* Ted Kennedy is Dead and so is Mary Jo Kopechne

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Ted Kennedy is Dead and so is Mary Jo Kopechne

Exactly 40 years ago Senator Kennedy was guilty of murder in the death of Mary Jo Kopechne 28, but because of his money and political ties, he got away with it.
For those of you who are too young to remember, in the Summer of 1969, Kennedy, a married man, attended a bachelor party of men and women on the island of Chappaquiddick in Martha’s Vineyard. After drinking all day and into the night, Ted & Mary Jo left the party. Driving drunk, Kennedy crashed the car into the water. Like a good politician he saved himself but not Mary Jo who drowned inside the car.

Not bothering to go for help, heroic Ted said he “panicked”, swam across the bay and went to his apartment and called his lawyer. Ten hours later, they reported the crime to police. That was just enough time for the alcohol to leave his system, thereby leaving no evidence to prosecute tipsy Ted for felony murder. Felony murder occurs when a person breaks a law (drunk driving) and causes the death of another.

By way of political power and money, the Kennedy family quashed the criminal investigation, and Mary Jo’s death was ruled an accident. Then later Kennedy paid the Kopechne family a large sum of money not to file a civil lawsuit for negligent homicide. If that had been me or you, we would still be in prison.

I’m never happy to hear of anyone dying, even a destructive wasteful spender as Ted Kennedy. Let’s just say I’m relieved that the Mass. Voters can no longer elect this murderous Senator who for a half Century has worked to destroy my retirement savings and as the premier democratic liberal has helped bring this nation to a downfall both fiscally and morally. Ted exemplified the kind of political leader that no nation should ever have.

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Reginald Van Gleason

Submitted by SPQR on Thu, 08/27/2009 - 7:30am.

Jackie Gleason created a character called Reginald Van Gleason. Any one old enough to remember him might wonder if Ted K used him as a model for his behavior.

Teddy's gone!

Submitted by gordaway on Wed, 08/26/2009 - 9:20pm.

OK so Ted's dead, BFD. He's roasting in Hell as we speak. If only he had taken Pelosi, Frank, Waxman, Reid, Hoyer, Boxer, Miller and some other traitors with him. Mary Jo's free at last.

BTW - Byrd's warming up in the "On Death Circle" and KKK will karry his koffin.

"You can't fix stupid."

Luckovitch's cartoon missed by a mile

Submitted by mudcat on Thu, 08/27/2009 - 7:45am.

Ted sailing off into the sunset shows his idol worship of all things liberal. No surprise there.

A better cartoon would have been Teddy being greeted at the pearly gates by St. Peter and his intern - Mary Jo Kopechne. The AJC (which is also dying) would have spiked that for sure.

Senator Ted Kennedy

Submitted by Cyclist on Wed, 08/26/2009 - 7:17pm.

While certainly no fan of the Senator, I do acknowledge that he fiercely fought for what he saw was right and the ideas of his party. As such I say, rest in peace Senator Edward Moore "Ted" Kennedy.
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Caution - The Surgeon General has determined that constant blogging is an addiction that can cause a sedentary life style.

Ted Kennedy Was A Disgrace

Submitted by PTC Avenger on Wed, 08/26/2009 - 6:20pm.

As soon as his cancer was detected I noticed an immediate attempt at the “canonization” of Ted Kennedy by the mainstream media. They are saying what a “great American” he is. I say, let’s get a couple things clear and not twist the facts to change the real history.

Kennedy was caught cheating at Harvard. He was expelled twice, once for cheating on a test, and once for paying a classmate to cheat for him. While attending law school at the University of Virginia he was cited for reckless driving four times, including once when he was clocked driving 90 mph in a residential neighborhood with his headlights off after dark. Yet his Virginia driver’s license was never revoked. In 1964 he was seriously injured in a plane crash and hospitalized for several months. Test results done by the hospital at the time he was admitted had shown he was legally intoxicated. The results of those tests remained a “state secret” until in the 1980s when the report was unsealed.

