary Jo Kopechne. What more do you want?

BTW, your completely innapropriate and blatant partisanship is showing. You might want to cover that up.

I can't believe someone would start a thread about Kennedy's terrible health news just to ask if we should care.

Do people really hate a politician so much that they can't feel for him when he's diagnosed with a brain tumor?

Best go see the Wizard about that heart, Tin Man...

As much as I despise Ted Kennedy, as much as I think he is an asshole (despite pleading guilty), I don't think anyone deserves to suffer through their last moments, so I hope for the best. Besides, he's gone, that means all the harm he can do (I'm guessing he won't be able to drive) now adds up to nil. So if he lives the life while high on pain killers, so be it.

I was about to ask ngdawg the same question.

What was you purpose for posing the question.....Do we care?

I agree, I care. I hope he's not in too much pain.

Seems like his family's suffered plenty, hope they get through this as painlessly as possible too.

If George W. Bush came down with cancer right before plunging us into War with the East, I'd still feel badly for him. I can disagree with basically every decision he's ever made but still understand that he's human and deserves my sympathy.

"Do we care" can be taken so many ways. For those who claim that they do indeed care, do you really care about Kennedy personally or regret the fact that someone has a tumor?

I doubt dawg doesn't give two shits that the man is dying. But some people feel they have been Kennedyed to pieces. Some feel worse for a young lady left in the wreckage of a car to die while the driver escaped punishment. Our culture just seems to put it on the 6 o'clock news when a Kennedy dies be it from assassination, cancer or old age. Maybe what the OP was asking is why is Kennedy's tumor more newsworthy than any of your uncle's or grandmother's tumors?

i read the op and i thought of orwell.
you know, grouphate.
from 1984, except without the satire part.

Wait, that was satirical?!

I don't think he is gone just yet.

If he is still healthy enough on August 28th, he'll probably give a pretty good speech. ;)

Why do people read so much into shit?
It's politics with a dying politician....that's the question as written: Do we care?

That's basically it.

Well, for starters, neither my uncle nor my grandmothers were ever President of the United States, Attorney General of the United States, a leading candidate for President of the United States, nor a United States Senator.

EDIT: Sitting United States Senator.

He could have lived overseas and never done a thing in the senate and he would have gotten re-elected. This is Massachusetts and he is a Kennedy.

Although I am not a big fan of anything Kennedy, I wish him the best with this battle.

My obvious Kennedy love aside, he has done things that made him a good representative to his constituents. I don't feel it's fair to suggest it was JUST his name. How many people were against Iraq from the get-go? He's a Democratic representative from an overwhelmingly Democratic state.

Ask yourself ....would you have posed the question...Do we care?.....if it was a politician you liked?

I dont need an answer.

And your response to the question would be the same DC?

I dont need an answer.

I'll give you an answer anyway.

I dont have a festering hatred of any politician (or any person) to the point that I wish them death or rejoice in their impending death..as you apparently do for Kennedy.

I dont hate Ted, I believe in karma, he left a woman to die in a car in the drink to save his own ass and career, to report it the next day so he could sober up, then plead to leaving the scene. He should have went to jail for manslaughter and DUI. But he didnt go to jail, why? Because he is a Kennedy.

So now he should suffer, same as any other douchebag who leaves someone to die to save their own ass.

Here's a crazy idea: why not show an iota of class and hold off on your disrespectful and tasteless attack on someone who's never done anything to you and who happens to be dying?

Here is a better idea, the OP asked if I care if poor ole Teddy is dying, and it is quite obvious I dont.

Disrespectful attack? He killed a woman and got away with manslaughter, he is no better than OJ or the like. He is better why? Because he had his pickled fingers in my pockets for years?

You want tasteless, here ya go, whats it gonna take to reunite the Kennedy boys? A brain tumor.

You get one anyway.
Yep, I would have.

We are a country of curious, fodder seeking gossip mongers. We read voraciously if Brittany shaves her head, Paris has a boyfriend and Brad fathers another one.
We slam McCain, piss on Hillary and put words in Obama's mouth.
We then defend our actions with lame "it's our right to know" phrasing of a sort or another.
As I see it, this news will be the next fodder for our pyschotic curiousness. Oh, if he stumbles on some words during a speech, will he be dead by Sunday? If he lives past the year "they" give him, he will be followed, scrutinized and pre-eulogized every day until the week after his funeral.

Quite frankly, there's not a politician alive that I "like". I live in NJ-I'm jaded.
For that Kopechne stuff-that was 40 years ago-get over it. Which brings me to another point: we "expect" our politicians to be held to some impossible moral standard that no one outside of politics could live up to. Power corrupts and politicians are human-put them together and you have a recipe for disasters, like a governor seeking out high priced hookers or a congressman with a secret family.
And now that Kennedy has reached his own sunset, the digging will begin anew. Unfortunately, that is how this country is going to show it "cares".
If anything, my stance would be, leave the guy alone. He's old, he's dying, he's done his job.
Just by starting this thread, the finger pointing has started, the old stuff has been dredged up and everyone tries to second guess my "motive".
Anyone studying psychology would have a blast with this....

ngdawg: I appreciate the clarification. The reason for wondering about your motive is because of what you described. When you know there are plenty of people out there who will and do react as reconmike has here, it's easy to mistake the intention behind asking something like "do we care."

