Kerry Spot    [ jim geraghty reporting ]
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Blogger Ed Driscoll writes in,

In his article on Rudy Giuliani, uploaded early — very early — this morning, Richard Brookhiser wrote:

Giuliani won a smashing reelection in 1997. Higher things seemed to beckon. Daniel Patrick Moynihan’s Senate seat became vacant in 2000, and Giuliani, the most unsenatorial person in the world, sought it.

Suddenly, everything went wrong. Giuliani’s second marriage, to Donna Hanover, an ambitious harridan, blew up. Giuliani paraded his mistress, Judith Nathan (now his third wife). Hillary began her Anschluss. Giuliani got prostate cancer, the disease that felled his father. He pulled the plug on his own race.

If Rudy ran for the presidency, that might come back as an issue. However, Brookhiser is wrong when he writes:

Then there is the personal baggage. The last presidential candidate to have had cancer was Paul Tsongas, who lied about being cancer-free in 1992, and who has since died. We know the worst about Giuliani, but how much better is that?

Tsongas wasn't the last presidential candidate to have had cancer. In 2002, The Washington Post wrote:

On Wednesday, Kerry will undergo elective shoulder surgery for a slight tear, marking the second time the Democratic candidate has missed time on the hustings for an operation. In 2003, shortly after announcing his campaign, Kerry had his prostate removed to cure early-stage cancer.

Heck, Kerry wasn't even the last candidate to lie about having cancer. Obviously, a man has a right to discuss his health issues with his family before informing the public... but an officeholder ought to avoid lying to the public as much as possible.

[Posted 08/31 05:32 PM]