"Routine medical tests have revealed that I have cancer of the esophagus," he said in a prepared statement. "In view of this development and the treatment it will require, I will not seek re-election."
The timing of the diagnosis was a particular blow because Lantos had assumed his committee chairmanship just a year earlier, when Democrats retook control of Congress. He said then that in a sense his whole life had been a preparation for the job -- and it was.
"Throughout my adult life I have sought to be a voice for human rights, civil liberties and social justice ... I will never be able to express fully my profoundly felt gratitude to this great country," Lantos said of his time in Congress.
Lantos, who referred to himself as "an American by choice," was born to Jewish parents in Budapest, Hungary, and was 16 when
Adolf Hitler occupied Hungary in 1944. He survived by escaping twice from a forced labor camp and coming under the protection of Raoul Wallenberg, the Swedish diplomat who used his official status and visa-issuing powers to save thousands of Hungarian Jews.
Well I certainly had my fair share of disagreements with the man, and I hope he rests in peace. But you can't tell me he doesn't look like a great villain in a movie, or maybe a vampire. :) Does that make me an asshole? Or is it all the other things that do?
Travis
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