According to a statement we just got from the Bob Schaffer Senate campaign, he’ll be leaving the campaign trail for the next couple of weeks while he attends to his wife, who was diagnosed with a benign tumor requiring surgery. Release follows.
For Immediate Release:
August 21, 2008Contact: Dick Wadhams
Kelly Brady
720-377-1600STATEMENT BY BOB AND MAUREEN SCHAFFER
ENGLEWOOD – Bob and Maureen Schaffer released the following statement today:
Maureen was diagnosed in early June with a benign tumor on her auditory nerve that will require very sensitive surgery to remove. A full and complete recovery is expected.
On the advice of our Fort Collins neurosurgeon, Dr. Donn Turner, who initially diagnosed the tumor, the surgery will be conducted by Dr. Robert Spetzler of the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoeniz, Arizona. Dr. Spetzler is a nationally recognized expert on the removal of this particular type of tumor.
Bob will travel to Phoenix with Maureen on Tuesday, August 26 and the surgery will be done on Thursday, August 28. Bob will remain with Maureen during her recovery which is expected to be 7-14 days.
Our family appreciates the support and prayers of our many friends across Colorado, and we both look forward to returning to the campaign trail in September.
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I am glad they have health care… so they wont go bankrupt.
total and shameless attempt by Dickwad to garner some sympathy votes.
she will be fine… the tumor is benign.
than your hyper-partisan and ultra insensitive attack, Froward. Here’s what he said:
Congressman and U.S. Senate candidate Mark Udall released the following statement regarding Bob and Maureen Schaffer’s announcement that Maureen will undergo surgery for the removal of a benign tumor on her auditory nerve.
“Maggie and I will keep Bob, Maureen, and their family very close in our thoughts today. Our prayers will be with Maureen for a successful surgery and a speedy recovery.”
Tumors of any type are nothing to gloss over and certainly not the fodder for political attacks.
Leonard Pitts said it best:
“That’s the mentality you’re seeing here — politics as war — and it is not pretty. The thing is, there are truths above politics and one of them is that you do not laugh at the other guy’s tragedy. How estranged are you from your own humanity, how deficient was your home training, when you need to be reminded of that?”
Good God, man, get a grip.
He’s a better husband than Bill Clinton, too!
Seriously… if the Schaffer campaign hadn’t issued this statement, then we no doubt would have been hearing that he was “ducking out” on facing the voters. Every surgery has its risks. There are things more important than politics, Froward.
On that note, I would like to extend my condolences to the family and constituents of U.S. Representative Stephanie Tubb Jones (D-Ohio). 58 may seem old to some of you bloggers here, but it is still too young to go. I didn’t know much about her. But over time I’ve come to realize that most candidates and office holders are better than most of the people they represent. Rest in peace, Congresswoman.
Chelsea never created a website with such statements as “Slavery Gets Shit Done” or made some of the offensive comments about Barack Obama or anyone else for that matter. (And she had good cause given some of the crap your wing nuts shelled out at her when she was a teenager.)
She turned out to be an intelligent, attractive, responsible and dignified young woman. Not an obnoxious, spoiled brat like Justin Schaffer did.
Oh pleeze!
Bill carries on a sexual affair with an intern, then lies — under oath — about it. This was not his personal business. Who else in this country could have carried on with a company subordinate, in a company facility, on company time and get to keep his job?
What kind of message did that send to Chelsea about the sanctity of marriage and how women should be regarded? Bill wasn’t much as husband, or dad, material.
Justin Scaffer may, or may not, be an obnoxious, spoiled brat (I don’t know him), but kids do not always turn out the way they were raised. But Bill Clinton’s lack of morals was his own doing… something he loathed to face up to.
Has Chelsea been accused of violating her marital vows or engaging in activities that amount to sexual harassment.
He did an excellent job raising his daughter. Unfortunately, his own personal behavior leaves a good deal to be desired.
To the best of my knowledge, Chelsea has done neither. Like I wrote before, kids do not always turn out like their parents (in this case, Bill) raised them.
The message her father sent out was that fidelity in marriage is optional, it’s okay to take sexual advantage of a younger woman, and (even if you are a lawyer) it’s no big deal to lie under oath.
Bill did a lousy job raising his daughter. Thank goodness she had her mom around. Hillary deserves the credit.
You better be careful or Rush, Delay and Coulter are going to vote to kick you out of the club!
I consider myself a Republican first, a conservative second.
even a bit sympathetic… Then I thought of how My father was treated by neo-cons once he was determined to be TERMINAL. (Chained to a Hospice bed when he expressed he wanted to end it all before he ran up a long term care bill he knew I would be forced into paying for years.) they then tried to have me removed as is conservator for trying to stand up for him. then searched me for suggesting marijuana could be better for him than the ten drugs they were forcing down his throat. tried to have me arrested when I admitted I voted to legalize marijuana in Denver.
this is why I am a Democrat now
I became enraged when I saw that this has been known since JUNE and released now.
She will be fine. she is in no pain…
it is a puff piece Dickwad put out for sympathy!!!
I still remember the Glee at freerepublic.com when Kennedy was diagnosed.
or the accusations of sympathy, from rush and others over Elizabeth Edwards diagnosis.
I had a difficult time smiling and painting a sympathetic face.
that you’re such a miserable person.
There is no excuse for that kind of behavior, let alone repeating it.
So because you have had hard times in the past you think it is okay to attack others. Maybe more would be sympathetic to you, if you weren’t such a hateful person. You attack Maureen Schaffer when she had nothing to do with your problems. Grow up!
in this forum for comments like those.
A discussion about how the schaffers can afford to get sick, whilst most of the rest of America Cannot?