I almost entirely agree about what you wrote in post #31. Only, I don't think the news of Ted Kennedy's health is similar to the latest Britney Spears gossip. The Senate is one of the highest elected offices in the United States, and so I think something like this is newsworthy. That is only magnified by it being Ted Kennedy - not simply because he is a Kennedy, but because he himself has been a highly influential figure in American politics for many years.

Why? He plead guilty.

I can live up to not killing a girl while almost certainly driving drunk by driving into a river and then not alerting the authorities who didn't know about it until next morning when fishman noticed the car and alerted the police, and then using my fathers money and power to cover it up.

THIS is not a standard I find impossible to live up to.

I could forgive the drunk driving accident and death as unfortunate and irresponsible, but not the rest.

I agree we hold our politicians on too high a standard these days but not this one. He was allowed to slide.

He plead guilty to manslaughter? DUI? NO he plead to leaving the scene of an accident, that was all, if I was driving that car I would be doing 5-10 years there is the difference. Like I said he is a douchebag who got away with letting someone die so he could save his ass, no pity for the coward.

If they could demonstrate you were intoxicated, maybe. No such evidence existed, outside of that which is circumstantial and as such is not legally relevant.
Have you ever flipped your car due to exhaustion?

If someone wants to admire him for what he did as a Senator thats fine, I would not agree, but thats to be expected.

If you want to forgive him for what he did to that girl, thats fine too, we all make mistakes of some kind and he made a whopper. I've never let a body sit in my car for several hours at the bottom of a river while franticly seeing how we could cover it up, but thats just me.

But to defend it, is rather, telling.

He did a very bad and irresponsible thing that day, and it cost him any chance of the presidency. It cost someone else their future.

Forgiveness is divine, but don't bury your head in the sand.

Defending it, is rather, telling? It's a simple, matter, of realizing that he did, something stupid, and owned up to it. He plead guilty. He went to jail. Jail. Not exactly a slap on the wrist.

I'm sure he'll get the Reagan Treatment when he dies. Gaudy funeral, talk about putting him on money (nobody likes Andrew "Indian Killer" Jackson anyway), the whole nine yards.

I hope I will never say 'I don't care' when I find out someone has a brain tumor.

like i said, the responses from the right in this thread are very 1984.

and the assumption is that the conservatives control the debate, too, which is funny. flailing about in the politics of sleaze when you can reasonably expect to control the debate is one thing: staying there when you don't is just an embarrassment.

i am sure that none of the conservatives have ever done anything really fucked up in their lives--it's their purity that makes them o so admirable. i am sure that no conservative has ever done anything irreversible and questionable in the whole of their lives. it's that purity that gives them moral high ground in this, as in all matters.

one thing is interesting, though: the effects of the grouphate with kennedy is to erase almost entirely the human being behind the pinata head---it's pretty easy to see how this maps into other areas. witness the purchase that the idiotic huntington thesis had amongst conservatives back in the day. it's much easier to deal in a world of cartoons than to deal with human beings.

o yeah: in the interest of full disclosure, i am neither a fan nor not a fan of ted kennedy as a politician. but for fucks sake, he;s a human being with a malignant brain tumor. what difference does it make when making judgments about that what you might have made of his political career?

and as for newsworthiness---well, we live in a tabloid television world which condenses democratic processes onto the figures of individuals--given that, it follows that this is a newsworthy item. if there's a problem, it's with the entire system of television news coverage itself.
and your grandmother with a similar condition would be newsworthy as well, or would have been once upon a time when the press was decentralized and locally oriented information could circulate within small communities.

To say I don't think much of the current VP would be a mild understatement. Yet I don't break out in a "happy dance" every time he has another heart episode.

I won't break out in a "happy dance" but I feel no sympathy for someone who is finally going to face death when he escaped it at the expense of another forty years ago.

Grand overarching human empathy -- like the cake -- is a lie. Old Ted meant nothing to me, so his impending death is not sad or joyous, it simply is.

There's nothing to see here but apologists rewriting history and guilt-ridden finger-wagging. :rolleyes:

After reading some of the callous comments here, a relevant quote comes to mind:

"In this world of sin and sorrow there is always something to be thankful for; as for me, I rejoice that I am not a Republican."
~ H.L. Mencken

My wife and I were watching tv news last night and this morning, and it was pretty much nonstop Ted Kennedy stuff. We both had the same reaction - the man is still alive, getting treatment - why are they running what in effect are obituaries? It's macabre and distasteful. He has time on this earth yet, they shouldn't treat him like he's dead. I would imagine he'll get the best medical care available, and will be kept as comfortable as he can, and I hope he can retain his dignity (no small matter for a sick elderly person). But sakes alive, he's not dead yet.

