And Rightly So!

Many headlines this morning are informing us of Senator Kennedy’s diagnoses of a cancerous brain tumor. It’s a nasty form of cancer and survival rates aren’t too high. I detest the man’s politics as well as his shady past; even so, I would never wish THIS fate to anyone.

The candidates react:

Obama:

“I would not be sitting here as a presidential candidate were it not for some of the battles he fought as a senator: He battled for voting rights and civil rights when I was a child. I stand on his shoulders,” Obama said.

Hillary:

Sen. Hillary Clinton said Tuesday that Kennedy’s “courage and resolve are unmatched, and they have made him one of the greatest legislators in Senate history.”

“Our thoughts are with him and [his wife,] Vicki, and we are praying for a quick and full recovery,” she said. “Obviously, he’s a fighter.”

She called him the “most effective” senator ever.

John McCain:

Sen. John McCain, an Arizona Republican who is the GOP’s presumptive nominee for president, had a similar statement.

“Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family and to him. We hope and pray that they will be able to treat it and that he will experience a full recovery,” he said.

“I have described Ted Kennedy as the last lion in the Senate,” a tearful McCain said on his campaign bus in Florida. “And I have held that view because he remains the single most effective member of the Senate.”

I will pray for Senator Kennedy. He will need as many prayers as he can get and there are times to put aside the politics and disrespect. Now is one of those times.