Teddy Kennedy Diagnosed With Malignant Brain Tumor

Senator Teddy Kennedy has been diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor, and will need aggressive treatment in the coming months. This is heart stopping news for me, but I hadn't realized how devastating this would be for not only his colleagues in the senate, but the entire government, and the American people as well.

Kennedy's great friend, CT senator Chris Dodd, could barely make a statement, as he stood with senators Harry Reid and John Kerry, reacting to the news. The level of emotion gave me the impression that prognosis may be worse than we in the public know. The way that MSNBC covered this, and went over the historical implications of Kennedy's career made it seem like he was dead already. But Kerry assured us that Kennedy was up and around the hospital, making decisions and weighing his options. He will fight this with the best medical care that this country has to offer, and the closest family...he has everything going for him, including a strong fighting spirit and the knowledge that he has much left to do for this country before he is finished.

Best Wishes can be sent to Senator Kennedy and his family here, and I believe that they will put updates there as well. There is really not much to know yet, except that this is horrible news at this point in time, and considering that Kennedy has been such a strong voice for the disenfranchised. Now is when his voice is going to be needed the most, as we watch the economy sink into ruins as the final blow of the Bush legacy.

Barack Obama was featured on all of the news outlets this afternoon talking candidly about Senator Kennedy and what it was like to work as a young senator beside him; how its been to have this heroic figure support him so strongly, and how much he admires the work that teddy has done. This Kennedy, the third brother, and surrogate father and grandfather to too many Kennedy children, has touched us all pretty deeply. His sense of moral outrage at the reluctance of the senate to move ahead with foundational democratic issues has been a constant force in what little is left of the sanctity of our government in the era of Bush's criminal activities, and what America was founded to be. Godspeed Teddy; you are well loved across this country by real Americans who understand the importance of the moral, empathetic, voice of America. We are there fighting this thing, right alongside you, just as you have been fighting for us, and before you know it you will be sailing off of Hyannisport with the salt spray in your full sails...Get well soon!

c/p Brilliant at Breakfast

Teddy Kennedy Rushed to Hospital With Possible Stroke.

I hate the breaking news emails, the interruption of the current program for a special announcement, and just a little while ago I sat breathless watching MSNBC's breaking and ongoing story about Teddy Kennedy's hospitalization with stroke-like symptoms. The Cape Cod Times reported this morning that Teddy was at the Kennedy's Hyannis compound when he had symptoms and was taken to Cape Cod hospital (and excellent hospital in my experience,) and the transferred to Mass General (another excellent hospital.) There isn't much else yet except all of our hopes and prayers that whatever this is, its mild and something that he will pass right through. Teddy, at 76, is strong as a horse, and he is chomping at the bit for the upcoming Obama campaign.



Back to our regular programming, Russert's additional pre-taped show this weekend is about JFK and features his closest advisor's.

I will be following this story closely. Teddy Kennedy is not only someone who this country needs actively working in our government, but he has acted as the father and grandfather for 3 families, carrying quite a heavy load personally.

Do you want to see what this Kennedy is made of? Do you want to see who is speaking for you in our government? Watch him in action and then say a little prayer that we get to keep him for just a little while longer:




Update: HuffPo reports that according to Kennedy's doctors, the senator suffered what was apparently a seizure and was not life threatening. He is reportedly in good spirits and has some of his children, his wife, and his niece Carolyn with him. This thing was worrisome because of his recent surgery for a blockage in his carotid artery, but it is unclear what caused this seizure. seizures can be caused by many different things and can resemble strokes, but they aren't the same.
I'm relieved and looking forward to more good news on this story.

Broken Government? More like Broken Health Insurance Industry...The Billary Campaign Trail..One Kennedy Endorses Obama...Heed Frank Rich's Warning!

Sam Seder will be covering for Randi Rhodes on Air America Radio on Monday, January 28th...The Maron V. Seder Vodcast will be broadcast on live Tuesday, January 29th, and there is a possibility of a live Sammy Cam session to chat our way through the State of the Union Speech...or a possible Young Turk-a-thon (not my favorite thing, but desperate times call for desperate measures!) All this and more at Sam's Blog. Check back often for updates on all the stuff that's going on! He's busy!

