The Anchoress
My L’il Bro Thom sent me the word on Ted Kennedy’s brain tumor which appears to be malignant. Obviously this is news that brings up a great many feelings for those of us who lived through the whole Kennedy mythology of Camelot through the 1960’s. My first thought was “I feel badly for Caroline; when Ted goes it is the last real connection to her mother and father. I don’t get the sense that she is close to her cousins.”
We all sort of feel like we own a piece of the Kennedy’s don’t we? I “grew up” with Caroline and envied her her handsome father, but not all that followed his murder. I feel badly for Ted’s kids, too. It is never easy to go through this sort of thing, particularly with a parent. It’s never easy but it is sometimes a terrible beauty.
Here is what we can expect of the media saturation tonight on broadcast tv: everyone will open with the Kennedy illness story, then quick reports on brain tumors, and what makes them malignant or benign, operable or inoperable – there will be man-on-the-street commentary edited for the ‘Democrats deeply moved, Republicans deeply nasty‘ narrative. Each broadcast will likely close with some sort of Kennedy timeline focusing on either the whole family or Ted’s life. Probably Ted’s life.
My prediction: Someone – probably Keith Olbermann or Chris Matthews – will go completely over the top and say that the Kennedy illness will not mark the “end of Camelot…how fitting that it is being revived this very night by Barack Obama, Ted Kennedy’s handpicked successor to the enduring legacy,” or some such gag-inducing nonsense.***
Take it to the bank – just as President Bush’s speech to Knesset in Israel last week became “all about Obama,” Ted Kennedy’s illness will become “all about Obama” very quickly.
Bad news, of course, for Hillary – who will not enjoy seeing the re-emergent file photo of her snubbing Obama and Kennedy on the floor of the House, at the last January’s SOTU address.
And speaking of bad news for Hillary, over at CQ Politics, they’re down to the final round of the veep sweepstakes, and it comes down to – are you ready? Mike Huckabee and Sarah Palin, and right now Huckabee leads the votes. This is surprising (and unwelcome) news to those of us who thought that Huckabee had managed to mouth his way out of contention last week, and it is also rather bad news for the GOP, since it demonstrates – as resoundingly as an internet poll can – that folks are uninspired by the current crop of Republicans and are looking to the young ‘uns, like Bobby Jindal and Michael Steele, to save the day – sometime in the near future.
But it’s the popularity of Palin that is bad news for Hillary, because it tempts us to daydream the most delicious irony of this political season:
McCain picks Sarah Palin as his veep and actually wins the thing, then dies in office and ta-da! The first female President of the United States is not only NOT Hillary Clinton…she’s not even a Democrat!
Hillary’s screams will be heard around the world; they will set off eruptions at Mt. Etna and rattle California into the Pacific Ocean.
Volcano and earthquake aside, that little daydream puts a Walter Mitty-esque smile on my face and helps me get through the day, while reading about things like what can and cannot be served at the Democrat convention in Denver. Sad when you can’t get a piece of fried chicken because of the bureaucrats. Welcome to America.
***UPDATE***Thom writes that my prediction came true within minutes of my posting it: Unsurprisingly, it was the easily-moved and sentimental Chris Matthews who handed the revived Camelot to Obama via Ted. Sometimes I scare myself. But it’s not that I’m so smart; it’s that these people are so pathetically predictable.
WELCOME <a href="http://pajamasmedia.com/instapundit/" readers – while you’re here, please look around; today we’re also discussing Barack Obama’s 34 word manifesto, and what the NY Times really wanted to say, last Sunday. And if you haven’t read it, I’ve got the full text of Bush’s speech to the Knesset.
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