On July 19, 1969, Kennedy attended a party on Chappaquiddick Island in Massachusetts . At about 11:00 PM, he borrowed his chauffeur’s keys to his Oldsmobile limousine and offered to give a ride home to Mary Jo Kopechne, a campaign worker. Leaving the island via an unlit bridge with no guard rail, Kennedy steered the car off the bridge, flipped, and sank into Poucha Pond. He swam to shore and walked back to the party, passing several houses and a fire station. Two friends then returned with him to the scene of the accident. According to their later testimony, they told him what he already knew – that he was required by law to immediately report the accident to the authorities. Instead, Kennedy made his way to his hotel, called his lawyer, and went to sleep. Kennedy called the police the next morning and by then the wreck had already been discovered. Before dying, Kopechne had scratched at the upholstered floor above her head in the upside-down car. Kopechne was able to stay alive for a while breathing from a bubble of air inside the car. The Kennedy family began “calling in favors,” ensuring that any inquiry would be contained. Her corpse was whisked out-of-state to her family before an autopsy could be conducted. Further details are uncertain, but after the accident Kennedy says he repeatedly dove under the water trying to rescue Kopechne and he didn’t call police because he was in a state of shock. It is widely assumed Kennedy was drunk, and he held off calling police in hopes that his family could fix the problem overnight. Since the accident, Kennedy’s “political enemies” have referred to him as the distinguished Senator from Chappaquiddick. He pled guilty to leaving the scene of an accident, and was given a SUSPENDED SENTENCE OF TWO MONTHS.

Kopechne’s family received a small pay out from the Kennedy’s insurance policy, and never sued. There was later an effort to have her body exhumed and autopsied, but her family successfully fought against this in court, and Kennedy’s family paid their attorney’s bills.

Kennedy's legislative efforts destroyed this country. In his very first Senate roll, he was the floor manager for the bill that turned U.S. immigration policy upside down and opened the floodgate for immigrants from third world countries. Since that time, he has been the prime instigator and author of every expansion of an increase in immigration, up to and including the latest attempt to grant amnesty to illegal aliens. Not to mention the pious grilling he gave the last two Supreme Court nominees, as if he was the standard bearer for the nation in matters of “what’s right." He sent buses full of minorities into communities to forcibly integrate them, then he'd turn around and go to Martha's Vineyard.

He was known around Washington as a drunk, loud, boisterous and very disrespectful to ladies. Let’s not allow the spin doctors to make this disgraceful drunk and whore of anti-American special interests a hero. It’s shameful that more people don’t know what his real legacy is. Don't bother scolding me with this idea of not being allowed to speak ill of the dead. I'm not glad he's dead, but the country is better off for it.

PTC Avenger wins Journalism Award

Submitted by The Shadow on Thu, 08/27/2009 - 7:28am.

For his factual expose' of saint Ted Kennedy on 8-26-09. Please read this award winning story of a disgraced politician who has helped ruin America.

PTC avenger you know your history well

Submitted by suggarfoot on Thu, 08/27/2009 - 7:04am.

The divers who brought up Mary Joe's body said she had an air pocket that lasted her about 3 hours! She must have died a terrifying death.

In the book Ted's 1st wife wrote, he played her for his bid for president in 1980. He conned her into campaigning for him by giving her and the world the impression they were reunited. The night he lost the bid, he told the press,her at his side, they were flying to Hyannisport together for a much needed rest. On the way, the private plane made an unscheduled stop, he got off and his girlfriend was waiting in a car on the tarmac. The wife was left to go on the Hyannasport alone. It is no wonder she was a drunk. I think he made her into one.

Telling it like it is with Ted

Submitted by NUK_1 on Wed, 08/26/2009 - 7:57pm.

He was a disgusting piece of work. Everyone can say this or that about his political career or whatever, but the fact is that Ted Kennedy was a man of ZERO character and would have been nothing but some refuse you scrape off the bottom of your shoe if he hadn't been born into the Kennedy clan. The same family that made a humongous fortune by bootlegging gin during Prohibition so that a slob of limited intellect like Teddy could have a long political career and maybe hitch his name as a co-sponsor to a few bills. Whoo-Hoo.

