It appears that Senator Kennedy has an inoperable brain tumor, and they’re saying on the news his odds of long-term survival are no more than about 5%.
I have a very ambivalent view of the Kennedy family, but, I don’t think it’s disputable that Ted Kennedy has been one of the most powerful and effective Senators in the nation’s history. He has, quite arguably, had a much bigger impact on American history and politics than if he’d ever been elected President, and arguably a much bigger impact than his tragically murdered older brother. This to my mind automatically qualifies him for the title “Great Man” regardless of how anyone feels about any of his politics or personal shortcomings.
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This to my mind automatically qualifies him for the title “Great Man†regardless of how anyone feels about any of his politics or personal shortcomings.
I would agree except for the fact that he left Mary Jo Kopechne to die in a car under water. That disqualifies him in my book.
I don’t revel in the fact that he has cancer, but I can’t get as upset as many people are going to be. Ted Kennedy, like Mary Jo that night, knows he is going to die (and probably soon). The difference is that Ted will get a great deal of help and support; she had NONE. She died alone in the dark.
History is full of great men who did worse.
That said, I also have to point out that it’s not at all clear to me that she knew she was going to die, and died "alone in the dark." That’s a pretty inflammatory take on what we can’t be at all sure of. Certainly, her family did not take that position, and did not seek blood money or revenge. After numerous inquests, no indictments were issued although they certainly could have been.
I take it as a personal character flaw on my part that I can’t drum up more sympathy for Senator Kennedy and his family beyond "I wouldn’t wish that on anyone". Massachusetts politics has been sclerotic for decades waiting for the old guard to finally step aside and Ted Kennedy is really the last of that group. I wish he’d been given the opportunity to simply retire, but his whole life was politics, so I suppose retirement and death would seem to be pretty much the same thing.
Here’s hoping his end is merciful to him and his family. There’s enough suffering in the world- no need to add to it.
My thoughts:
1. I am truly sorry Senator Kennedy has brain cancer. I don’t wish this on anyone.
2. I don’t care too much for his politics.
3. He is a very power and influential political figure.
Not to merge issues, but I’m wondering if bigwigs who get afflicted with cancer would give some consideration to Dr. Duesberg’s aneuploidy theory of cancer.
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=when-pariahs-have-good-ideas
We respect the opinions of any readers who may criticize our choice to publish Duesberg in this case but hope they will nonetheless evaluate his ideas about cancer on their own merits.
It just seems that cancer research has reached a stagnation level — lotta money, lotta hyped drugs, little progress.
http://discovermagazine.com/2008/jun/15-aids-dissident-seeks-redemption-and-a-cure-for-cancer
Surely, if I had cancer, I want to read all I could on the issue and even some of the competing theories. Maybe, I should contact Senator Kennedy’s office.
>>Massachusetts politics has been sclerotic for decades waiting for the old guard to finally step aside and Ted Kennedy is really the last of that group.
It’s all part of Rove’s deal with Kerry to throw the ’04 election. /tinfoilhat
Seriously though, I know the prognosis is usually bad, so Godspeed, Senator.
That said, I also have to point out that it’s not at all clear to me that she knew she was going to die, and died "alone in the dark." That’s a pretty inflammatory take on what we can’t be at all sure of.
You are right in that I can’t be absolutely certain that she knew she was going to die, but she did die alone in the dark. The accident happened at night, and Kennedy left her in the car with no one else.
Also, if she were conscious, at some point she would have realized she was about to die. If she were not conscious, then you are right, she didn’t know what was about to happen.
Please make no mistake, I don’t wish this upon anyone and I sincerely hope he can beat this. Without Ted Kennedy, congress will be a much less interesting body.
I also feel tremendous empathy for his family. I lost my grandmother to cancer in October 2006 and it is not an easy road.Â
Just being around for a long time and having an "impact" doesn’t make a person great, that takes great deeds and acts. Please enlighten me as to what great things he has done.
Most analysts would agree that he’s been one of the most effective Senators in getting legislation passed in the last few decades, and one of the most effective at working across the aisle even when he is in huge disagreement with the other side.
[shrug] You don’t have to like what a politician does to acknowledge him as having had a huge impact on the course of the United States government and being well loved by tens of millions of people.
Well it was easy for him…its like Ted actually had to run for his seat. He was given the seat by his brother and never left it. He got seniority easily and his named greased the wheels in DC.I feel for him because of his malady. Its not going to be a pleasant end for him.Calling the man "great" is a bit much.Â
Well, McK has always thought that great applied only to the authentic great like John Paul II and Michael Jordan.
But I’ve been having second thoughts after listening to the words of another member of the old boys senior citizens club, the senior Senator of West Virginia, Robert Carlyle Byrd, who always seems to be one or more eulogies ahead of the expiration date.
We all live under a sentence of death from the moment we are born. But there are kinder methods of execution than inoperable brain cancer. If there are any deities who have influence over the finalities of the death of all persons, let them show mercy to this man.    Â
Despite my dislike of the Kennedys, their family and their times and their lives were touched with greatness.
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Edward Kennedy probably was the least promising of the male children of Joseph Kennedy, considering his expulsion from Harvard University for cheating on an examination and his drunken driving off a Massachusets coastal bridge that took the life of a young girl who had been working in one of his election campaigns.
But I think he rose above all that and became not merely a Kennedy family fixture in the United States Senate, but one of the most influential of its members. I think there are few men and women active in governance during the past 30-35 years who have not grown to respect him. Because all of you must admit that he has indeed driven a great distance beyond and away from that terrible night at that bridge.
May his friends, family and his fellow senators indeed be a comfort to him in what all but certain to be his final years of life.
Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI
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If greatness is defined as "a politician who mostly did things I agree with and didn’t do a lot I disagreed with," then, no politician will be great. Lots of people disagree with lots that Reagan did, for example, but fewer all the time deny that he was a great man. [shrug]
Long lasting, effective, powerful, lots of adjectives apply wihtout question.Â
I leave “greatness” for those who (1) have integrity and honesty, and (2) don’t make outrageous comments designed to cause damage with no other positive benefit just because they can get away with it. I would not call anyone "great" unless I think they are a good example to follow.
You don’t think much of Winston Churchill, then?
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