So, CNN is advertising a special report, after the debate on Thursday, that is being billed as SANJAY GUPTA Reportsssss...Health Care in America: Broken Government!
Anyone with Medicare or Medicaid knows that the government healthcare programs work very well. They are probably the least broken parts of this screwed up country...Though one big problem with them is that when people like Rudy Giulliani are cutting the budgets of their fiefdoms, a good way of cutting bottom line services that should be immovable is by making social programs more difficult to find, fill out forms for, provide proper documentation for, and recert over and over, until people just leave the fief for a kinder and gentler state where one can sleep outside more comfortably, or a place that is more friendly to the poor. If you can get on them, the government programs are the most accepted, by law (and Medicaid needs some work in that area,) and pay providers pretty fairly. They operate with tiny overheads, compared to private insurance companies, and run rather smoothly, considering that they are part of the government bureaucracy.

I'm trying to find the commercial on CNN's website about Sanjay and his Gupta reportage, but since its not up yet, I'd like to suggest a rephrasing of that tag line. How about Broken Insurance Industry, (or how about,

This is what you get from outsourcing, you idiots!!

) Because I know from the commercial, its all about horrible medical crisis' that could have been prevented if only the Government wasn't Broken!Whats broken here is that we cant all get on Medicare and pay what we can. Its just that simple and will provide jobs, even as the insurance industry loses jobs.
This is not the first time that Gupta has used an inflammatory tag line and made sweeping generalizations about medical issues that he is not really qualified to speak to. He is an MD, not a political scholar. And its questionable how smart of an MD he is too. But, I'm all ears, Sanjay...have at it!

The difference between me and Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg is one of having faith in human nature and hope that the American system and/or the American people are strong enough, at this point in history, to fall behind an idealistic young candidate and go through with what will be necessary to turn this ship around before it hits ground. I keep imagining the moment that, in the midst of a terra alert, we put McCain or Romney into office just to be "safe." Hey, Its happened before! Don't rule it out!

I don't know what rosy colored glasses the Kennedy's look through to maintain their hope in the face of tragedy, and as political insiders who have seen their share of the gruesome details, but its sort of heartening and lovely in a way...and a little unreal. I also think that it has something to do with being raised in an extended family of public servants who are steeped in being able to promote change. They are told this from the moment they hit the ground running, and they have the support, even in trauma and dysfunction, of their extended family and religion to keep going. They also are from money; not that they all have riches beyond compare, because there are so many of them, but operating from a platform of upper classiness, they are educated and prepped for a life of great privilege, and a life of service to balance it. Religion has something to do with it too. They are Catholics, and it seems that having a higher reason behind what the aim is, helps with all those questions of why.
A coy Obama as much as admitted that Teddy Kennedy is on board as well. Breaking News: Tomorrow comes the endorsement.
Do they know the real think when they see it just because they are Kennedy's? Because everything about Obama seems to rely more on the feeling that he gives people than actual substance. I'd like to see more substance and less positioning.

Granted, I would be the virtual Woody Allen neurotic New Yorker to any Kennedy hope filled spiel about this young candidate being of the flesh and the body of the father. It must be nice to feel like you've found the reincarnation of hope, but I'm not quite there yet, to be honest, I'm doubtful about the whole thing. America does not have a very good track record at successfully letting hopeful leaders make their way into office. Surely, if Barak Obama is going to be brave enough to throw himself out there, I'm willing to listen, but it took me four years and an in person meeting to make me start to think that John Edwards really means what he says, and I have some very concrete reasons why I like him.

Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg's reasoning about Obama had less to do with the specifics of what Obama might do, than with things that people have told her about how he reminds them of her father. See, she doesn't really remember her father, but I'm sure that she knows everything he ever did, and the concrete reasoning behind it all, so why this wishy-washy endorsement? It sounds to me like " He moves the American people and makes them feel good.." and people say that he reminds them of my father, so lets trust him to try to dig us out of the worst hole we've been in, maybe ever?

