Candidates speak out on Senator Kennedy's hospitalization
The three remaining major presidential candidates -- all Senate colleagues of Senator Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts -- issued statements today on Kennedy's hospitalization this morning for reported seizures.
Presumptive Republican nominee John McCain, who worked with McCain on an immigration reform bill that never came to fruition, issued the following statement:
"I was very sorry to hear that Senator Kennedy has taken ill, and like millions of Americans, Cindy and I anxiously await word of his condition. Senator Kennedy's role in the U.S. Senate cannot be overstated. He is a legendary lawmaker, and I have the highest respect for him. When we have worked together, he has been a skillful, fair and generous partner. I consider it a great privilege to call him my friend. Cindy and I are praying for our friend, his wife, Vicki and the Kennedy family."
Senator Hillary Clinton issued a statement: “My thoughts and prayers are with Sen. Ted Kennedy and his family today. We all wish him well and a quick recovery.”
Senator Barack Obama, campaigning today in Eugene, Ore., told reporters: "Ted Kennedy is a giant in American political history. He's done more for health care than just about anybody in history. We are going to be rooting for him. I insist on being optimistic about how it's going to turn out."
John F. Kerry, the junior senator from Massachusetts and 2004 Democratic presidential candidate, visited Kennedy at Mass General Hospital today and issued the following statement:
"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. ... 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."
In Washington, Globe Bureau Chief Peter Canellos says news of Kennedy's illness sent shock waves through the city. Click play below to hear the report.
Ted Kennedy , I will Pray for him & his family..
All my prayers for a speedy recovery.
Senator Kennedy,
God bless and keep you here on earth to continue your legacy of caring and fighting for Americas's poor. Get well soon!
It's time for some frontier humor from yesteryear to cheer up Sen. Ted Kennedy while he's waiting to get back on the trail. Okay, here goes:
It's the frontier country in Tennessee in the early 19th Century. David Crockett has the good fortune of taking on a wife, but he quickly learns that his new mother-in-law, known to her family as Jean Kennedy, is quite influential so he decides he'd better pay close attention to the advice she gives.
Then later on, Crockett does some work for a Tennessean named John Kennedy. Somehow, after these interesting personal experiences, he finds his way to the Tennessee legislature and after that to Congress during the John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson administrations.
So while he had the motto, "First make sure you're right, then go ahead," he could have added the slogan, "Better yet, check with the Kennedys to make sure you're staying on the right trail."
As one who ran for the U.S. Senate in North Carolina in 1978 at age 30 to try to follow in Ted Kennedy's footsteps, I join the good people of New England in wishing the senator a prompt and full recovery. Just be sure to give the doctor a chance to do some "speechifying" of his or her own about the right course to take.
David P. McKnight
Durham, N.C.
God Bless Sen. Ted Kennedy & Family at this most difficult time,and thank you sir
for trying make the world a better place along with your brothers Joe ,John and Bobby
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