The Candidates
Just hitting the wires:
Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts was hospitalized Saturday after suffering stroke-like symptoms, according to a knowledgeable official.
There was no immediate word on his condition.
The official who provided the information declined to be identified by name, citing the sensitivity of the events.
Hyannis Fire Lt. Bill Rex told The Associated Press that a 911 call came in from the Kennedy family compound at 8:19 a.m. A man was transported to Cape Cod Hospital and transferred by air at 10:10 a.m. from Barnstable Municipal Airport to Massachusetts General Hospital.
Judging by the picture on the Cape Cod website, this looks very serious. Sen. Kennedy spent two hours in the emergency room before being transferred to another hospital. My thoughts and prayers are with him and his family.
May 17th, 2008 at 11:53 am
Oh geez. Its never good when they use the Helivac.
May 17th, 2008 at 11:59 am
My mother suffered more than one stroke and recovered nicely so I am hopeful. But Kennedy is 76, overweight, and a smoker and drinker.
May 17th, 2008 at 12:01 pm
I thought he quit drinking?
Well, maybe not - just I thought I had read that someplace.
May 17th, 2008 at 12:02 pm
I just hate to think though - that family doesn’t have a very good history with luck breaking there way, does it?
May 17th, 2008 at 12:41 pm
He may have quit drinking and smoking, but his body had already taken a lot of the punishment.
Ya know, as far as Kennedy luck, they experience both the heights and depths.
May 17th, 2008 at 1:02 pm
#2, when you’re at that age, you really have to take care of yourself.
May 17th, 2008 at 1:14 pm
Hope everything goes ok. This is the difference between conservative and liberal blogs. Conservatives offer prayers and condolensces. If it had been a conservative senator, the Daily Kos would have threads celebrating.
May 17th, 2008 at 1:17 pm
Most of the Kennedys’ problems have had very little to do with luck.
May 17th, 2008 at 1:58 pm
I hope everything is okay. Though I disagree with Senator Kennedy on most things, I have admired his fortitude. Bob Shrum wrote in his book that when Kennedy was running against Romney, someone once suggested that Kennedy abandon his support for raising the minimum wage because that was something an “Old Democrat” would do instead of a “New Democrat”. Kennedy said, “Those people need the money more than I need to be in the Senate.” Whether you agree with his philosophy or not, it is a shame there are not more people of conviction in politics.
May 17th, 2008 at 2:51 pm
Best wishes to the Senator and his family.
May 17th, 2008 at 7:16 pm
I remember where I was 10 years ago when his nephew’s plane went down.
Without that happening, Hillary would likely not be in the Senate and John Jr would likely be the nominee this year, if he hadn’t run against Kerry in 04.
In some ways, Obama is the JFK Jr that never was. In other ways…not so much.
I hope Teddy decides to retire and spend time with his family and loved ones.
May 17th, 2008 at 8:27 pm
Earlier today I was watching a book presentation on C-Span that included a discussion of JFK’s summit with Kruschev. The author opined that Kruschev considered JFK a young, inexperienced upstart and it was clear he was also commenting on Obama (and he made that explicit in the Q&A).
After the program I was thinking about the world leaders of today verssus of yesteryear and there really aren’t any Kruchevs. The new president of Russia is younger than Obama and whereas someone like Mubarak is pretty old, his son is expected to replace him soon. Seems JFK was before his time in many ways.
May 18th, 2008 at 12:32 am
This is too bad…and just judging from the other comments on the site, I’m really glad that politics hasn’t gotten so divisive yet as to make people immediately start talking about his replacement or saying “good riddance”. Sen. Kennedy may be one of the most irritating people on the face of this earth, but I/we do wish him good health. Sens Johnson and Byrd too.