Posted on 08/18/2005 7:13:29 PM PDT by CaptainK
Quick story. In the mid 1980s I went to a fancy Fifth Av. party for Senator Ted Kennedy. There were journalists there and lots of other bigwigs. The only time I'd seen Kennedy before was at a campaign stop in 1979 when he'd been seeking the Democratic presidential nomination. He might have won, but I realized at the party that it would have been a terrible thing because he was the drunkest human being I had ever encountered in my life, and chances were that it hadn't just started that night. Sure, he already had this reputation, but it was a vague reputation, all myth and gossip, while the intoxicated wreck in front of me was as vivid and specific as a car wreck. How many thousands of times, I wondered, had such behavior as I was witnessing been quietly countenanced by journalists, and how much other wild, scary stuff pertaining to other movers and shakers who had a shot at ruling the free world, say, had they deftly slipped into their back pockets in return for the right to attend such parties as this one?
I was a kid then, in my early twenties, and I couldn't answer that question. Now I'm older, I've seen more, and I can. A certain kind of job in journalism can only be kept if its holder, for the most part, refrains from doing it.
(Excerpt) Read more at andrewsullivan.com ...
"A liberal journalist states the obvious; that the press hides the flaws of their favorites."
And even went after G.W. for being a "drunk" in his youth.
He never claimed to be a "drunk", only that he enjoyed drinking and his wife objected.
He was given a pass as the sole surviving Kennedy brother. And to this day, such is the sickness in nearly half of people who vote.
"Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life, Ted" -- Joseph Kennedy
Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Bushmills)
Ted Kennedy ping.
The drunkest human being you ever encountered? You need to camp with my group of retards.
The press has spent 3/4 of a century providing cover for the Kennedy Klan.
Senior Dirigible from the State of Inebriation
I agree .. I don't think it was so much that they liked Ted, I think it was because they felt sorry for him, losing 2 of his brothers to assassins.
How about all the dope Teddie and his scum sucking brother JFK inhaled in mass quantities for their "bad backs"? You never hear much about this fact!
A good observation.
I disagree. The press loved the Kennedy clan. They even gave the clan the exalted name of Camelot, indicating that they could do no wrong? They did not feel sorry for him, as they should have, they agreed with his politics..........
And Andrew thinks this is interesting because?
The rest of us have long wondered why the press tried to make Bush into a drunken, drug taking dweeb but they never, ever mention Kennedy's out of control drunkeness.
I went to college in Boston and lived in CT for most of my adult life and it was like a dirty little secret about Ted.
Andrew didn't write this. He is on vacation and a man named Walter Kirn is writing the blogg this week. Kirn lives in Montana and was writing about journalists who live on the east coast having incestuous relationships with politicians.
Oh, thanks. I scrolled through the text/excerpt and saw so many swear words I backed out. I didn't think Andrew swore like that.
I never knew Ted Kennedy drank until one day I saw him sober.
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