Rush to Judgement

Dear Indigna,

Isn't it just awful how John Edwards is choosing to continue his presidential candidacy despite his wife's recurrence of cancer? I'm with Rush Limbaugh and Chris Matthews and other decent Americans: these folks are "announcing" her "cancer recurrence" just to see how it plays in the polls! They should be ashamed! Ought they not instead to leave the race and spend her remaining days weeping and rending their garments? And let some healthy Republican like John McCain win the race?

True Red Dittohead
Athol, MA

Dear Ditto,

I agree completely. This is why I am completely flummoxed by Tony Snow's insistence that he plans to "return to work" as soon as possible, despite his own metastatic recurrence of cancer. I'm even more discombobulated by the lack of a public outcry about Snow's intent. Don't these people know that when cancer recurs the public expects them to retire hopelessly to a monastic hospice far from our squeamish view, to languish and suffer and, eventually, who knows how many years or decades hence, perish in complete anonymity? Don't they know that their illness and the public's opinion about how it ought to be handled should dictate how they live their lives? Who are these people to decide what to do about their diagnosis without consulting the public? (Oh wait--isn't that what Rush's criticism just suggested they are doing?)