THE TRUTH HITS CLOSE TO HOME---Can't Repubs say "Mary Jo Kopechne?"

NY POST ^ | 1/28/06 | EDITORIALS

[Liz]

THE ISSUE: Sen. Ted Kennedy's membership in Harvard's all-male Owl Club. Picking on the ponderous Sen. Ted Kennedy is like picking only the low-hanging fruit — it's too easy......

*** ....when he first ran for the Senate, Kennedy's opponent said, "If your name was Edward Moore, instead of Edward Moore Kennedy, your candidacy would be a joke"........ the joke has been on us. Paul Bloustein Cincinnati, Ohio

*** The person responsible (for Teddy's dog Splash's name) may well be Ted's old friend and occasional nemesis — John Barleycorn. James Ring Ossining

*** Now that he's become a leading anti-Republican attack dog, positioning himself as Washington's leading arbiter of truth and integrity..... It's time to say the name "Mary Jo Kopechne" out loud. Bill Morin Vernon, Conn.

[Jim Noble]

Really,why do the other senators let him get away with it?

The death of Mary Jo Kopechne was the result of a Capitol Hill Girlfriend Problem (CHGFP).

If there is one thing the princes of the Hill understand, it is the need for discretion in dealing with CHGFPs.

1) People who live in glass houses...

2) There but for the grace of God...

[veronica]

As I read the article at the link, it's far from definitive proof that anyone in the Alito family knew Mary Jo Kopechne.

[Deo volente]

It was posted yesterday, I believe.

But it WAS NOT Mrs. Alito who knew Mary Jo, it was some members of Judge Alito's family who knew her.

[Arrowhead1952]

Thanks Liz. Seems FReepers can find anything and everything when needed. (Almost broke my arm patting myself on the back)

I just remembered several threads on FR about this subject during the hearings and more this past week. I used Alito as the keyword to find the link I posted.

[texasbluebell]

Kennedy, more than anyone else, is responsible for -- changing our immigration laws in the 60's IIRC.

Exactly. Thanks a bunch, Ted.

"Senate floor manager and Camelot knight-errant Ted Kennedy, D-Massachusetts, assured jittery senators that "our cities will not be flooded with a million immigrants annually." "

The 1965 Immigration Act: Anatomy of a Disaster

[JimRed]

See tagline.

[mrsmel]

They've gotta get rat votes from somewhere,there are only so many viable dead people...

[WVNan]

This does not jive with Cong. BillieBob's version. I'm beginning to think this is urban legend.

[Supernatural]

Here's another one people forget about. When Ted Kennedy was in college, he was caught cheating. Seems that he paid someone to take a test for him and got caught.

[AlexW]

"Not all white trash is poor and lives in a trailer park."

The whole Kennedy family was nothing but white trash, going back to papa Joe, nothing but a lowlife rum runner, or should I say, Cutty Sark runner.
The people of Massachusetts should hang their heads in shame for letting this criminal get away with murder, as well as voting for toy-boy Kerry.

[skinkinthegrass]

THANKS :))

But it WAS NOT Mrs. Alito who knew Mary Jo, it was some members of Judge Alito's family who knew her.

after scanning the thread (post #99), that was clear...Freepers, are the Best...

[veronica]

It's sounds far-fetched. Might be destined for Snopes. :)

[nightdriver]

"Said the district attorney, “I feel sorry for him(Kennedy)."

How come this DA (and the judge) are not named?

Are they still alive?

[mjp]

---

Ted Kennedy's Driving Record - List of Traffic Offenses
- Ted Kennedy had a record of serious traffic violations. Their nature formed a pattern of deliberate and repeated negligent operation. Particularly bothersome was a June, 1958 conviction for "reckless driving."

