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Ask, Don't Tell (How the press covered for a drunken Ted Kennedy)
www.andrewsullivan.com ^ | 8/17/05 | Walter Kirn

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 ...


TOPICS: Editorial; Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: andrewsullivan; kennedy; lefisthypocrisy; leftistarrogance; leftistbias; leftistlies; media; mediabias; medialies; press; tedkennedy; thepress
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1 posted on 08/18/2005 7:13:29 PM PDT by CaptainK
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To: CaptainK
A liberal journalist states the obvious; that the press hides the flaws of their favorites.
2 posted on 08/18/2005 7:14:47 PM PDT by CaptainK
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To: CaptainK

"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.


3 posted on 08/18/2005 7:17:55 PM PDT by Prost1 (New AG, Berger is still free, copped a plea! I still get my news from FR!)
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To: CaptainK

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.


4 posted on 08/18/2005 7:19:55 PM PDT by Solamente
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To: CaptainK

"Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life, Ted" -- Joseph Kennedy


5 posted on 08/18/2005 7:21:31 PM PDT by expatpat
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To: CaptainK

Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Bushmills)


6 posted on 08/18/2005 7:21:48 PM PDT by Cecily
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To: Victoria Delsoul

Ted Kennedy ping.


7 posted on 08/18/2005 7:22:53 PM PDT by Alberta's Child (I ain't got a dime, but what I got is mine. I ain't rich, but Lord I'm free.)
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To: CaptainK

The drunkest human being you ever encountered? You need to camp with my group of retards.


8 posted on 08/18/2005 7:27:19 PM PDT by 359Henrie
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To: CaptainK

The press has spent 3/4 of a century providing cover for the Kennedy Klan.


9 posted on 08/18/2005 7:30:29 PM PDT by digger48
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To: Cecily

Senior Dirigible from the State of Inebriation


10 posted on 08/18/2005 7:30:43 PM PDT by PzLdr ("The Emperor is not as forgiving as I am" - Darth Vader)
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To: Solamente

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.


11 posted on 08/18/2005 7:31:24 PM PDT by CyberAnt (America has the greatest military on the face of the earth.)
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To: Alberta's Child
LOL


12 posted on 08/18/2005 7:32:58 PM PDT by Victoria Delsoul
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To: CaptainK

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!


13 posted on 08/18/2005 7:33:26 PM PDT by Lewite (Praise YAHWEH and Proclaim His Wonderful Name, His Son Yahshua Messiah is coming soon!)
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To: Prost1
He never claimed to be a "drunk", only that he enjoyed drinking and his wife objected.

I've heard W say he never would have been president unless he stopped drinking.
14 posted on 08/18/2005 7:35:44 PM PDT by Vision (When Hillary Says She's Going To Put The Military On Our Borders...She Becomes Our Next President)
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To: CaptainK
They reserve their best stories for one another, publishing them only when they have to and feeling very nervous when they do, because it might screw up the Great Arrangement. And afterwards, once the secrets are on the street, it often comes out that they were common knowledge among the people whose jobs it was to tell them.

A good observation.

15 posted on 08/18/2005 7:36:57 PM PDT by razorback-bert
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To: CyberAnt
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.

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..........

16 posted on 08/18/2005 7:39:56 PM PDT by eeriegeno
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To: CaptainK

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.


17 posted on 08/18/2005 7:44:55 PM PDT by Peach (The Clintons pardoned more terrorists than they ever captured or killed.)
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To: Peach

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.


18 posted on 08/18/2005 7:49:09 PM PDT by CaptainK
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To: CaptainK

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.


19 posted on 08/18/2005 7:50:49 PM PDT by Peach (The Clintons pardoned more terrorists than they ever captured or killed.)
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To: CaptainK

I never knew Ted Kennedy drank until one day I saw him sober.


20 posted on 08/18/2005 7:52:09 PM PDT by IronJack
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