One of the biggest reasons for class envy in the USA is because of people like Ted Kennedy. He not only was born into riches and used/abused that to base his whole life upon since had nothing else going for him, but he felt so guilty about it that he wanted to make a political career out of it like he was some hero of the less fortunate. That's real easy to do when your family has a gazillion bucks from crime already safely stored away and the media worships you and your power extends like tentacles on an octopus.

Won't miss redneck Robert Byrd one bit either.

what can I say...he was definitely SCUM

Submitted by totellthetruth on Thu, 08/27/2009 - 7:12am.

you are right on. although scum on the bottom of a shoe was not quite harsh enough. Next time try scum on the rim of the toilet in a port-o-potty.
Scum on a used piece of toilet paper...need I offer more?

Remember the Kennedy nephew.? Smith?

Submitted by suggarfoot on Thu, 08/27/2009 - 7:46am.

He got off of the rape charge down in Floria. I watched that case on TV and I thought him guilty. Ted was with him when he picked the poor girl up.

Then there was another family member that beat a neighbor's daughter to death with a golf club. After years the family got it to court and the Kennedy relative in prison.

For some reason, it seems the whole clan doesn't do very well by women.

Kennedy was a public figure.

Submitted by cogitoergofay on Wed, 08/26/2009 - 6:23pm.

Kennedy was a public figure. He was a very privileged public figure. Even today, the Kennedy family obtains a tariff on every bottle of Scotch whiskey imported in to the United States (should you be curious as to how the Kennedy power and influence evolved).

Few people could be ejected from an Ivy League school for cheating and be readmitted and matriculate. Extraordinary luck I suppose.

Kennedy and tariff on Scotch whiskey

Submitted by suggarfoot on Thu, 08/27/2009 - 6:50am.

It's funny you brought that up because it was one of the 1st and biggest lies the Kennedys rolled out. The Kennedys played up the Irish thing because they were in Boston and catholic. They were what is called Scot Irish! This is a very different animal than than Irish. One of the original first families of Scotts to come into Antrim Ireland for resettlement with the Montgomerys was the Kennedys! That is documented history!

The Irish of Boston have been re electing them for years because they thought they were Irish. What a joke! All the fighting in Northern Ireland has been over the Scot Irish displacing the Irish! What a joke the Boston Irish never consulted their history books!

hey Sugah!

Submitted by totellthetruth on Thu, 08/27/2009 - 6:55am.

It is kind of like the buffoons in this county that keep electing the same group of village idiots.Don't cha think?
If people picked up a paper and actually read it they would find out what was happening in this county. Do you think anything would change?

Saul/Paul

Submitted by Davids mom on Wed, 08/26/2009 - 4:20pm.

Even after killing Christians, Saul became St. Paul. Judge not - lest ye be judged. This man was given time on earth to atone. May we all have that opportunity. I voted in Georgia thanks to men like Ted Kennedy - and for that I'm grateful.

Comparing Ted Kennedy to Jesus Apostles?

Submitted by Joe Kawfi on Wed, 08/26/2009 - 9:17pm.

Wow - now I've heard everything.

You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.
You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
You cannot lift the wage earner up by pulling the wage payer down.

Heard everything?

Submitted by Davids mom on Wed, 08/26/2009 - 9:25pm.

Try 'reading' the Bible - and find out who Saul was before he became a saint.

At least Saul repented.

Submitted by Joe Kawfi on Wed, 08/26/2009 - 9:28pm.

That's how he became Paul.

As I said....

Submitted by Davids mom on Wed, 08/26/2009 - 9:37pm.

This man was given time on earth to atone. May we all have that opportunity.

Even his Republican 'foes' in Congress respected him. . . but that's why they represent their constituents - and we just 'blog'.

You heard more

Submitted by carbonunit52 on Wed, 08/26/2009 - 9:22pm.

than I did Joe. Where was the comparison made?

