Mitchell Gets Personal

PHILADELPHIA - Senator George Mitchell is usually a careful speaker when it comes to Ireland.

By virtue of his role as chief mediator in the talks that led to the historic Good Friday Agreement, Mitchell has to watch his words, lest he retroactively offend any of the parties he once negotiated with.

Indeed, he tells a wonderful story about his first day in charge of the talks when the late David Ervine, head of the Progressive Unionist Party, told him that every one in the room would travel 100 miles to be insulted, just so they could feel sorry for themselves.

Mitchell told that one at the American Ireland Fund luncheon in Philadelphia on Friday, which paid tribute to the 10th anniversary of the agreement. He was the guest of honor at the event which was attended by, among others, MSNBC personality and Hardball presenter Chris Matthews, who emceed the event.

Incidentally, Matthews hinted strongly that he would run for the Senate in 2010 from his home state of Pennsylvania, a sure case of fox turning gamekeeper.

Mitchell is a poster boy for discreet, a man so trusted that Major League Baseball, the International Olympic Committee, Northern Ireland advocates and Middle East peacemakers have all enlisted him at different times in their search for solutions to their problems.

On Friday, however, he was more open and forthcoming than I have ever heard him about the personal side of George Mitchell. He spoke very movingly about his father, George John, who was adopted soon after the family came over from Ireland, and he spoke about what it would mean to his own young family if there were long-term peace in Ireland.

Last August Mitchell, through his law firm, announced that he was suffering from prostate cancer. Perhaps grappling with that disease - which he seems to be doing successfully - has made him a little more open to discuss the hard times his family encountered after they came to America.

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Nster.com