Not today.
“Whilst”? Give me a break, you freak.
First of all, I am truly sorry for what your father went through. Personally, I favor physician assisted suicide for the terminally ill, if the doctor who deems the patient is fit to make such a decision, isn’t the one carrying it out.
I’m not sure how hospital, or hospice, personnel became neo-cons. I seriously doubt politics had anything to do with their actions. It was probably more related to legal liabilities. We are such a litigious society.
I am not medically qualified to tell you whether Maureen Schaffer is in pain or not. I can assure you that, after surgery, she may very well be for a while.
I honestly do not believe anyone — the Schaffers or otherwise — can afford to be sick. Money isn’t the only part of the equation when illness or injury strikes. Sometimes, it is the least important.
While I do recognize that many Americans do not have health insurance, I do not think I would characterize it as “most of the rest of America.”
Shame on you.
On RedState, when Kennedy’s tumor was announced, there were many prayers and good thoughts for him.
Associating a proven and tragic douchebag like Edwards with Schaffer in a headline because both of their wives have cancer is seemingly low for you guys.
Why not just wish him well, or just not say anything if you can’t be snarky about it?
I spent a while just trying to figure out what Edwards had to do with it, figuring
Dick Wadhamssome bonehead at Schaffer HQ couldn’t resist the dig. Instead it’s a nice, factual press release which some people apparently couldn’t resist “spicing up”…Here’s to the good health of Maureen Schaffer; I wish her well in her surgery and recovery.
I’m sure that the ovewhelming majority of posters here wish the Schaffer family all the best and the best possible outcome for Maureen Schaffer. I’m sure most of us will also want to apologize to the Schaffer family, friends and political supporters on behalf of our embittered poster. Whatever we and our loved ones suffer, lets hope we can all maintain our humanity and empathy for others.
I would imagine most people agree with the headline in a truly earnest fashion. If anything its going out of its way to take a hit at Edwards.
the Schaffer family. Best wishes for a speedy recovery to Ms. Schaffer.
This is horrible for any family to go through no matter how good the pronosis.
Best to all of the Schaffers.
be participating in the Club 20 debates on Sept. 6? Was just going to purchase my tickets for that Saturday evening debate. Guess I’ll hold off. Of course, ticket prices go up after today. What to do?
Club 20 is as close to a command performance as it gets. With surgery Aug. 28 and recovery put at 7-14 days, it would appear to depend on how she does. Unless she is really in bad shape, if I were Bob I might kiss off everything else but I’d try very hard to do Club 20.
He contacted the Schaffer camp and called me back saying Shaffer plans to be at the debate. And tickets will not go up after today. Good news.
but my heart goes out to his wife, him, and their family. Cancer is a terrible disease. Both my wife’s grandparents are survivors, and even a benign tumor can be terrifying. I wish Maureen a speedy recovery.
My niece went through this. Benign tumor is more or less an oxymoron when a slip of the surgeon’s knife can leave you blinded. My niece made it and hope Maureen does as well.
Bob’s comment notwithstanding, I am very glad it is a benign tumor. Surgery is bad, but chemo and radiation is hell.
Thank goodness she’s being spared from that.
There. Never let it be said that O.Q.D. couldn’t find something nice to say about Sweatshop.
This is actually the second nice thing I’ve said about B.S. I also commended him for following through with his term-limits pledge when others, like Tancredo, reneged.
Emphasizing that he had the affair while Elizabeth was in remission, as if that somehow makes it better. For one thing , being in remission doesn’t mean being home free. It doesn’t mean no longer needing all of a spouses devotion and support. For another, so what?
As a former Edwards supporter I’d like to say those who called him too slick by half were right. We were wrong to be so quick to dismiss the over the top ostentatious mansion and lengthy grooming video as signs this warrior for the poor might be a little less than sincere. Sure lots of people and especially politicians are unfaithful. Many good to great Presidents were. But the fact that Edwards thinks it makes him look better if he says his wife was in remission makes him clearly scum in my book.
And I know I respect you and your honesty.
and being so overcome with regret and a genuine desire to come clean that he did so right when he thought it would get the least media attention.
That was the lawyer in him trying to lessen his moral culpability but fudging the time line of when it occurred.
I hope the surgery goes well, and that the family is comforted in this time of considerable stress
An election and cancer? I just got married and I thought that was stressful.
When we find out who Schaffer is having sex with, we’ll be able to have a fairer comparison.
Edwards also dropped out of the public eye to care for his wife.
Edwards dropped out of the public eye to fuck his mistress.
And that has nothing to do with Mrs. Schaffer.
Honestly, you are the worst example of someone who revels in their anonymity because it gives them the chance to say horrible things.
a lot of the above angst could have been avoided, had Colorado Pols come up with a better heading for the Schaffer campaign press release than:
Schaffer A Better Husband Than John Edwards
I’m not sure it was appropriate considering the seriousness of the actual press release.
And your mock outrage at everything is getting silly.
It’s not ad hominem. I’m directly insulting you because you deserve it.
They have dictionaries for that.
I’m not making an ad hominem attack. I’m directly calling you a shithead for being so awful about someone’s wife having a tumor. And I’m done talking to you, tool.
LB’s outrage wasn’t mock…nor was mine at your wholly uncalled for sneering.
and full recovery for Maureen. My thoughts are with the family.
Something about that’s personal, this is business? (Movie buffs can get this right for me.)
No matter what our party or our politics, we need not relish opponent’s bad fortune.
I think Bob is a scumbag. Nevertheless, I hope his wife well. Just like I hope Elizabeth Edwards well, or my father….
They are two separate matters.