Last time I gave him more than a couple seconds' thought was when I voted for him for Pres in the NY primary in 1980.

Except Laura Bush who killed her high school friend when she ran a stop sign. Will people be dancing on her grave, too?

Did she leave her friend in the car to die while she went home to sleep off her buzz and plot how to cover it up?

I find it unfortunate that he has a brain tumor and hopefully he won't have severe pain during his last months, but if he does then I am sure he would prefer death than what he may experience.

I am curious to find out what happens to a person's mind and body when the tumor is in full force.

No but her husband started a war and took over another nation and lied about his reasons for doing so.

That's probably worse ...

My brother in law's mother died of a malignant tumor of the brain.
In her final year, she was walking dead, not unlike that of an Alzheimer's sufferer. No idea where she was, a blank look on her face and mostly silent.
Malignancies take over the body functions-the body whithers to a bony shell and food consumption is impossible-there are special liquid meals that patients drink to keep up what strength they have left. This is true of most any cancer acceleration, but for those whose brain does not have the malignancy, they go thru this fully aware.
For those that are lucky enough to get it, marijuana is a godsend. It stimulates the appetite and lessens pain.
A friend of the spouse's was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor in his early 40's-some might call him lucky-he died of a brain hemmorhage six weeks after his diagnosis.

RedState is a far right-wing political website that, in my opinion, couldn't be more wrong on every issue if they tried. Whenever I happen upon the website, the level of discourse often appears to be juvenile at best, and sometimes, bigoted (although that's admittedly more on the comments than the articles).

But here is what they had to say about Ted Kennedy:

If they can do, folks, so can you.

I don't believe in kinship with another simply based on their species.

It's not an issue of kinship, Seretogis. It's basic human decency. I hope you also don't mock the little children with harelips in those ads asking for contributions.

I do remember seretogis getting kind of irate when I pointed out that Reagan's alzheimer's made a convenient excuse for "not remembering" the decisions he had made involving selling weapons to Iran.

Perhaps he doesn't think Kennedy is human?

You'd make a horrible socialist. Just sayin.

anybody remember this guy?

A horrible socialist is better than an efficient fascist.

Sympathy toward other living creatures isn't merely a focus on someone other than yourself; it is a reflection of you as a being and your capacity for doing good. I wish Mr. Kennedy well on his trying time.

As far as I am aware, it's not going to affect my life (though I hear from friends that he was involved in and influential on many, many areas of life that I care about, so...), so I'm not personally horrified.

But it sure does suck. I've lived through family dying of cancer - it's not pretty. It won't be here, either. I hope things go well for him, as much as I generally don't send the whole world of strangers at large random hostilities.

As for all your car accident discussions... Yep, it was shady. And? It's clear from the nasty comments that if you *did* have the money and power to do so, you would have done the same thing in his place. Why do we all think we're better people? We're not. I can tell you that I would have been horrified if something like that happened, and I would be having nightmares of guilt for the rest of my life. But I'd still fight like hell to stay out of jail. Hey, it's not like I would have killed that girl on purpose, and would see very little point in my being in jail for it. But I'm more willing to admit to my general selfishness than you self-deluded folks, I guess.

Count me in as willing to admit to the same selfishness.

well, most people would prefer to escape the consequences of their own decisions.

That's why I laugh when people rag on me for what I do for a living (I'm a lawyer, doing business litigation). Fact is, if they ever got into trouble they'd be thrilled to have me push every button I could to get them out of it. (within ethical limits, of course)

Yup, it's human nature, isn't it?

I'm the last one to talk, but seems like there's a whole herd of very high horses prancing around in this thread.

His whole family is tragic, but I hold a lot of respect for their political importance.

Love the FMJ quote Hal. :)

It's too bad that some people lack the decency and respect when others are in need. Doesn't matter if you like or dislike the man, the amount of scorn directed by some will in due time be shared by them or their loved ones.

It is interesting also how for some so brash and disrespectful, that their greatest contribution is adding their small, insignificant opinions to an internet forum, anonymously, and thinking they are actually contributing something of worth.

At least Kennedy did something with his life to help others. Obviously those so critical haven't.

Let me set your straight there Percy, you dont know me from Adam, I retired from the Marine Corps with 22 years in, I did enough with my life so little internet bitches can spout from their little hole in the world in freedom.

Today I marched in a Memorial day parade, then went to a VA home to hang out with MEN who gave more than most for this country. As I do every week.

Tomorrow I am going to place new flags on the graves of veterans whose families have long since forgotten them.

What are you doing Percy to make this world a better place?

Thank you Mike

Another POV:

mike, can you name any major action in the past 50 years that President Eisenhower would have ordered?
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27x25sdW9wQ&feature=related">Buffy Sainte-Marie performs "Universal Soldier" for Veterans</a>
We've both been fed a bill of goods, mike. You either refuse to recognize, or you do, and you won't admit it.

A Neurologist friend of mine posited 18 months at the max. Although I disagreed with Kennedy often, I still respected him for the courage of his convictions. I wish him peace and serenity in his last days.

Why, thank you! :icare: