Arlen Specter battling ‘serious’ cancer
Former Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter has been hospitalized due to a recently detected cancer that poses a “serious” threat to his health, a source told POLITICO Tuesday.
Specter, 82, began having difficulty breathing about two months ago, and upon being given medical attention a tumor was found in his stomach area, pressing up against his lungs, the source close to Specter said.
Continue Reading(PHOTOS: The life and career of Arlen Specter)
“It’s something that is serious. You are 82, your body can only take so much,” said the source, cautioning, however, that “he’s not dying tomorrow” and that Specter remains “in good spirits.”
Reports surfaced Monday evening that the former senator was hospitalized with a serious illness and Specter on Tuesday confirmed that he was facing cancer for the third time.
“I’m battling cancer. It’s another battle I intend to win,” Specter said in a statement, according to NBC10 Philadelphia. “I’m looking forward to getting back to work, to the comedy stage and the ballpark.”
Specter survived two earlier bouts with cancer, in 2005 and 2008, the Philadelphia Daily News reports. His son declined comment to Philly.com.
Specter was supposed to be a surprise guest at a recent political comedy night with Philadelphia Daily News columnist Stu Bykofsky but did not attend, citing personal reasons.
“He was supposed to show up at this comedy night and he missed it because he wasn’t feeling good. It was a big deal because he never misses anything,” the source told POLITICO.
At the Republican National Convention, former colleague and erstwhile Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum expressed sympathy about Specter’s condition.
“Obviously, my prayers go out to him and to his family. I was informed of Arlen’s condition a couple of weeks ago. I know it’s gonna be a very tough journey for him so we’re just gonna keep praying,” said Santorum, after a breakfast speech to the Ohio delegation in Tampa.
Specter, a longtime Republican, switched parties in 2009 and received President Barack Obama’s endorsement. But he lost the primary to now former Rep. Joe Sestak, who went on to lose in the general election to Republican Sen. Pat Toomey.
Specter served in the Senate for 30 years before losing in the primary.
Juana Summers and Kevin Cerilli contributed to this report.
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Read all 40 comments in our forumSpecter was my favorite Senator of all time -- he was one of the few independently-minded people that graced Congress. Sadly, this quality was so under appreciated in these hyper-partisan times....
Get well, Mr. Specter!
" switched parties in 2009 and received President Barack Obama’s endorsement. '
He will take Obama's endorsement to the grave.
Maybe he got hit with a magic bullet.
He may be dying, so let's pummel him. The Christian right really is a bunch of jerks.
Although I was disappointed in Sen Specter many, many times I do not wish him harm and I am so sorry that he has this terrible affliction.
Anyone that has had a family member or have themselves suffered from this terrible illness should put politics aside and have empathy for Sen. Specter and his family.
Those who choose this time as an opportunity to attack him and his opinions should be ashamed of themselves.
Specter may be on the way out but the new,rising " Benedict Arnold",Charlie Crist,is waiting in the wings to replace him.They are both nothing but pathetic Stage Door Johnnies,looking to get a smile from "the star".
So what leads you to the assumption that the comments you are referring to are made by Christians?
I wish Arlen would have retired long ago before he became so ill so he could enjoy. Now he appears to be trying to make himself into some kind of martyr. I have been a Pennsylvanian for about 20 years and Mr. Specter was more about Mr. Specter than the citizens of Pennsylvania.
I certainly wish you good health Mr. Specter.
Pretty much sums up Specter's unprincipled, self-serving, scumbag political career.
Regardless, I wish the man peace and comfort in his final days.
Well I hope he pulls through this. The former Senator has had more near misses than anyone else I've heard of and I hope this is another miss.
So what leads you to the assumption that the comments you are referring to are made by Christians?
its an Alinsky tactic
It's telling that liberals go ballistic when one of their own is attacked yet remain conspicuously silent when leftwing celebrities like Ellen Barkin and Samuel L Jackson wish widespread suffering and death on the entire Republican membership.
good riddance and the sooner the better. hey hold on news flash specter having been let down by the right and the left has decided to become an independent. he is holding out his endorsement in the presidential race because there is the possibility he will be let down again by a failure of the receiving team to follow through on their promises plus the simple fact that he may not make it to november. sigh, oh the humanity of it all.....
MAY YOUR HEALING COME--AGAIN AND AGAIN!
The comments on this article remind me why I think that our politics and our culture have fallen completely and irretrievably into the gutter. Arlen Specter has been an esteemed constitutional lawyer and prosecutor and an accomplished Senator over an extended period of time. Conservatives who now despise him conveniently forget that he was the Senator assigned by his party to and who brilliantly led the defense of Clarence Thomas in his Supreme Court confirmation hearings.
Most of the people who have spewed nothing but hatred and invective in this space should be ashamed of themselves. I wish Senator Specter a speedy recovery and a long life. For those of you who do not, fortunately you will have to deal with similar circumstances in your own lives one day yourselves.
Well Arlen,looks like you will be the first victim of Presbo Kenyas' medical board !!!!
couldn't happen to a nicer fcukwad.
may you have a long slow lingering miserable recovery. Another Ovomit shovel ready project
On a personal level I wish him well.
On a political level he played both sides of the aisle too many times for me to care much about him.
His judgement cometh, Arlen, and that right soon.
We've been pummeling him since 1965. He's an evil man and should hope there is no afterlife.
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