- On March 14, 1958, Deputy Sheriff Thomas Whitten had been on routine highway patrol outside Charlottesville, Virginia, when an Oldsmobile convertible ran a red light, sped off, then cut its tail lights to elude pursuit. A license check revealed the car belonged to Edward M. Kennedy, a 26-year-old law student attending the University of Virginia. Kennedy had previously been fined $15 for speeding in March 1957.
- Whitten was on patrol at the same intersection a week later, he testified, "And here comes the same car. And to my surprise, he did exactly the same thing. He raced through the same red light, cut his lights when he got to the corner and made the right turn." Whitten gave chase. He found the car in a driveway, apparently unoccupied. Looking inside, he discovered the driver, Teddy Kennedy, stretched out on the front seat and hiding. Whitten issued a ticket for "reckless driving; racing with an officer to avoid arrest; and operating a motor vehicle without an operator's license (Mass. registration.)"
- Kennedy's attorneys were able to win numerous postponements, but eventually he was convicted on all charges and paid a $35 fine. Court officials never filed the mandatory notice of the case in the public docket, however, and Kennedy's name had not appeared on any arrest blotter. Instead, a local reporter discovered the case when he spotted 5 warrants in Kennedy's name in a court cash drawer.

- Three weeks after his trial, Ted Kennedy was caught speeding again, and still operating without a valid license.

- In December 1959, Kennedy was stopped again for running a red light and fined $10 and costs. In Whitten's view, "That boy had a heavy foot and a mental block against the color red. He was a careless, reckless driver who didn't seem to have any regard for speed limits or traffic ordinances."

---

- The offenses in Virginia had occurred on Ted Kennedy's Massachusetts driver's license, but mysteriously neither the Registry of Motor Vehicles nor the office of probation in Cambridge had any record of the out-of-state convictions. Had it been revealed at the inquest, the Senator's history of negligence and reckless driving would have been further evidence to support a charge of manslaughter in the Chappaquiddick accident.

~ Senatorial Privilege by Leo Damore
- Senator Kennedy's driver's license had expired on February 22, 1969 (nearly 5 months before the accident at Chappaquiddick) and had not been renewed.
- Although driving with an expired license was only a misdemeanor, it did provide the evidence of negligence needed to prove a manslaughter charge in the death of Mary Jo Kopechne.
- The license problem was "fixed" by officials at the Registry of Motor Vehicles, under the direction of Registrar Richard McLaughlin, before the legal proceedings began.

---

[texasbluebell]

Imagine what his lawyers and intimidation thugs did to that woman's poor and undeserving parents to silence them for all these years!

A year or 2 ago, on another TK thread, a freeper from MA posted to me that the parents took money not to pursue an investigation into MJ's death.

The freeper posted that the parents wound up with a new house, which they never could have afforded on their own, and that the rumor in Mass. is that the amount was anywhere between $60K and $100K -- (I've seen various figures for this).

I don't have a link, but that's what someone posted. Pretty sad that they accepted the money, but they were no doubt intimidated by the Kennedy name.

[texasbluebell]

"Senatorial Privilege: The Chappaquiddick Cover-Up - by Leo Damore"

Just ordered it, thanks for reminding me to do so!

[skimask]

How that blowhard gasbag can sleep at night is beyond me, no matter how much he drinks to cloud his memory.

[texasbluebell]

Just after telling it, I looked up, and there was Teddy's friend and host (the good Senator was there for the weekend), who had just walked in, scowling at my back. A bit embarrassing, but I couldn't feel too sorry about it, because if anybody deserved it, it was Teddy Kennedy.

Good for you! TK's "friends" must know what he is, and they should be reminded from time to time that others will never forget.

[texasbluebell]

Really,why do the other senators let him get away with it? I don't expect them to just attack him out of the blue,but when he sits in judgement on someone like Samuel Alito and brazenly,hypocritically attacks him for something of which drunKennedy is truly guilty,why do they keep still? It doesn't make sense.

The Senate is an old boys' club. They go along to get along, and if someone doesn't play by those rules, then he gets shunted off to the sidelines.