The news about Senator Ted Kennedy's brain tumor is, as West Virginia Senator Robert Byrd put it, heartbreaking. The Senate, and the country, have benefited greatly from Kennedy's years in office. And service like his will be desperately needed in the future, regardless of who is elected president in November, and regardless of which party controls Congress.

The news left senators in both parties in tears. And both conservatives and liberals were heaping praise on Kennedy. John McCain called him the Senate's "single most effective member."

"We just don't feel like going on," The Washington Post quotes New York's Chuck Schumer as saying. "He is the center of the Senate, the heart, mind, and soul."

Despite his personal problems, and despite the tragedies that have repeatedly struck his family, Kennedy has been an exceptional statesman, willing to listen and willing to work with opponents in the Senate. And it is telling that while the Republican Party takes delight in hurling the words "Massachusetts liberal" as if they are swear words, Republican senators are grieving along with their Democratic colleagues.