• Former Senator Fred Thompson in Remission for Lymphoma
• Fred Has Manageable Cancer
• McCain's Finest Hour
• The Tragedy Of Consistency

In case you didn't make it by yesterday:

• 2007.04.10 Political Roundup
  • Democrats Fear Fox, Part II
  • Obama admits he's not spending enough time at home
  • Rethinking McCain
  • Professor Obama
  • Edwards' Neighbor On Blog Talk Radio

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Former Senator Fred Thompson in Remission for Lymphoma

WASHINGTON —  Former Tennessee Republican Sen. Fred Thompson told FOX News on Wednesday that he's in remission from lymphoma cancer.

The "Law & Order" star who is considering a run for the White House in 2008, said he was diagnosed with indolent lymphoma in 2004 after a routine physical. He said the cancer is "fortunately a good kind if you can ever call something like that a good kind" and treatable.

"I have had no illness from it, or even any symptoms. My life expectancy should not be affected. I am in remission, and it is very treatable with drugs if treatment is needed in the future — and with no debilitating side effects," Thompson said in a personal commentary following the interview.

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Fred Has Manageable Cancer
Ed Morrissey

Fred Thompson, whose potential entry into the 2008 presidential race has him already third in Republican polling, announced today that he has a manageable form of lymphoma:

Republican Fred Thompson, the actor-politician who is considering a bid for president, said Wednesday he has lymphoma, a form of cancer.

In an interview with Fox News, the former Tennessee senator said he is in remission and the diagnosis shouldn't affect his life expectancy.

Thompson, 64, told Fox News Channel's Neil Cavuto that he has non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, but hasn't been ill or had any symptoms. ...

Some of these subtypes are termed "indolent," meaning they typically respond well to treatment — patients often go into remission for long periods, but the disease is not cured and may need to be battled back again periodically. ...

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McCain's Finest Hour
Leadership sometimes means bucking public opinion.
WSJ Opinion Journal

These columns have had more than one disagreement with John McCain over the years, especially on issues that typically win the Arizona Republican accolades from the rest of the media: campaign-finance reform, global warming, detainee interrogations and tax cuts. Yet now that he is under attack from his erstwhile media "base" for refusing to repudiate the war in Iraq, we think he deserves some covering fire. The word for what he's demonstrating is character.

Presidential campaigns often have their defining media moments, for better or worse: Think of Teddy Kennedy's fumbling replies to Roger Mudd's Chappaquiddick questions in 1979, or George H. W. Bush shaking off the so-called wimp factor in his 1988 interview with Dan Rather. It's too soon to say if Mr. McCain's interview Sunday with Scott Pelley of CBS's "60 Minutes" will be equally defining. But it certainly illuminated the chasm that distinguishes Mr. McCain from the Beltway media that used to adore him.

The most revealing exchange came when Mr. Pelley, in all apparent seriousness, asked the Senator "at what point do you stop doing what you think is right and you start doing what the majority of the American people want?"

Answered Mr. McCain: "I disagree with what the majority of the American people want. I still believe the majority of the American people, when asked, say if you can show them a path to success . . . then they'll support it." Later Mr. Pelley observed that Mr. McCain was betting his entire campaign on the success of the current "surge" strategy in Baghdad. The Senator replied that he'd "rather lose a campaign than lose a war."

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The Tragedy Of Consistency
Ed Morrissey

I'm an avid reader of E.J. Dionne, not because I sometimes agree with what he writes, but because he writes one of the most reasoned liberal columns. Today, Dionne looks at what he sees as a tragic transformation of John McCain, and laments McCain's missed opportunity to tell truth to power: ...