Okay, this really got to me

[beachmom]

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/5/25/171029/926/85/522655

I am assuming that anything related to the Kennedy family is not OT in the Kerry forum. This diary will make you cry, but make you happy, too.

[JI7]

1. i felt the same way seeing it on tv

i was so glad Obama was able to fill in for him. Obama has real respect for Kennedy that goes beyond any endorsement or any other personal support he may get from him.

i think it's nice that Kerry and Ted Kennedy have a good relationship. it's impossible to think of Kerry's overall political life without Kennedy in it.

[Inuca]

2. Got to me too

when I saw it yesterday. I started warching the speech on CNNN, i was very impressed that they were showing it live, they broke for comercials after 10-15 minutes, and when they came back AND WHILE OBAMA WAS STILL SPEAKING they started dissecting the speech based on the prepered remarks. I turned the TV off in disgust.

[MBS]

3. you can see the whole thing on the Obama website

It's worth it. Very good message!
And the Daily Kos site has some lovely pictures.

[TayTay]

4. It was a great speech

I liked it most because it was optimistic and forward-looking. That is Teddy Kennedy.

The hardest part of the last week for me was all the sadness surrounding Teddy Kennedy's diagnosis. It didn't fit. Uncle Teddy is not morose or sad or full of despair. Not at all. On the contrary, Teddy Kennedy is a great man, but also one who is full of life and stories and ways to get things done and hope and optimism. The sadness just doesn't fit. That was the most jarring thing of all.

Maybe it seems like the Kennedy family should be full of sadness because of everything that has happened to them. But that has not been my experience. If you put any 2 or 3 Mass Dems together, chances are you will get some stories told and quite a few will be about Teddy Kennedy. I associate this great man with hope and possibilities, with stories and warmth and with grace and an enduring spirit. I just can't associate him with sadness. More than anything else, it doesn't fit him.

I am so glad that Sen. Obama filled in on this Graduation Speech. He reminds me, in a lot of ways, of Teddy Kennedy. He gave a wonderful, lively, compelling speech about the meaning and call of service. He left the attendees feeling hopeful and proud of their country and it's still endless possibilities. He did Teddy Kennedy proud. No doubt soon, Teddy K will tell a great story about it.

[MBS]

6. you should read Bob Herbert's wonderful piece in the NYT

I think it came out on Monday May 19. Just exactly the right message.

[MBS]

7. here's the link

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/24/opinion/24herbert.html

Here's an excerpt from the beginning

My father was stricken with throat cancer back in the early 1990s. . .

I was in the doctor’s office . . . and my dad, Chester Herbert, was sitting in a small waiting room out of earshot but very close by. The doctor had placed X-ray photos on the wall and was pointing to the original spot of the cancer and the regions to which it had spread.

Inoperable, he said. Incurable.

“How much time does he have?” I asked.

The doctor knew my family well, and he had the saddest look on his face. “Maybe a few months, Bob.”

After looking at my face, he added: “You never know about these things. It could be longer.”

and excerpts from the end

Much of the press coverage of Senator Kennedy’s illness has had the unmistakable quality of an obituary. . . .

Which brings me back to my dad. . . . He wasn’t ready to die when the doctors and the charts and the X-rays said he was supposed to.

He . . . . lived a dozen years after that awful day in the doctor’s office.

The press will tell you that this is Senator Kennedy’s toughest fight. I don’t even know if that’s true. Who knows what the toughest fight has been for someone named Kennedy? This is a guy who has experienced every kind of horror, who went down in a plane, who had to fight back after Chappaquiddick, who has had two kids stricken with cancer, and on and on. So who knows?

All I know is that the show’s not over until the curtain comes down, the lights go out and everybody has left the theater.

We’re not there yet. Hang in there, Ted.

[rox63]

5. The Kennedy family has been hit by cancer many times

Two out of three of Teddy's kids have survived cancer. His other child had benign tumors removed. His ex-wife Joan is a breast cancer survivor. So I would count Teddy out just yet.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/05/25/kennedy_his_children_and_cancer/?page=full

[MonteLukast]

8. Exactly. His very optimism and energy...

... makes me more hopeful for the outcome.

You'd barely know it to look at him-- so hale and hearty and happy.

Remember how JK looked right after his prostate cancer treatment, and how he's blossomed since then.