Bob Dole

 

 

 If you thought anybody would beat death, it would have been Bob Dole.

Here's a small Wikipedia account of what Bob Dole went through as a twenty-two year old man in the last days of World War II.

"Dole was seriously wounded by a German shell that struck his upper back and right arm, shattering his collarbone and part of his spine. "I lay face down in the dirt," Dole said. "I could not see or move my arms. I thought they were missing." As Lee Sandlin describes, when fellow soldiers saw the extent of his injuries, they believed all they could do was "give him the largest dose of morphine they dared and write an 'M' for 'morphine' on his forehead in his own blood so that nobody else who found him would give him a second, fatal dose."

Dole was paralyzed from the neck down and transported to a military hospital near Kansas, expected to die. Suffering blood clots, a life-threatening infection and a fever of almost 109 degrees; after large doses of penicillin were not successful, he overcame the infection with the administration of streptomycin, which at the time was still an experimental drug."

If you want a fuller, complete account of Dole's wartime injuries, pick up the book What It Takes by Richard Ben Cramer. Dole out-lived Cramer by almost nine years.

Dole defeated prostate cancer too. Unfortunately, that victory made him unable to win the marital New Hampshire primary, if you catch my drift. He was given another "experimental drug": Viagra. 

He was known as a caustic politician. In addition, he was considered a hatchet man. However, today he would probably be considered the nicest man in Congress.

He was a funny, witty man. My favorite line of his:  "Jimmy Carter gave a fireside chat yesterday, and the fire fell asleep."

Despite his heroics and wit, Dole always seemed to be on the losing side.

Gerald Ford picked Dole to be on the ticket in 1976. Dole did okay until he called World War II a "Democrat war" in the Vice Presidential debate with Democratic vice-presidential candidate Walter Mondale, who he outlived.

He ran for President in 1980 and lost to Ronald Reagan.  He ran for President again in 1988 and lost to George H.W. Bush.  He ran for President in 1996 again and lost in the general election against Bill Clinton.

Dole was the last of "the greatest generation" to run for President. Clinton was the first Baby Boomer.  Dole really didn't have a chance due to a combination of a good economy, the advent of the internet, and the usual mainstream media drooling over a young Democrat. 

A new cast member of "Saturday Night Live," Norm McDonald, perfected his Bob Dole to include Dole's habit of referring to himself in the third person.  When Dole appeared on the program after the '96 election, he said, "I don't run around saying Bob Dole does this and Bob Dole does that. That's not something Bob Dole does."  Incidentally, Dole outlived McDonald too.

Dole was a tough old bird who loved his country and gave it everything he had. What a life!