Posted on 04/07/2018 7:15:58 AM PDT by MarvinStinson
In a New York Times op-ed published Friday, a liberal journalist and film critic complained the new film Chappaquiddick was a "character assassination" of its central character, Democratic Senator Ted Kennedy.
"How ‘Chappaquiddick’ Distorts a Tragedy" wrote Neal Gabler, who is working on a biography of Kennedy.
Gabler complained the film, released in theaters Friday, has been "heavily promoted by conservative media outlets, and reviewers across the political spectrum have praised what they deem its damning but factual approach. Damning it is; factual it is not."
There actually was no "cover-up" of Kennedy's car accident that led to the death of an aide, he claims, adding that "no one but the most lunatic conspiracy theorists see this as anything but a tragic accident in which nothing much was covered up."
Chappaquiddick tells the story of a car accident that occurred on Chappaquiddick Island, Massachusetts in 1969. The accident was caused by Kennedy's negligence and resulted in the death of his passenger, Mary Jo Kopechne, who was trapped inside the vehicle. The screenwriters have said their efforts in making the film aren’t partisan and they aimed to tell the facts of the story.
Gabler doesn't actually point to any factual errors in the film (save for the fact that Joe Kennedy, confined to a wheelchair by a stroke, likely wouldn't be able to grunt one-word dialogue like he does in the film). Instead, his criticism is limited more to the depiction of Kennedy as a character.
"In this version, the Kennedy character leaves Kopechne to die as she gasps for air, and then, with the aid of his brothers’ old advisers, cooks up a scheme to salvage his presidential ambitions. A more callow, cunning, cowardly and self-interested yet moronic figure you couldn’t find," he wrote.
Gabler claimed Kennedy actually felt "deep remorse and responsibility," and eventually grew to be "an indispensable legislator whose achievements included the 18-year-old vote, the Americans With Disabilities Act and the Children’s Health Insurance Program."
"It is very possible that over time, through the osmosis of social media, the despicable Kennedy of this movie will eradicate the honorable if flawed real one," Gabler wrote.
He was likely psychopathic. I'm not a psychiatrist and don't play one on TV.
On thing was beyond dispute since, at least the 1960's when Kennedy became a nightmare for any American with an IQ above room temperature...Kennedy was a 24/7 fat drunken blob.
Is it possible to assassinate a person’s character who has none?
5.56mm
Character assassination? How can you kill something that never existed? The more we learn about the Kennedy clan, the more we see what a despicable bunch they were and are. If the media reported what really happened and not the Camelot Myth, the entire Kennedy Clan would be held in total contempt.
I also like the line "Moses didn't leave a dead girl at the bottom of the Red Sea"
Seems to me the audio was hard to hear when they first ran the advert, now it seems much louder and clearer.
Good.
“Gabler claimed Kennedy actually felt “deep remorse”
Well, he did name his dog, “Splash”. Doesn’t sound like any kind of remorse to me. Sounds like an inside joke, and rubbing salt in the wound.
Typical libs...they can’t handle the truth.
Pretty rich coming from a newspaper that shreds the current POTUS on a daily basis. Teddy was dispicable POS who used national guilt to force through bills that have brought the country to the brink including chain migration.
One cannot character assassinate a turd.
“Kennedy actually felt “deep remorse and responsibility,” and eventually grew to be “an indispensable legislator whose achievements included the 18-year-old vote, the Americans With Disabilities Act and the Children’s Health Insurance Program.”
uh, yeah, that makes deliberately sacrificing the life of a young woman all better ...
“A more callow, cunning, cowardly and self-interested yet moronic figure you couldn’t find,”
Yep.
Character Assassination’ of Ted Kennedy
Well ain’t that just a bitch.
Did they show something in the movie that wasn’t true?
I doubt it.
Back in the day, my cousin was a Massachusetts State Trooper.
One night he pulled over and arrested Ted’s wife, Joan for drunk driving. The Kennedys left her to sit in the drunk tank for the rest of the night when everyone knew that she could have been bailed out within minutes. He was disgusted!
The one and only thing that Ted Kennedy ever did that I give him credit for is, upon being drafted, he did his two years in the Army, emerging as a PFC. He rejected Joe Kennedy’s attempt to get him appointed to Annapolis.
NYT in historical denial...........!
As we have learned, all three of those “achievements” have caused unforeseen problems that we now have to mend.
He “achieved” NOTHING. What a waste of a life.
I remember one of my Dad’s friends saying, “For God so hated the Kennedys...he left them Teddy.”
[[ Chappaquiddick Film Is ‘Character Assassination’ of Ted Kennedy]]
Ted Kennedy was the ‘body assassination of mary joe’
That reminds me. I have to call the police about that car and the girl I left at the bottom of the water off the Verrazano last Thursday. It’s only a couple days. Shouldn’t be at Biggy. /s
Proof positive that arguing with Liberals is a complete waste of breath.
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