Whoever gets the job is bound to look bad pretty quickly if not right away. There is just too much to clean up, and even the most experienced politician is gonna have to get their hands really dirty, offending alot of people along the way, meanwhile trying to fix the diplomatic mess that they are going to be left with. I think that whoever is the winner of this contest is going to end up with the short end of the stick, and the war is going to be his/her's, thanks to the democratic majority's inability to get itself to act, even in the interest of getting some information on the record to protect the next president.

I've been a little shocked at the reaction of a few people in the blogosphere to Edwards not dropping out of the race when he didn't win South Carolina.
I see no reason for him to drop out, and in fact, I urge him to stay in...I sent him money, and will send more after the 1st of the month. I guess that the best thing about this race has been the discourse. Some of it has been insane and some of it has been upsetting, but mostly, it's been good to see everyone allowed to talk out loud about whats been going on for these years in what seemed like a virtual gulag, as the terra alerts went from yellow to red, and we were told the best way to duct tape ourselves into a room in case of attack. Remember all that? Some woman around here actually killed herself and her kid because she sealed them into a room too tightly at a time when they had to use a generator or heater or something.

Remember not being able to buy duct tape because that asshole director of homeland security, Tom Ridge, said that all Americans should have these things...and survival food...doesn't it seem like a fucking dream? How did they successfully carry out all of the lies? How is it that they wont have to pay somehow? And isn't it crazy that any of these fools wants the job at all?

Yeah, you have to be pretty sure of yourself to think that you might be able to fix this mess up...even with a full staff of advisers, I cant imagine that anyone wouldn't have some trepidation. And I guess that I don't feel like Obama has the experience to run the entire country ...but I'd prefer to take a chance with him than to go with what I know will be business as usual with Billary. One way or another, we're bound to take a bit of a dip before we start to rebound. The dip might last what seems like a long time in our short sightedness, but historically it will be a blip. It's what we deserve for getting too lazy to pay attention and vote, and the turnout speaks loudly to the fact that its going to be a long time before people become that complacent again.

Frank Rich wrote in the New York Times today about the dangers of a Hillary Clinton general election. He pretty much warned that while Hillary may consider herself vetted, Bill has not been vetted on whats happened since he left the White House. Apparently there is much there to make hay of, and if Hillary is running against McCain, a swift boating or even an attack grounded in fact could land us with a President McCain. The sudden heavy use of Bill Clinton to pull Hillary's numbers up could have a devastating effect on this country if he has not been squeaky clean over the last 8 years. Surely there is a danger in just the perception of going back to the same old water carrying that was a huge part of how we got here.

For the Republicans, that means not just a double dose of the one steroid, Clinton hatred, that might yet restore their party’s unity but also two fat targets. Mrs. Clinton repeatedly talks of how she’s been “vetted” and that “there are no surprises” left to be mined by her opponents. On the “Today” show Friday, she joked that the Republican attacks “are just so old.” So far. Now that Mr. Clinton is ubiquitous, not only is his past back on the table but his post-presidency must be vetted as well. To get a taste of what surprises may be in store, you need merely revisit the Bill Clinton questions that Hillary Clinton has avoided to date.

Rich seems to think that Obama is a contender...more than Hillary is anyway. When he writes like this it is usually because he knows something, and the only way to figure it out is to try to catch him on the TV machine, as he no doubt will be appearing here and there this week, (or so I hope.) What seems clear is that polls at Real Clear Politics already show Hillary running neck and neck with McCain in the general. They also project the rest of the democratic field the same with McCain. I don't know about you, but I'm not gonna make it through another tight race in which we have questionable vote counting. Make no mistake, the aim of this thing as to be to win, and we can only hope that the Republican nominee isn't old John McCain, because he seems to have some legs in this thing. Where are the fundies when you need 'em?