Sen. Kennedy: The Cause of My Life

[deminks]

http://www.newsweek.com/id/207406/page/1

In 1964, I was flying with several companions to the Massachusetts Democratic Convention when our small plane crashed and burned short of the runway. My friend and colleague in the Senate, Birch Bayh, risked his life to pull me from the wreckage. Our pilot, Edwin Zimny, and my administrative assistant, Ed Moss, didn't survive. With crushed vertebrae, broken ribs, and a collapsed lung, I spent months in New England Baptist Hospital in Boston. To prevent paralysis, I was strapped into a special bed that immobilizes a patient between two canvas slings. Nurses would regularly turn me over so my lungs didn't fill with fluid. I knew the care was expensive, but I didn't have to worry about that. I needed the care and I got it.

Now I face another medical challenge. Last year, I was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. Surgeons at Duke University Medical Center removed part of the tumor, and I had proton-beam radiation at Massachusetts General Hospital. I've undergone many rounds of chemotherapy and continue to receive treatment. Again, I have enjoyed the best medical care money (and a good insurance policy) can buy.

But quality care shouldn't depend on your financial resources, or the type of job you have, or the medical condition you face. Every American should be able to get the same treatment that U.S. senators are entitled to.

This is the cause of my life. It is a key reason that I defied my illness last summer to speak at the Democratic convention in Denver—to support Barack Obama, but also to make sure, as I said, "that we will break the old gridlock and guarantee that every American…will have decent, quality health care as a fundamental right and not just a privilege." For four decades I have carried this cause—from the floor of the United States Senate to every part of this country. It has never been merely a question of policy; it goes to the heart of my belief in a just society. Now the issue has more meaning for me—and more urgency—than ever before. But it's always been deeply personal, because the importance of health care has been a recurrent lesson throughout most of my 77 years.

:patriot:

[proud2BlibKansan]

1. Teddy gets it.

:patriot:

[Stuart G]

2. Agreed, Teddy has been fighting for the poor as long as

I can remember..K and R

[bobbolink]

3. If only the Lion could roar in the Senate about this.... I imagine he would be a great whip!

I still hope you can be well, Senator!

[SharonRB]

4. I hope he lives to see this legislation passed.

It would be so sad to lose him before he can see his life's dream come true.

[sellitman]

54. A HUGE Amen!

:patriot:

[Spazito]

5. He says it all in a nutshell...

"But quality care shouldn't depend on your financial resources, or the type of job you have, or the medical condition you face. Every American should be able to get the same treatment that U.S. senators are entitled to."

Recommended.

[DesertRat]

6. Hang in there, Teddy!

k&r

[LiberalAndProud]

7. "it goes to the heart of my belief in a just society" Amen and amen.

[midnight]

8. Sen. Kennedy remind them that a just society does not ration

or keep its citizens from medical treatment. Yes, I know the insurance co. have a gaggle of lawyers ready to defend the rationality mindset and their "not medically neccessary" mantra, but if we can spend trillions on war, we can spend trillions on keeping people alive. A much better return, I think, for the money spent.

[solstice]

9. If only HE was president. Because I don't trust the one we have to not sell us out.

[Spazito]

10. So, let me be sure I am clear here, you trust Senator Kennedy enough...

you would support him being President but you DON'T trust Senator Kennedy enough to trust his judgment in trusting President Obama.


Alllllrighty then.

[Walk away]

14. "The One?" You remind me of someone. Do you have gray hair..

and a bad temper?

[Vickers]

23. Well bless yer heart.

:spank:

[bleever]

11. I believe Sen. Kennedy will see this in his lifetime.

:patriot:

[bluesmail]

12. I was totally surprised that in 1964 Teddy Kennedy was almost killed

in a small plane crash that killed two other people. Of course I would have only been in 7th grade. AND that he proposed health care in 1970 and Nixon was willing to sign it in 1974...then came Watergate. Very interesting article, highly recommended. What Senator Kennedy AND his family have been through, collectively I know I couldn't (I think) survive. Like I said, highly recommended reading and thinking.

[Raine]

13. Aw I love Teddy so much. nt

:loveya:

[tavalon]

15. He's a good egg

[Wednesdays]

16. K&R

:kick:

[JanusAscending]

17. Keep on keepin' on, Uncle Teddy!!

Looking forward to seeing you on the Senate floor again, perhaps in Celebration of the passage of Healthcare finally. God Bless you!! P.S. oh, and by the way solstice....it's "that one" not "the one"!! You can also go deficate in your hat, OK? I'm sick to death of the Obama bashing permitted on this board!:grr:

[applegrove]

18. I hope he is stable. We need Teddy.

[Odin2005]

19. TEDDY!

:)

[1]

20. i guess y'all have no experience with brain tumors. you don't know...

and that's probably good.

for you...

[BlancheSplanchnik]

32. I get the impression you've been through something very scary

You are in my thoughts...

:hug:

[1]

37. thank you. they are, they take the tumor. and much of the remaining brain...

they have to.

and what you are left with cannot live.

hate me. but that is how it is...

[BlancheSplanchnik]

38. no hate....

but you are still here--- there must be a reason

[Name removed]

39. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

41. okay then. n/t

[Contrary1]

21. Somewhere in my attic...

There is a signed letter (in ink) from Senator Edward Kennedy. I wrote him way back in 1968. I was riding on a bus to a downtown rally for his brother, Bobby.

