It appears Ted Kennedy has a Malignant Brain Tumor in his right parietal lobe. He will apparently undergo normal treatment cycle for this. No longterm prognosis as of yet.
Is this an end of an Era for the Kennedy’s? I wonder what this will do if anything to the MA dems? Does a sitting Senator have a timeline after a serious sickness to get back to work? For those who believe he was an icon for dems, what will this do to his area of the senate?
From a strictly legal standpoint, this deoesn’t affect his senate term at all. Even if he were to spend the rest of his term in the hospital, he’ll remain a senator, and while he won’t be able to debate or vote on bills, his staff will still be providing constituant services.
From a broader, “What will this mean” standpoint, Ted Kennedy is an icon. He’s the inheritor of the Kennedy legacy, and was a tireless fighter for American liberalism. Like him or dislike him, he’s been a living legend and if he doesn’t come back to the Senate, he’ll be missed by people on both sides of the aisle.
1-5 year prognosis with chemo and radiation (and tons of pot brownies, hopefully). Left parietal lobe damge can cause all kinds of sensory problems as well as aphasia. He’ll probably have to leave the Senate, though maybe not. I believe his current term runs to 2012. He might be able to last that long.
Any Mass. residents have any idea who might be likely to win that spot if TK has to resign? Please don’t tell me Mitt Romney could take it.
Not a Mass. resident, but my bet is on Ed Markey. He’s the most prominent of the Mass. house delegation, and he expressed an interest in running for Kerry’s seat if Kerry became president in 2004.
No, there was one of them that was driving to a Congressional session that he thought was being held at 2:00am or something similar. He blamed it on an Ambien blackout.
It’s hard to keep the various drug addicts, sexual harassers, drunks and psychos straight in Camelot.
ETA: It was Patrick, and he has said he isn’t going to run for the Senate.
That was Patrick Kennedy (son of Teddy), and Massachusettes is not his state. He’s a Rep from Rhode Island.
Joseph P. Kennedy II (not Jr. Jr is dead) is a son of RFK and and a Rep from Mass. His controversies include an attempt to annull his first marriage and running a non-profit organization to provide heating oil to poor people that accepts donations from a Venuzualan oil company.
In other words, JPKII has no problems which would disqualify anyone, much less a kennedy.
Well, the Wiki article does say his first marriage, to the former Sheila Rauch, was annulled on the grounds of “mental deficiency”; but it does not say whose.
The family appears to be cursed. Either that or it was the first mass media publicized family in America, and just as harsh things happen to other families all the time who aren’t in the spotlight like the Kennedy’s are.