Asleep at the Wheel: Credulous 'Today' Curiously Incurious About Kennedy Drinking

Today Show/NewsBusters ^ | Mark Finkelstein

[NonValueAdded]

No time to look for the link right now but essentially it is a moniker Howie Carr, the Boston radio personality, coined for Ted's son based on the 60's (or was it 70's?) song about "Patches, my son, you have to carry on the family tradition." Patrick Kennedy can answer with a resounding Mission Accomplished.

A request to the photoshoppers out there ... with all the great graphics showing Ted and Patches in a car, etc., don't forget to add a windmill in the background. It's the little details that mean so much :)

[Eroteme]

Naming the sleep medication was, imho, a deliberate strategy. Plant the name Ambien and let the press jump all over the connection to the recent "sleep-driving" allegations and let the media craft the cover--which of course, they dutifully did.

If Lunesta had been the sleeping pill linked to sleep driving, he would have named Lunesta. Sonata? Yep, took that. Hell, if it were corned beef that had been linked to "sleep-driving", we would have learned he'd had seven Reubens at the Hawk& Dove. I don't think there was any Ambien. At least not that night.

[Eroteme]

Culture of Cover-up
Culture of Cowardice

[nuconvert]

"Naming the sleep medication was, imho, a deliberate strategy."

Sure it was.
Then Ted remembered he had stock in pharmaceutical companies and told his son to shut up. ;~ )

[sayfer bullets]

[EricT.]

Limbaugh is guilty of using drugs illicitly. Kennedy is guilty of the same. Birds of a feather? Or is Kennedy to be held to a different standard of addiction?

Limbaugh broke no laws. Kennedy did.

[Sacajaweau]

If he didn't remember getting out of bed and anything after that, then he doesn't remember going to a bar. I'm still betting he had a passenger in the car.

It's 3:00 AM...What time do the bars close in DC?? Where's the surveillance tape and not just from the bar? There's all kinds of surveillance in this area.

[bray]

The Stone-age Press still lives in Camalot! Remember how they treated Chaney in the shooting incident and 1 beer?

Pray for W and Our Freedom Fighters

[jws3sticks]

It was a good thing that he was not driving on a bridge over water with a young lady beside him. It could have been much worse. Then, he'd really be following in his uncle's foot steps.

The cops that did not adminster a "breathalizer" should be forced to surrender their guns and badges, IMHO.

[Eroteme]

IIRC Bars close at 2 weekdays, 3 weekends.

Yes, there would be surveillance cameras trained on the area where the incident occured...and just about everywhere leading up to it. Maybe cruiser cameras too.

[governsleastgovernsbest]

The police officers at the scene reportedly DID want to administer sobriety tests, but their supervisors arrived and ordered them away. There are reports that one of the supervisors involved has been "reassigned."

[Glenn]

Limbaugh broke no laws.

Of course he did. You just choose to justify it in his case because he is a conservative. Double standard.

[bray]

He should have gone to jail just like the rest of us. Now he has conveniently entered rehab where he can hide from questions, not that there would be any.

As for political fallout, he will just have to drive off that bridge when he gets there.

Pray for W and Our Freedom Fighters

[LachlanMinnesota]

That has not been proven or admitted.

[Starboard]

"That struggle came to a head this week in a bizarre traffic accident on Capitol Hill."

This lends the impression that the accident was due to some freakish combination of unusual factors. This is totally misleading. This checkpoint is located at a wide open intersection and is probably the easiest one to negotiate on the Hill. Kennedy's office is in the building right next to this so there's no question he's been through it countless times before. The only thing "bizarre" about this accident is Kennedy's conflicting explanations.

[Starboard]

When Kennedy pushes back drinks with his drugs, and then gets behind the wheel of a car, he is called "courageous" for admitting his "problem."

You nailed it.

[MinuteGal]

From Patches Kennedy's own congressional website:

"Recognized as a national leader in mental health, Kennedy has received numerous awards for his advocacy on behalf of the mentally ill. Among many other honors in this area, Kennedy received the Paul Wellstone Mental Health Award in 2003."

You just can't make up stuff like this.

Leni

[brazzaville]

Good morning.
"Double standard."

As someone wrote earlier, Rush Limbaugh doesn't get to have a vote on the laws that govern our lives.

Someone else commented that there are no cases that we know of Rush almost hitting a police car and actually hitting a barricade at 0247 hours, all not too many months after doing something similar elsewhere.

The same media that howled for Limbaugh's head, and his medical records, is simply being sympathetic to Patches.

Now thats a double standard to worry about.

Michael Frazier

[tillacum]

The show put on by patrick kennedy reminded me of a similar show put on by his father many years ago. patrick, after being caught by the police for driving without lights running into a barrier came before tv cameras and blamed the "accident" on perscription drugs. His father put on a similar tv show, while driving drunk, drove his car off a bridge with a girl beside him, he got out but left her in it to die. Acorns don't fall from the tree.

[JustaDumbBlonde]

"Do we have any idea approximately where he lives?"

The Smoking Gun website has a copy of the Traffic Accident Report which lists Patrick Kennedy's address as: 35 Independence Ave. S.E., #407.