It was a silly note, written by an enthusiastic 17 year old supporter. I challenged him and his brother to a evening of pool, complete with a home cooked dinner by my dear mom.

He replied that if he and his brother were ever in Indy together, they might take me up on my offer. Of course, I knew; even at such a young age, that it was unlikely.

Later that day, I did get to shake Bobby's hand, and actually made it all the way to his room at the Sheraton Lincoln, before I was stopped by the Secret Service.

And a few weeks later, Bobby was gone.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

34. Wow!

That's quite a story

[Swagman]

48. get that letter out of the attic and framed ! sounds like a great momento

[Fearless]

22. The day that Teddy leaves us will be the saddest in this nation's working class's history...

But until that day comes, the Liberal Lion FUCKING ROARS!




:patriot:


Edit: Having finished the article... These are not the words of a dying man. These are the words of a living man. I don't see him going anywhere anytime soon.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

30. That's an awesome picture!

Thanks!

[Fearless]

31. Of course!

:hi:

[BlancheSplanchnik]

40. ...

actually, there's no reason I posted that smilie, I mean it's kind of apropos of nothing---- except that it cracks me up!

[Fearless]

42. Ohh don't make me pull out the puppy photos!

[BlancheSplanchnik]

43. I beat you to it!

.

.

.

.

.

.
V

[Fearless]

44. To keep it on topic...

:rofl:

[BlancheSplanchnik]

45. AGHH!

CUTENESS!!!

Extreme CUTENESS!

Hmmm, that microphone is at perfect Puppy-Attack height. Uh Oh!!

(but that can't be Bo... she's too small and doesn't have a white paw..... )

[Swagman]

47. hey that's another great pic with a cute puppy

[Swagman]

46. agreed ! that's our Uncle Teddy firing on all cylinders

[BlancheSplanchnik]

24. when I hear brain dead jerk offs slagging him

with riech wing propaganda they got from PoxSpews, it makes me so ANGRY

It's the kind of thing I need to have a 5 word reply to, but I just haven't followed his actions enough to come up with something. (Any quick DU thinkers are welcome to help me out here!!)

(ok, to give an example for comparison, that really worked.... recently a friend started to needle me about global warming and made a comment about Al Gore's movie... for some reason, her needles don't get me off balance, I guess cuz she's light about it, not nasty and obnoxious. The perfect comeback just came to mind; I said "Can't argue with fact". anyway, that's the kind of quick comeback I need if I ever have to hear another spew about hating Ted Kennedy)

[Fearless]

25. If you're ever not in the mood...

Send em my way.

:evilgrin:

[BlancheSplanchnik]

29. hee!

:P

[1]

26. so you don't understand the concept of a brain tumor. do you?

[Fearless]

27. Don't let the door hit you in the butt on the way out.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

28. That would be a good reply to some kinds of crap I hear sometimes...

I'm feeling like the old one-note slam you still hear sometimes (you probably know what I'm referring to) needs a different kind of reply... but I am just stuck...

[Name removed]

33. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Fearless]

35. What is your major malfunction?

Seriously, there is nothing wrong with people showing their support for a man who has given everything to the middle and working class of this nation?

[BlancheSplanchnik]

36. I think you have seriously misread me

you are speaking very nastily to me based on that.

You must have been through some very scary and painful experiences, I've been through some scary things myself-- and I hope you find the strength and happiness you need.

:hug:

[ColbertWatcher]

49. k+r for Teddy. n/t

[tomm2thumbs]

50. powerful stuff from someone who knows the game and how it is played in Washington

go teddy

[BlueMTexpat]

51. I sincerely hope that meaningful health care reform is passed while

Teddy is still here. His two brothers were taken away prematurely or, I firmly believe, this world would have been a much better place. At least, we would not forever be known as the nation that tortures. Of that, I am sure.
I still hope that we will once again be known as the nation that punishes those who authorized and implemented torture, even at the highest levels and even when the evildoers are American, and I am encouraged by some small but potentially meaningful sea changes that seem to be occurring to that effect.
I remember that plane crash in 1964, but hadn't quite realized its potential significance taken in light of other "events" that "happened" to members of the Kennedy family and other liberal political champions. We almost lost Teddy in 1964. Of course, he was later politically discredited for the Presidency by the events at Chappaquiddick in 1969. Had he not been, he might not be with us today as it is.
My loss of political innocence began with the assassination of JFK in November 1963. I will never forget that day, nor the events that followed. The recent TV recaps following Walter Kronkite's death have opened those wounds afresh.
I don't have much "innocence" left, I'm afraid. I still believe that Obama and his Administration can live up to my hopes. But given the power and reach of the "Evil Ones" who seem to thrive and act with impunity in this country, Obama needs to be very careful.
Bravo, Teddy! Long may The Lion roar!

[RoccoR5955]

52. K & R for the Lion of the Senate!

Teddy understands, what the shysters do not. The shysters want to SELL you something that may or may not help you. Teddy wants you to pay for a service that is given to WE THE PEOPLE!

[Piewhacket]

53. I can't keep a dry eye. It will happen. You will see it. Thank you Ted.