February 11, 2008
San Francisco Congressman Lantos, RIP
Congressman Tom Lantos died this morning from esophageal cancer at the age of 80. He represented most of the Sunset, as well as a big chunk of San Mateo County. He was the only survivor of the Holocaust to be elected to Congress, and worked for years on human rights issues. That said, he ticked off quite a few people locally by supporting the Iraq war, although he had recently been pretty critical of the way things were going Over There. Before he died, he endorsed State Sen. Jackie Speier as his successor - no word yet on whether the Governator will decide to hold a special election (that would be our fourth of the year if he does) to replace him.
If you're leaving a comment about Rep. Lantos and how he lived, please respect the dead, ok?
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I suspect San Mateo and SFO will soon be taken over by Red Mango franchises.
Respect the dead?
I do, as in all the people he helped get killed in Iraq.
I know! A guy who survived the holocaust, fought against the Nazis, sponsored reapproachment with Libya, supported sanctions against Burma, got arrested protesting the genocide in Darfur, supported same-sex marriage and medical marijuana laws, and made the (right) choice to kick Iraq out of Kuwait?
Totally just a life-long ploy to get American soldiers and innocent Iraqis blown to hell.
I suppose this means the tunnel will definetly be named after him. I appreciated that he got himself arrested at the Save Darfur rally two years ago http://tinyurl.com/yus3n6 As for the rest, I am sure other people in other spaces will express the other side of my feelings about him.
Thank you, Tom, for all that you did.
The world is a little bit better, because of your tireless efforts and despite short-sighted detractors.
You represented the 12th district and your adopted country with honor.
Yeah voting for the Iraq war was a bad idea. But he did a lot in his career was that was very admirable.
He was a man in full.
What's this, SFist? Backdating blog entries? I could swear I didn't see this posted yesterday (the 11th), the day he actually died.
Damn, Fishy, between this and your comment over on the Walgreens black history month photo, I'm beginning to doubt your interpretive skills.