I posted about this on a thread at my place, but wanted to post it here in case folks had heard any more developments.
Senator Edward M. Kennedy was rushed from his Hyannisport home to Massachusetts General Hospital this morning after an apparent seizure. One government official said the 76-year-old senator suffered a second seizure aboard a helicopter transport flight from the Cape to Boston.John Kerry released this statement (came in my inbox at 3PM):Kennedy’s Senate office released a written statement just after 2 p.m. today offering the first official confirmation, saying, “It appears that Senator Kennedy experienced a seizure this morning. He is undergoing a battery of tests at Massachusetts General Hospital to determine the cause of the seizure. Senator Kennedy is resting comfortably, and it is unlikely we will know anything more for the next 48 hours.”
…The Cape Cod Times published a photograph of Kennedy, strapped to a gurney, being carried onto the chopper by paramedics.
BOSTON, MA- Senator John Kerry today released the following statement in regards to Senator Edward Kennedy. Senator Kerry is currently at Massachusetts General Hospital with Senator Kennedy and members of the Kennedy family.Video below the fold.“Ted Kennedy is beloved and respected on both sides of the aisle in the Senate in which he’s been a giant for close to half a century, a legend in Massachusetts, and a dear friend to me and Teresa. He’s also been a fighter who has overcome adversity again and again with courage, grit, and determination. Teresa and I are praying for Teddy, Vicki and all of his family and we know that everyone in Massachusetts and people throughout the nation pray for a full and speedy recovery for a man whose life’s work has touched millions upon millions of lives.”
34 Responses to “Ted Kennedy hospitalized”
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Best wishes, Senator.
That was a close one; he almost got reunited with Mary Jo Kopechne!
Jonathan, Chappaquiddick jokes went out after 1980, when Ted ran against Carter while Carter was still POTUS.
…Although I do note with surprise that my browser’s spell check knew the word “Chappaquiddick” and corrected it for me…
My ultimate fantasy is to be elected into Senate, in which every word that comes out of my mouth would either be the set up, or the punch line of a Chappaquiddick joke.
I guess some people are easily amused. You probably like fart jokes too…
I got one word for you, Jerkathon: Iraq.
Oh, and get over your sexual jealousy of Democrats. I bet you’re obsessed with Clinton’s penis, too.
Hopefully this liberal murderer chokes on his own vomit……and Barney Frank chokes on his buddy’s goop…….and all of you leftwing fagboys and girls realize that you are only a second away from burning in HELL!
Mike, they are still popular in Massachusetts. I can’t say that I haven’t come up with a few of my own since he pulled that old boy stunt with the wind farm. His rich friends on the cape and islands were bellyaching so much that he just had to deal with the Alaska scumbags to try to make a whole bunch of new and impossible rules that would prevent any wind farm development anywhere you see. Never mind that two of the filthiest powerplants in the northeast regularly spew such smog near and on Cape Cod that hospitalizations jump on hot days and the area has some of the worst ozone issues in the country!! Oh, and I’d love to see them try to evacuate the cape if Pilgrim Nuke went bad. Hah!
While I wish Ted Kennedy the best of health, I do really really wish that he would step down and stop being such a back-slapping ass working only for his rich friends and their views. I think he should have retired a while ago - he doesn’t seem to represent anybody I know and he’s supposed to be working for me, you know?
Ms Kate, I harbor no great love for the Kennedy family, and Chappaquiddick was not Ted Kennedy’s finest hour. But as you point out, there are plenty of things about the man worth mocking without getting into that one (40-year old) incident.
Laura Welch (nee Bush) had a car accident that killed a student friend, but we haven’t had to hear some joke about it every couple years since 1963…
…Maybe I’m just getting old and crotchety…
Yeah, how come that accident isn’t widely known? I say we mention it every time somebody mentions Chappaquiddick.
Yeah, Gin. Because if this year’s Democratic primary has taught us one thing, it’s that tit-for-tat gotcha politics is AWESOME!
