Posted on 09/04/2009 1:18:13 AM PDT by BradtotheBone
Daily Newser Dave Saltonstall gets an advance copy of Ted Kennedy's posthumously-released memoir "True Compass" -- in which the Massachusetts senator used the platform to defend his inexplicable decision to abandon Mary Jo Kopechne after his car plunged off the bridge.
Among the other revelations: A nine-year-old Teddy hid under the bunk at a private school in the Bronx because he was afraid of being sexually abused by the dorm master -- and the senator claims he was cajoled into cheating on a Spanish test at Harvard by a buddy and didn't hatch the scheme that resulted in his expulsion.
Salty:
"That night on Chappaquiddick Island ended in a horrible tragedy that haunts me every day of my life," Kennedy wrote in "True Compass," his much anticipated memoir, published by Twelve. The new book does not go beyond Kennedy's original chronology, which he gave in a 1970 investigation. It's a timeline that begins with a house party hosted by former Robert F. Kennedy campaign staffers, and ends in the murky waters off Chappaquiddick's Dike Bridge.
But Kennedy does open up about his feelings over the night, and he tries to set straight what he calls enduring false speculation about him and Kopechne.
"We had no romantic relationship whatsoever," he wrote flatly. He insists they were getting weepy over RFK's assassination the year before, and both decided to leave the party.
Although he acknowledges some pre-dinner cocktails that night, Kennedy doesn't blame alcohol - just that he was lost on an unfamiliar part of the island.
Kennedy admits that he was not proud of the 10 hours it took him to report the accident - a period during which skeptics believe Kennedy worked feverishly to cover his tracks.
But he concludes that his brain was addled by concussion, exhaustion, shock and panic - as well as the knowledge that the accident would hurt him politically.
I’ll wait a week and pick it up for 99¢ in the remainder bin.
What a load of BS....... Sef-serving posthumous rewriting of history.
It must be good to be a Kennedy.
Whatever happened to the YTedK website? That was the handiest thing for all things Teddy K.
His brain was adled by more then alchol!
What a lying POS. He was more concerned about sobering up while Mary Jo Kopechne clawed at the floor of the car for 9 of those hours before she suffocated. There's no way he could NOT have heard her frantic movements as he walked away, leaving her to die.
This leaves everyone with half a brain to reach one conclusion, that her MURDERED her, possibly to cover up an attempted, or completed rape. It wasn't an accident at all.
The rest is typical of an alcoholic's denial that they have a drinking problem, a problem we have all seen over and over again when Ted Kennedy treated the American public to his occasional drunken, slurred rants on the senate floor.
There is no doubt at all that as the book of life was opened and read while drunken Ted- probably sober for the first time in his adult life- stood before God, all his lies and unrepentant sinning and blasphemy was revealed, and his soul was flicked into the burning lake of sulfer- the second death- to burn forevermore.
“Although he acknowledges some pre-dinner cocktails that night, Kennedy doesn’t blame alcohol - just that he was lost on an unfamiliar part of the island....Kennedy admits that he was not proud of the 10 hours it took him to report the accident - a period during which skeptics believe Kennedy worked feverishly to cover his tracks.”
One of the more outlandish theories about Chappaquiddick I’ve heard was put forth by Bill Kurtis (the guy who had those American Justice shows on A&E). He posited a scenario where Mary Jo could have been the actual driver, and that Kennedy might have been merely a passenger. I forget the rationale for this theory...not that it matters, cause I ain’t buying it.
My understanding of the party was that it involved a lot of alcohol and partying, and all the men were married, but none of the female campaign workers were. None of the men’s wives were present at the party. Draw your own conclusions.
“We had no romantic relationship whatsoever,”
..... I believe that. Kennedy was simply drunk and horny that night.
I also loved the bit about how he was “lured” into the cheating scheme at Harvard. Oh, please, what a pile of self-serving rationalization.
The man remained a moral coward to his last breath IMO.
Human Events took a picture at the time which showed the road he had to leave, by turning, in order to get onto the small lane leading to the bridge. The main road to the ferry clearly turned to the left. No sober person would have chosen to turn off the main road unless they had no intention of going to the ferry.
This man is a liar. He has been a liar his entire life.
Right, he was taking Maryjo to the beach for a midnight
shag. Ted, a Kennedy horndog in the family tradition.
Yeah right.
Teddy wasn’t drunk when he was responsible for Mary Jo’s death on Chappaquiddick, and I am tall dark and handsome and wear size 14 shoes.
Yeah... he was so haunted by this event that he joked about it over the years. (According to Joe Klein...)
Phone records at the motel where he stayed that weekend show 47 calls after he made it back to his room. (But no calls to the cops.) 47 calls to lawyers and pals like Joe Gargan, who admitted Teddy begged him to take the blame for the accident....Gargan refused. Six feet of water, and he couldn’t get her out. He spent his entire life giving in to panic. One mess after another. He never took responsibility for anything, and he never paid one dime to the IRS, either. But thanks to him, we do, and how.
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