This is the kind of man Ted Kennedy is:

I met him at the Daily Show a few years ago. This is a man whose 2 brothers were murdered within the span of just a few years and whose family has suffered so much loss. He came out to a small crowd of people, and his few security people were getting antsy and tried to keep us back. He told them to back off (in nicer words than that) so that he could get closer to people. Even after both his brothers were killed by assassins' bullets, he didn't care.

He has fought his entire life for those who couldn't fight...now I know he still has enough fight left in him to fight for himself, and he will.

In 1964, Kennedy was in a plane crash in which the pilot and one of Kennedy's aides were killed. He was pulled from the wreckage by fellow senator Birch E. Bayh II (D-Ind.), and spent weeks in a hospital recovering from a severe back injury, a punctured lung, broken ribs and internal bleeding.

Kennedy has suffered from chronic pain ever since his 1964 plane crash, which crushed three vertebrae. His campaigns have periodically had to accomodate for this condition, for instance, by avoiding long walks on hard factory floors or extended handshaking sessions.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Kennedy

Also, it's three brothers.

Joe Jr. died during WWII when the experimental B-24 bomber loaded with more-potent-than-TNT explosives, which he volunteered to test-fly, unexpectedly exploded and crashed over Suffolk, England. Joe Jr. was 29, and was the one Big Joe had expected to do the big career in politics. The mantle fell to Jack, frail from the Addison's Disease that wasn't properly diagnosed until years later but still a goddam Kennedy, and 16 years after Joe was blotted out of the sky, Jack won a seat in the Oval...and less than three years to enjoy it. One death prepared the way for another...Hamlet and Lear had it easy compared to this shit, man.

Oh, and...

1941 - Rosemary Kennedy was believed to be mentally retarded, by some. Because of her increasingly violent and severe mood swings, she underwent a lobotomy. The surgery impaired her cognitive abilities even more and as a result, she remained institutionalized until her death in 2005.<5>

August 12, 1944 - Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr., the eldest son of Joseph Kennedy and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, dies in a mid-air aircraft explosion over the English Channel while flying a secret mission during World War II.

September 10, 1944 - William Cavendish, Marquess of Hartington, husband of Kathleen Kennedy Cavendish, is killed in action by a sniper in Belgium while serving as a major in the Coldstream Guards.<5>

May 13, 1948 - Kathleen Kennedy Cavendish, Marchioness of Hartington, dies in a plane crash in France.

1955 - Jacqueline Kennedy suffers a miscarriage.

August 23, 1956 - Jacqueline Kennedy gives birth to a stillborn daughter. (Although the daughter was unnamed and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery next to her parents with a marker reading "Daughter," later reports indicated that the Kennedys had intended to call her "Arabella Kennedy".)

December 19, 1961 - Joseph P. Kennedy, the family patriarch, suffers a greatly disabling stroke which makes movement and communication extremely difficult lasting until his death in 1969.

August 9, 1963 - Patrick Bouvier Kennedy, the second son of John and Jacqueline Kennedy, born six weeks premature, dies two days after his birth.<5>

November 22, 1963 - President John F. Kennedy assassinated in Dallas, Texas the same day his great-grandfather died.

June 19, 1964 - Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy is involved in a plane crash in which one of his aides and the pilot were killed. He was pulled from the wreckage by fellow senator Birch E. Bayh II (D-Ind.) and spent weeks in a hospital recovering from a broken back, a punctured lung, broken ribs, and internal bleeding.

June 5, 1968 - Robert F. Kennedy, brother to both John and Ted, is shot multiple times in Los Angeles, immediately following his victory in the California Democratic presidential primary.

July 18, 1969 - "Chappaquiddick incident": A car driven by Ted Kennedy goes off a bridge on Martha's Vineyard killing passenger Mary Jo Kopechne.

February 23, 1972 - Joseph P. Kennedy II, son of Robert and Ethel, is on a Lufthansa jet over India that is hijacked by five Palestinians and flown to South Yemen.

January 23, 1973 - Alexander Onassis, stepson of Jacqueline Kennedy, dies in a plane crash.

1973 - Edward Kennedy, Jr., loses his right leg due to bone cancer at the age of twelve.

1973 - Joseph P. Kennedy II, son of Robert and Ethel, is the driver in a car accident that leaves one passenger, Pam Kelley, permanently paralyzed.<5>

April 25, 1984 - David Kennedy, a son of Robert and Ethel, dies from a Demerol and cocaine overdose in a Palm Beach, Florida hotel room.<5>

November 19, 1988 - Christina Onassis, stepdaughter of Jacqueline Kennedy, dies in Argentina of drug abuse-related heart failure.

1991 - William Kennedy Smith, son of Jean Kennedy Smith, is charged with rape. The trial is covered on live television and attracts great attention. He is acquitted.

January, 1994 - Jacqueline Kennedy is diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, a type of cancer, and dies later that year.

December 31, 1997 - Michael Kennedy, son of Robert, dies in a skiing accident in Aspen, Colorado.<5>

July 16, 1999 - John F. Kennedy, Jr.; his wife, Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy; and Carolyn's sister Lauren Bessette die when the private plane Kennedy is piloting crashes into the Atlantic Ocean on a hazy evening en route from Essex County Airport in Fairfield, New Jersey to Martha's Vineyard.

May 20th 2008 - Ted Kennedy was diagnosed with a brain tumor (Glioblastoma Multiforme) after being hospitalized for an unexplained seizure in Massachusetts. He is diagnosed with one of the most aggressive forms of brain cancer. Cases of this type of cancer are reported to be 20-30 out of 1 million people.

Secondary events

November 26, 1950 - Edward Cavendish, 10th Duke of Devonshire, Kathleen Kennedy's father-in-law, had a heart attack and was treated by the suspected serial killer John Bodkin Adams. He died.<6>

September 11, 1983 - Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is arrested in South Dakota for heroin possession.

1986 - Patrick J. Kennedy, a son of Senator Ted Kennedy, begins treatment for cocaine addiction.

1991 - William Kennedy Smith, son of Jean Kennedy, is accused of raping a woman in Palm Beach, Florida. He is tried and acquitted.

August 12, 1999 - Anthony Radziwill, son of Lee Radziwill and nephew of John F. Kennedy and Jackie Kennedy, dies of cancer one month after his first cousin, John F. Kennedy Jr. perishes in a plane crash.

June 7, 2002 - Michael Skakel, a nephew of Ethel Skakel Kennedy, is convicted in the 1975 murder of Martha Moxley when he was a teenager.

2004 - William Kennedy Smith faces civil charges based on an alleged 1999 sexual assault; the charges are dismissed.

May 4, 2006 - Patrick J. Kennedy is involved in a single-car accident in Washington DC. He has since entered treatment for addiction to prescription pain medication.

2006 - Ted Kennedy was aboard a plane which was struck by lightning and had to be diverted to New Haven, Conn. Senator Kennedy had just delivered the commencement address at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts in North Adams and was on his way to his Cape Cod home when the plane was struck. This, coupled with the aforementioned 1964 plane crash and the 1969 Chappaquiddick incident, makes Ted Kennedy the only Kennedy family member to cheat death three times.

...paging Job...paging Mr. Job...your table is ready...yeah, right next to that Irish family who owns more property in cemeteries than most others own at all...

:shudder:

A man who was raised as an elite, who dedicated himself to helping people less fortunate.

Best wishes to him and his family.