“Yeah, how come that accident isn’t widely known?”
Well, why is it so few people know about Prescott Bush’s connections with the Third Reich, but as far back as I can remember, I’ve heard stuff about the Kennedy family that would curl your hair? (Joe Kennedy was a Prohibition rum-runner, who had serial affairs with Hollywood stars, who bought his kid’s political careers, etc…)
The Kennedy’s are an Irish Catholic family that achieved prominence in the face of discrimination against the Irish (and Catholics) and became a political dynasty though the efforts of the family patriarch.
The Bushes are Old Money Blue Bloods who were here from the beginning.
I guess the Bush family consiglieres and spinmeisters were/are more effective than the Kennedy’s…
“Yeah, how come that accident isn’t widely known?”
I’d guess two reasons
1. Even though she’s the president’s wife, she mostly stays in the background, and so the opportunities to pull out the joke (and, thus, opportunities to spread the joke) are few and far between.
2. Ted Kennedy’s accident involved drinking alcohol, a party with several young girls with numerous people in power, and an ambiguous, changing testimony coming from a Senator who comes from one of the most infamous and powerful families in America. Meanwhile Laura’s accident involved the tragic result of teen girl running a stop sign, in which no one was charged with a crime. Sure, running a red light is irresponsible, but of which of those two situations is by far the sexier one?
Personally, I believe the Senator deserves as much verbal abuse he can get for the event
One thing that kind of surprises me that didn’t get a lot of milage was the whole Bush chocking on a pretzel thing from a couple of years ago. I would had guessed that it would had continued to get mentioned all the way up to his eulogies.
I guess the whole War in Iraq clusterfuck overshadowed it a little
“Yeah, how come that accident isn’t widely known?”
I’d guess two reasons
1. Even though she’s the president’s wife, she mostly stays in the background, and so the opportunities to pull out the joke (and, thus, opportunities to spread the joke) are few and far between.
2. Ted Kennedy’s accident involved drinking alcohol, a party with several young girls with numerous people in power, and an ambiguous, changing testimony coming from a Senator who comes from one of the most infamous and powerful families in America. Meanwhile Laura’s accident involved the tragic result of teen girl running a stop sign, in which no one was charged with a crime. Sure, running a red light is irresponsible, but of which of those two situations is by far the sexier one?
Personally, I believe the Senator deserves as much verbal abuse he can get for the event
Ya think???
I remember when Will Ferrell did such a spot on imitation of W and Dana Carvey stopped by to do H.W. It was funny as hell, but it was easy to laugh at an idiot legacy pretzledent back when we had a budget surplus, a strong economy, and hadn’t started killing hundreds of thousands of people who didn’t and couldn’t do anything to us (killing 4K+ of our own, wounding 10s of thousands of the same while cutting their benefits)
Something about war criminals and profiteers that shit on the Constitution tends to make pretzel jokes a little irrelevant. So trivial as not to be funny anymore.
I did toss a pretzeldent in there for you. Odd how both he and his dad, the Japanese vomitor, have trouble eating.
Oh Mike, just b/c I’m hooked on the grammar geek thread, it’s Laura Bush (nee Welch) .
I’m sure you know that.
Why does my one post I made before the pretzel thing get eaten up, when I post something seconds later and it shows up fine? Weird.
“Yeah, how come that accident isn’t widely known? I say we mention it every time somebody mentions Chappaquiddick. ”
Right, because Laura’s accident is similar to Chappaquiddick as she also left someone who was still alive in the car because she was more concerned about her story than the life of another human.
Jonathan, Chappaquiddick jokes went out after 1980, when Ted ran against Carter while Carter was still POTUS.
I beg to differ!
Yeah, Gin. Because if this year’s Democratic primary has taught us one thing, it’s that tit-for-tat gotcha politics is AWESOME!