It's not easy being the carbonunit

If Ted Were A Republican

Submitted by Git Real on Wed, 08/26/2009 - 9:15pm.

She wouldn't use the same above posting to describe Teddy.

Obama.... The Bernie Madoff Of Washington

You can...

Submitted by FayetteFlyer on Wed, 08/26/2009 - 4:12pm.

love him, hate him. Agree or disagree with him. Bottom line is he left his mark historically in this country and that's a lot more than any bunch of small town, local newspaper bloggers have or will do. Judge not lest ye too be judged.

Valid Points - personal discretion

Submitted by MacTheKnife on Wed, 08/26/2009 - 1:33pm.

I suppose like Michael Jackson, Teddy will be eulogized as a great man despite all of his short comings and anyone who talks about those faults and transgressions will be admonished.

While I personally like the idea of not saying anything at all (now that Ted is dead) I also feel it is the right of those who wish (especially the Kopechne family for instance) to talk about his past behaviors. Just because a person isn't here to defend himself doesn't give them absolution or sainthood. Accusations would be one thing - but historical facts are all together fair play. In my opinion, Kennedy did a few good things - like the voting rights act. Some would add that the MLK holiday as well was a good piece of legislation. He also did some pretty bad things. He was who he was. He did what he did. While I wish him luck in the hereafter, I also believe he "has some 'splainin to do".

Have at least some decency.

Submitted by tennfan1 on Wed, 08/26/2009 - 12:57pm.

Let the dead rest, they can't defend themselves.

I come to bury Ted Kennedy

Submitted by Missy-Sippy on Thu, 08/27/2009 - 8:12am.

Liberals, Conservatives, Patriots. I come to bury Ted Kennedy, not to praise him.

The evil that men do lives after them; any good that fools imagine is interred with their bones. So let it be with Ted.

Washington needs a ton of washing.

I think you summed it up

Submitted by suggarfoot on Thu, 08/27/2009 - 8:27am.

that fits perfectly

tennfan

Submitted by Bonkers on Wed, 08/26/2009 - 2:56pm.

Is "let the dead rest," something that applies just after a death, or does it go on until they come back to life?

I hear people crioticizing Hitler all of the time!
Even Reagan!

Is it for the "family" temporarily?

Stay in the shadows

Submitted by secret squirrel on Wed, 08/26/2009 - 12:37pm.

I'm no Kennedy fan but this is as ridiculous as it gets. Remember what your mother told you (or at least should have): if you can't say something without being classless, don't say anything at all.

Hey Squirrel

Submitted by PreciousStahr on Wed, 08/26/2009 - 9:08pm.

How much class does a drunken, Harvard test cheating, illegal whiskey money, woman chasing Ted Kennedy have who would leave a still alive woman in a car at the bottom of a bay clinging for life in an air bubble? NUTS TO YOU SQUIRREL!

Hey fellas

Submitted by Davids mom on Wed, 08/26/2009 - 9:15pm.

Let's don't revive the names of Ivy League, drunken, lying politicians (and those whose army records have mysteriously disappeared) in our country. There are enough on both sides of the aisle to go around!

Kennedy didn’t have to defend himself when alive

Submitted by The Shadow on Wed, 08/26/2009 - 4:57pm.

Ted bought his life and freedom with money and political power. I’m not hiding in the shadows, I’m shadowing wrong doing by defending a dead woman. My mama always told me to tell the truth. Mary Jo Kopechne never got any justice. I suppose the Squirrel & Tennfan would wait 10 hours to report a death. The truth always hurts. Mary Jo lived 28 years, Kennedy 77 years.

Just days before his death Kennedy was trying to change Mass. Law, so that their governor couldn’t appoint a conservative to replace Ted in the senate. Previously Kennedy got the law passed to allow a liberal governor to appoint a liberal senator. Kennedy was a public official, his life and work needs to be examined. Of course I’m not the only one, ABC News has also reported on Mary Jo’s death today.

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Ted Kennedy is Dead and so is Mary Jo Kopechne

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