Ted Kennedy

was released from Massachusetts General Hospital today.

The prognosis is uncertain for Kennedy, who looked good considering the diagnosis. A number of people were on hand to cheer him and wish him well. His beloved Portuguese water dogs were there to greet him.

This kind of sums everything up:

A summary of Kennedy's achievements in the Senate, compiled by his staff, is 50 single-spaced pages long. "That's the trimmed-down version," an aide said recently.
Kennedy is the only one of the four brothers to live through middle age. His three brothers all died prematurely: Joseph P. Kennedy Jr., killed in 1944 on a World War II bombing mission; John F. Kennedy, assassinated in Dallas in 1963; and Robert F. Kennedy, assassinated while campaigning for the Democratic presidential nomination in Los Angeles in 1968.

Political success and personal tragedy have marked the story of one of the nation's most famous families. Three other nephews died tragically - John F. Kennedy Jr. in a plane crash, Michael Kennedy in a skiing accident, and David Kennedy from a drug overdose. Two of Edward Kennedy's children, Edward Jr. and Kara, are cancer survivors.

Kennedy has suffered through his own misfortune and failure. In 1964, he suffered a broken back in a small plane crash in Western Massachusetts that resulted in the death of the pilot and one of Kennedy's aides. In 1969, Mary Jo Kopechne drowned when a car driven by Kennedy went off a bridge on Chappaquiddick Island, and Kennedy left the scene.

Because there is no cure for a malignant brain tumor, it will be very tough sailing for him.

Vicki Kennedy (bio) wrote an e-mail to well-wishers, saying the family was thrown a "curve ball" with the diagnosis.

This video is about Kennedy's tumor:



In 2006 Time named him as one of the ten best U.S. senators.

No doubt he'll be remembered as one of the best in American history.

Update: Ted Sorensen talked to Chris Matthews about Ted:




Here is a video clip from the Boston Globe showing Ted Kennedy and wife Vicki leaving the hospital this morning. Their dogs, Splash and Sunny, were there.