Because intra party sniping is totally the same as making sure that the Republicans get nailed for some of the evil shit they do. The reason Repubs harp on Kennedy is because Bush has been killing thousands of people a year, like it matters. Repubs think Clinton’s blow job is more than the equivalent of thousands of Iraqi deaths.
I was mostly just joshing, Ginmar, but in all seriousness I don’t see how bringing up a car accident that happened 45 years ago helps us make sure that the Republicans get nailed for the evil shit they do.
In 1963, when Laura Welch was 17 years old, she ran a stop sign. Her car hit another car, and killed that car’s driver, a friend of hers. I don’t see how harping on that night helps the Dems in any way I’d want us to be helped.
“…it’s Laura Bush (nee Welch) .”
Caren, that’s the first time I ever remember trying that construction and I fucked it up. Oh well, thanks for the tip. The embarrassment will help me remember if I use it again.
I’m not enough of a grammar geek…
“In 1963, when Laura Welch was 17 years old, she ran a stop sign. Her car hit another car, and killed that car’s driver, a friend of hers.”
I do think it’s interesting to contrast the Left and Right when it comes to this sort of thing.
If Hillary Clinton (nee Rodham - thanks Caren) had killed a classmate as a 17-year old (car accident? maybe it LOOKED like a car accident…), it would have been taken as more evidence of her relentless and ruthless rise to the top, stepping on as many bodies (often literally) as necessary to ensure her political and economic success. No wonder she could kill Vince Foster with her bare hands! What a bitch!
Laura Welch actually does it, but it’s a youthful tragedy that in no way represents the person she is now and should be forgotten because it’s unfair to dredge up the past.
Yes, quite interesting…
Laura Welch actually does it, but it’s a youthful tragedy that in no way represents the person she is now and should be forgotten because it’s unfair to dredge up the past.
Okay. Yes. If Clinton had done it, the right wing would have gone batshit. But wouldn’t they have been wrong to do so? Isn’t it relevant that they would have been wrong?
I’m not an advocate of unilateral political disarmament. You want to make hay over Cindy McCain stealing drugs? Go for it. It’s fair game. Hanging Bush’s DWI around his neck? Absolutely. But I just don’t see the point of bringing this up, and I just don’t see it doing any good.
And I’ll note as well that when Kennedy got into his car accident, he was 37 years old. He was out in the middle of the night partying, and most likely driving drunk. He was 37 years old, a US Senator, and the married father of two small children.
I think Chappaquiddick jokes are disgusting, and I don’t think that incident has any relevance to Ted Kennedy’s current political career. But to equate it with Laura Bush’s history strikes me as a little strained.
Laura Welch actually does it, but it’s a youthful tragedy that in no way represents the person she is now and should be forgotten because it’s unfair to dredge up the past.
Okay. Yes. If Clinton had done it, the right wing would have gone batshit. But wouldn’t they have been wrong to do so? Isn’t it relevant that they would have been wrong?
I’m not an advocate of unilateral political disarmament. You want to make hay over Cindy McCain stealing drugs? Go for it. It’s fair game. Hanging Bush’s DWI around his neck? Absolutely. But I just don’t see the point of bringing this up, and I just don’t see it doing any good.
And I’ll note as well that when Kennedy got into his car accident, he was 37 years old. He was out in the middle of the night partying, and most likely driving drunk. He was 37 years old, a US Senator, and the married father of two small children.
I think Chappaquiddick jokes are disgusting, and I don’t think that incident has any relevance to Ted Kennedy’s current political career. But to equate it with Laura Bush’s history strikes me as a little strained.
(Apologies if this somehow posts twice. It didn’t go through the first time, and I’ve given it ten minutes or so to show up.)
I’ll agree that Laura Bush’s accident can’t really be compared with Kennedy’s. I was just trying to bring another perspective into the discussion…
And frankly, I’ve heard Chappaquiddick referenced so many times I’m just tired of hearing about it…
Best wishes to Senator Kennedy.
As for Chappaquiddick, the guy saw two of his brothers whom he idolized brutally shot and killed. Of course he is going to have a messed-up personal life.
