Happy Belated Birthday Chappaquiddick

I do think he would have ended up in jail for that little caper, if he wasn't a Kennedy.

I can also confidently say that the voters in Massachusetts have gotten the political leaders they deserve.
 
ravdin said:
I do think he would have ended up in jail for that little caper, if he wasn't a Kennedy.

I can also confidently say that the voters in Massachusetts have gotten the political leaders they deserve.
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Agree with both these points
 
I've always wondered how people could continue to elect him after that.
A man gets in an accident that causes the death of someone. Doesn't report it for hours and uses his political clout to avoid real prosecution and people still vote for him.
I am sure there were other viable candidates who hold the same political views as him who could have been elected.

Why didn't he step up and resign like a honorable human being.
 
Bob Blaylock said:
Mary Jo Kopechne should be revered as a national hero, who gave her life to insure that Ted Kennedy would never be President.
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Two words: Roger Mudd. For those who don't remember, Ted Kennedy ran against Jimmy Carter in 1980, and looked like he might upend the peanut farmer. Then Kennedy did an interview with Mudd (on 60 Minutes IIRC). Roger grilled Teddy about Chappaquiddick, and before it was over Kennedy was shaking, sweating and stammering. Classic TV moment.
 
I must say... this is one of those scandals that, after I read about it, could NOT understand how he maintained a political career.
 
Magnifico2.0 said:
I must say... this is one of those scandals that, after I read about it, could NOT understand how he maintained a political career.
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Massachusetts is one of those states where the old gag doesn't apply: A Democrat can't lose there even if he was caught in bed with a dead girl or a live boy.
 
Brainster said:
Massachusetts is one of those states where the old gag doesn't apply: A Democrat can't lose there even if he was caught in bed with a dead girl or a live boy.
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Then how did Mitt Romney win that race for Governor? He was running against a democrat.

Were there goats involved? Shemp lives in NH, not Mass, so please help me here. I are officially confused. :p
 
Darth Rotor said:
Then how did Mitt Romney win that race for Governor? He was running against a democrat.

Were there goats involved? Shemp lives in NH, not Mass, so please help me here. I are officially confused. :p
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Mitt Romney ran as a "Rockefeller", or "Saltonstall", Republican. That is, he ran as a Republican that pandered to left wing causes.

The Rockefeller Republican was often supported somewhat by the state for gubernatorial races because their presence would make the Republican party more prone to left wing ideals.
 
Tricky said:
On August 9th, it will mark 35 years since Richard Nixon resigned the presidency. His flouting of the law, which would have landed most people in prison, and indeed did result in prison for many of his subordinates, was pardoned even before charges could be brought.

Is this relevant? Just as relevant as the Ted Kennedy story.
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Oh, and let's not forget the young Laura Bush running a red light and killing someone (and getting away with it) many a year ago (1963).

More wacky instances of politicians who have skeletons or horrible experiences in their past could be brought up, but as Tricky points out, the relevance is in the eye of the partisan hack fanatic.
 
So why bring them up at all?

Funny how the people who want to agree with my position that this equivication / hypocrisy game is silly, can't seem to do so without first throwing a "Republican" example into the mix.

Kind of lessens the impact... More like "Oh, I condemn equivication, but first let me do my own equivicating."
 
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Kennedy used the power of wealth and position to cover up this scandal to the degree that it could have been.

I don't think any of the Democratic Party leaning people that take part in this forum would disagree with that. Republican politicians aren't the only politicians that get drunk and have mistresses. Ted Kennedy provides ample evidence for that.

That wealth and power are helpful in avoiding the full punishment for one's crimes isn't exactly news. Nor is the fact that the foibles of a powerful individual will be dredged up for partisan purposes year after year long after the vast majority of the population has lost interest.
 
davefoc said:
Kennedy used the power of wealth and position to cover up this scandal to the degree that it could have been.

I don't think any of the Democratic Party leaning people that take part in this forum would disagree with that. Republican politicians aren't the only politicians that get drunk and have mistresses. Ted Kennedy provides ample evidence for that.

That wealth and power are helpful in avoiding the full punishment for one's crimes isn't exactly news. Nor is the fact that the foibles of a powerful individual will be dredged up for partisan purposes year after year long after the vast majority of the population has lost interest.
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What made me so disgusted by it is that I know someone in MA. who had his life ruined by vehicular homicide charges while Ted Kennedy was revered in the senate by much of Massachusetts.
 
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