Posted on 05/17/2008 9:02:55 AM PDT by COUNTrecount
HYANNIS -- U.S. Senator Edward M. Kennedy was rushed by ambulance to Cape Cod Hospital this morning after falling ill at the Kennedy compound in Hyannisport.
Hyannis fire responded to the compound after a call was made around 8:30 a.m. It's unclear what Kennedy's medical condition is, but after he spent almost two hours in the emergency room a decision was made to transfer him to Mass General Hospital in Boston.
Kennedy, 76, was placed on a stretcher and wheeled out to the MedFlight helicopter around 10:15 a.m. where it took off from Barnstable Municipal Airport.
The Kennedy family is preparing to host the annual Best Buddies Challenge event in Hyannisport this afternoon, which is a fund-raiser for the organization. Best Buddies was founded by Anthony Kennedy Shriver and helps people with intellectual disabilities.
Hundreds are expected to participate in the event, which kicked off this morning with a 100-mile bicycle ride from the Kennedy Library in Boston to Hyannisport.
A concert at the Kennedy compound is scheduled for tonight.
Kennedy has represented Massachusetts in the United States Senate for forty-three years.
He was elected in 1962 to finish the final two years of the Senate term of his brother, Senator John F. Kennedy, who was elected president in 1960.
Since then, Kennedy has been re-elected to seven full terms, and is now the second most senior member of the Senate.
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from yahoo:
The hourlong procedure on his left carotid artery — a main supplier of blood to the face and brain — was performed at Massachusetts General. This type of operation is performed on more than 180,000 people a year to prevent a stroke.
The doctor who operated on Kennedy said at the time that surgery is reserved for those with more than 70 percent blockage, and Kennedy had “a very high-grade blockage.”
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080517/ap_on_go_co/kennedy
The sickness of Senator Kennedy reminds me of the time when our PM Olof Palme was murdered. I was asked what I thought about it and answered that I had longed for the time when he was no longer part of Swedish politics, but I had not wished the end to come as suddenly nor as definitively as it did.
My best wishes for the Senator and may he enjoy a long and happy retirement together with his family.
Guy on FNC talking about his ‘legacy’.
To be a politician - ack!
Everyone will be jockying (if it happens) to use the event of a Kennedy death to their benefit.
Hillary will claim they are the new Kennedys, (they always wanted to be)
McCain will remind us of how they were best buddies.
Obama will use the Kennedy endorsement.
Sounds serious. Prayers for the Senator and his family.
I thought Mc Cain was supposed to announce him as his choice for VP?
Most of Kennedy’s influence, ability to raise money, etc. has to do with his position in the Senate. If he is incapacitated for the ‘08 election, which he will be if this is a significant stroke, that all halts. Also, his power among DemocRATs in the Senate is amplified because the RATs control the place.
It is not sounding good.
note from above report, same as what he had last Oct.:
>>The blockage was in his left carotid artery, which supplies blood to the brain and face. The surgery was successful and Kennedy returned to work later that month.
Well said.
Prayers for his recovery or peaceful passing, strokes suck.. Disliked many of his stands and actions but we only have One Judge, and He knows our real hearts.
AMEN!
I don’t mean this in malintentioned way towards you personally, but did that edict also apply to Hitler, Mussolini, et al.?
I’ve been praying that he’d have time with the Lord ...
Clinton revenge for backing Obamma Lamma Ding Dang?
Senator Ted Kennedy’s said that Iraq is “Bush’s Vietnam.”
“In Najaf, the militant Shiite cleric Al-Sadr echoed the refrain Iraq could become quote, ‘another Vietnam’ for America.”
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