Without Chappaquiddick, though, I think he could’ve beaten Carter and Reagan in 1980. If only…
“Without Chappaquiddick, though, I think he could’ve beaten Carter and Reagan in 1980.”
I disagree.
Looking back, it’s obvious that Carter’s election was an aberration, and only happened because of Nixon’s faux pas.
Carter was an interruption of solid Republican dominance in the wake of Johnson’s creation of the Republican South as a side effect of his Civil Rights legislation.
Between the Angry White Man and the Solid South, the Reichwing should have been able to maintain a stranglehold on POTUS for 50-years or more. It has only been the accumulation of stupid mistakes, capped off by the disaster of Bush Jr. that has left them vulnerable.
Even now, it’s unclear that the general anger many have toward 4-more years of Bush/Cheney-style irresponsibility will overcome the deep racism many Americans harbor.
It’s going to be interesting. I just wish I was watching it from the outside - instead of being strapped into the American rollercoaster alongside everyone else…
MikeEss-
Whatever happens on the Presidential level this year, its pretty clear there will be large majorities of Democrats in Congress. And unlike the earlier Democratic majority, its much more ideologically coherent and to the left. There aren’t any Dixiecrats to screw it up this time. They’re either dead or Republicans now.
“…its pretty clear there will be large majorities of Democrats in Congress.”
Absolutely true. Whether they will get a large enough majority to ignore the Rethugs is the only remaining question.
But I can’t help worry about American’s preference for divided government, which combined with the ambient racism level could keep Obama out of POTUS.
I sure hope not. Obama is a much better answer to our problems than McCain, even if McCain actually was the “maverick” too many seem to think he is. The “Real McCain” would be another 4-more years of disaster America cannot afford…
While the Laura Bush accident was very sketchy to say the least, she hasn’t been elected to anything and likely never will.
I think W’s drunk driving arrest in Maine is a lot more relevant.
Had Ted Kennedy committed the crimes of drunk driving, leaving the scene of an accident, killing a passenger, etc. today, he would likely have done jail time and would not have been reelected, even in psycophantic Massachusetts. I think the incident still raises some real questions about his judgement.
He should have retired years ago - either that, or Weld should have served out his term as governor and then gone after Teddy instead of Kerry. Even though Weld is a republican (although one hated by the reich wing and neocons) we would have been better off.
Maybe somebody should point out to Teddy Quixhote that wind power doesn’t make the kind of pollution that puts people in the hospital for cerebralvascular events.
Sorry, Brooklynite. I’ve got a brother and some friends who bring it up every fucking time. They’ll hammer on it over and over again…and just ignore the thousands of deaths in Iraq because Bush wasn’t holding the wheel or the trigger. Because that means it’s not his fault. Mark Foley? Newt Gingrich? Henry Hydge? David Vitter? The countless Republican child molesters? Not as bad, in total, as either Clinton’s blow job or Chappaquiddick.
Fair enough, Gin. If I had to hear about Chappaquiddick every fifteen goddamn seconds I’d probably be shouting about Laura Welch from the rooftops, too.
More specific to this blog, it irks me that Chappaquiddick is also used as a sign that “Ted Kennedy and Democrats in general don’t care about women’s rights because Mary Jo had two X chromosomes and he obviously didn’t care about that woman’s rights.” I remember that a Clinton supporter–forget who and tried searching, but she was pretty prominent and was linked here around the time of the Kennedy(s)’ endorsements–bought into this, too…suspect judgement.
Kennedy’s legislation has saved and improved the quality of countless women’s lives, and how come we don’t hear MRA types saying that because Michael Dutton Douglas had a Y chromosome that all of the work Laura Bush has done standing by and supporting her husband’s anti-abortion, anti-woman legislation is for naught?
To be perfectly honest, I would sort have preferred he step down; this being MA, we would have had no trouble finding another long-term Dem who would’ve had an equally distinguished legislative record over decades.