Ted Kennedy's link to Wilkes-Barre

[XL600R]

Originally Posted by roxxy38

And I guess you were there to witness all of this. Just by your fatso comment I can tell how you came to your conclusions.

He might not of done the right thing but again you dont know what kind of shape he was in. Have you ever been in a car accident and hit your head? Have you ever had a concussion where you werent seeing clearly? Especially with the alcohol, it will make all that alot worse. I have hit my head and I didnt go to the emergency room and I can tell you one thing my recollections of the night were pretty hazy. Not everything is cut and dry.

And with this I will bow out of this discussion because some people are only one sided, not open minded. I believe in the benefit of the doubt.

You are right, I wasn't there. But given his propensity to consume alcohol, he was probably drunk. If you or I were to do the same thing, we would be criminally charged for Leaving the Scene of a Motor Vehicle Accident with a Fatality, which is a felony in New York, and most states. The mere fact that he was not charged (thanks Papa Joe) and that his family paid out $ to Mary Jo's family, leads me to believe that there was a great deal of negligence (at the minimum) on Teddy's part.

Here is a summary of Ted's life, as reported by Newsday and PARAPHRASED BY ME (no copyright violations!!):

1. He was caught cheating at Harvard when he attended it. He was expelled twice, once for cheating on a test, and once for paying a classmate to cheat for him.

2. While expelled, Kennedy enlisted in the Army, but mistakenly signed up for four years instead of two. (Oops! The man can't count to four!)

His father, Joseph P. Kennedy, former U.S. Ambassador to England (a step up from bootlegging liquor into the US from Canada during prohibition), pulled the necessary strings to have his enlistment shortened to two years, and to ensure that he served in Europe, not Korea , where a war was raging. No preferential treatment for him! (like he charged that President Bush received).


3. Kennedy was assigned to Paris , never advanced beyond the rank of Private, and returned to Harvard upon being discharged. Imagine a person of his "education" NEVER advancing past the rank of Private!


4. 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 miles per hour in a residential neighborhood with his headlights off after dark. Yet his Virginia driver's license was never revoked. Coincidentally, he passed the bar exam in 1959. Amazing!


5. In 1964, he was seriously injured in a plane crash, 2 others died, and he was 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 1980's when the report was unsealed.


6. 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 into Poucha Pond.


7. 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..



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 plead guilty to leaving the scene of an accident, and was given a
SUSPENDED SENTENCE OF TWO MONTHS. Kopechne's family received a small payout 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... a "token of friendship"?

8. Kennedy has held his Senate seat for more than forty years, but considering his longevity, his accomplishments seem scant. He authored or argued for legislation that ensured a variety of civil rights, increased the minimum wage in 1981, made access to health care easier for
the indigent, and funded Meals on Wheels for fixed-income seniors and is widely held as the "standard-bearer for liberalism". 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.


9. He drove his very beautiful wife Joan into alcoholism, depression and into looking way too old before her time with his constant womanizing, drinking and pressures to conform, aka as mental abuse. She had to enter a mental institution.

He is known around Washington as a public drunk, loud, boisterous and very disrespectful to ladies. JERK is a better description than "great American". "A blonde in every pond" is his motto. Let's not allow the spin doctors make this jerk a hero -- how quickly the American public forgets what his real legacy is. Let's keep this going for truth, justice and the American way!

[toobusytoday]

Closed for mod review and possible relocation of thread.