Chappaquiddick Revisited: On the 51rst anniversary of Chappaquiddick

news ^ | July 31, 2009 | R. P. George & D. Quinn

[billorites]

Seems like only yesterday.

[abb]

He was drunk as a Lord. That’s why the delay in reporting the crime. Teddy had to be sobered up.

[rktman]

Are they selling MJK signature series neck braces? Revell models of maroon Oldsmobiles?

[billorites]

You have to be of a certain age to understand the references in this parody ad.

[Rummyfan]

Having managed the immediate legal issues, the legendary Kennedy machinery went to work on managing the political problem created by the senator’s shocking behavior. On the evening of his sentencing, one week after Miss Kopechne had died in his car, Kennedy read a prepared statement that was broadcast on network television. The statement was a masterwork of spin — telling parts of the story (in the least unfavorable light possible, of course); leaving out the more inculpatory parts; and vacillating between abject apology and excuse making. The most risible part was when he suggested that his conduct was accounted for by a cerebral concussion and shock, while insisting that, of course, he wouldn’t dream of using his medical condition as an excuse.

He asked the people of Massachusetts whether they wanted him to resign. “Think this through with me,” he said. “In facing this decision, I seek your advice and opinion. In making it I seek your prayers.”

Any man with any sense of morality would have taken responsibility for his actions that night, accepted his punishment, and retired from public life to quietly do good works. But not Ted Kennedy, whom the people of Massachusetts saw fit to return to The Senate ... until his death. Giving him the opportunity to do as much damage to the country as he could. The old drunk can rot in hell AFAIC.

[PfromHoGro]

The recent movie is worth a view.

[Rummyfan]

A week later, Kennedy pleaded guilty to the comparatively minor charge of leaving the scene of an accident after causing injury. Astonishingly, the local Massachusetts judge, a man named James Boyle, gave Kennedy only the statutory minimum punishment — two months of jail time — which he immediately suspended. In explaining his leniency, Judge Boyle pointed to what he described as Kennedy’s “unblemished record.” One supposes that for the judge, it was a bit like having Mother Teresa in the dock.

No, I'm quite sure the judge was very handsomely rewarded, either financially or professionally, or both.

One of the other young women at the party that night, Esther Newberg later became ...

The New York Post called her "one of the most powerful agents in the literary world."[5]

Was her silence bought with professional advancement?!

[blueunicorn6]

John was Captain of PT 109 and got run over by a Japanese destroyer when he fell asleep on duty.

Teddy, not to be outdone by his brother, bravely and drunkenly took command of Oldsmobile 88 and promptly sank it.

[Gay State Conservative]

I have the Kennedy Clan at 2 killed,1 raped,1 molested and 1 crippled in “The War Against Women (And Girls)”.

[KosmicKitty]

Wasn’t that in National Lampoon magazine? I used to have a huge collation but my basement flooded and I lost them all. Lost my Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers and Fat Freddie’s Cat comic books too.

[Nateman]

I think he got her pregnant and deliberately killed her.

[rktman]

Yes it was.

[KosmicKitty]

A man with any morals wold have gotten her out of the car before she died.

[lizma2]

Mary jo was alive when he left the seen of the accident.

Kopechne’s body the morning after the crash was in a position that suggested she had remained alive for an unknown period of time after the car went underwater. Her face was pressed into the footwell, and her hands gripped the back of the front seat, as if she had been trying to push her head into a pocket of air.

Not the first rat to put his power and position more important than a human life .

[Nateman]

My mom threw away all my Heavy Metal magazines after I joined the Navy, along with National lampoon!

[KosmicKitty]

That was my mother’s theory, She always said that was why there was no autopsy.

[M Kehoe]

Hi.

Let’s look at this from a positive perspective. Teddy has now been sober for 12 years.

5.56mm

[rlmorel]

I thought it was pretty good. I have read the book “Senatorial Privilege” twice, and I thought it was reasonable.

He was scum. Bottom sucking scum.

[elcid1970]

Senatorial Privilege was published in 1988 yet rereading it never gets old. Enduring truths have that quality.

[KosmicKitty]

Dude, First rule, leave the important stuff with a buddy.

Or have a mom like me who still has son #2’s 1991 T-bird parked in my driveway where he left it after he blew the engine at least 15 years ago.