Edward Kennedy - Why is He Being Hailed as a Hero?

I have been watching the mainstream media glorifying Senator Edward Kennedy after his passing last week from brain cancer. Most certainly, I sympathize with a family losing a loved one, and feel very bad for them for the sadness they must be feeling. However, the way the media and many of his colleagues are talking, you would have thought the man was a saint. Sadly, many are using this as an opportunity to further their causes. I even heard one say that the President should use the eulogy to bring support to the Health Care bill….and I even heard talk of them calling the bill the “Kennedy Bill.” Ick...

This is a man who committed murder back in 1969 – perhaps it was unintentional, nonetheless, he was responsible for the death of a young woman, Mary Jo Kopechne on Chappaquiddick Island in Massachusetts. I remember it very well and remember his press conference after he was “found out.” Here’s how it went….

At a party on Chappaquiddick Island on July 19, 1969 at around 11:00 PM, Kennedy borrowed his chauffeur's keys to his limousine, and offered to give a ride home to Mary Jo Kopechne, a 28 year old campaign worker. When he was driving off the island, Kennedy steered the car off the bridge, flipped, and the car went into the water. Kennedy managed to get himself out of the car, then swam to shore and walked back to the party. He passed by several houses and a fire station. Two friends returned with him to the scene of the accident. According to their testimony later, they told Kennedy that he was required by law to immediately report the accident to the authorities (which of course he already knew). Instead Kennedy made his way to his hotel, called his lawyer, and went to sleep. (What a guy!) Meanwhile, Mary Jo lay dead at the bottom of the pond in the car.

Kennedy didn’t call the police until the next morning. By this time, the wreck had already been discovered. Before she died, Mary Jo Kopechne had scratched at the upholstered floor above her head in the upside-down car obviously trying to get out (could he have saved her and didn’t – we’ll never know). The Kennedy family, of course, began pulling strings, ensuring that any inquiry would be contained. Unfortunately, her body was whisked out-of-state to her family, before an autopsy could be conducted. Details are uncertain, but Kennedy claimed that after the accident he repeatedly dove under the water trying to rescue Kopechne. He claimed he didn't call police because he was in a state of shock (yet he was able to go back to the party, get his friends and go back to the scene of the accident – why then didn’t the friends call the police if he was in shock?) Speculation is that Kennedy was drunk, that he was possibly having an affair with Kopechne, and/or that he held off calling police in hopes that his family could take care of the problem overnight.

In the end, Kennedy pled guilty to leaving the scene of an accident, and was given a suspended sentence of two months (a slap on the wrist). Kopechne's family received a small payout from the Kennedy's insurance policy, and never sued. In later years, there were efforts 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).

I loved what I read this weekend about what Kennedy said from the Senate floor during Nixon’s Watergate scandal - "Do we operate under a system of equal justice under law? Or is there one system for the average citizen and another for the high and mighty?" Huh???? Did he really have the nerve to say that?? I also heard a friend of his being interviewed after Kennedy’s death, and he said that one of Kennedy’s favorite topics of humor was Chappaquiddick. He said that Kennedy would ask “have you heard any new jokes about Chappaquiddick?” Can you believe the arrogance and insensitivity of this man? Unbelievable.

This is also a man who has supported abortion rights and the killing of innocent unborn children. There was also another scandal a few years ago with one of his nephews being accused of rape (of which he was acquitted). Evidently the whole episode started when Edward Kennedy woke his son and nephew in the middle of the night so that they could go drinking (again I say….what a guy!) A young woman evidently met the group at the bar and went back to the Kennedy compound with them and that’s when the rape charges were made. How old was Edward Kennedy at the time??? Probably around 60 -- old enough to know better.

Sorry, but in my mind, this is not a man to be adored, placed on a pedestal and held in high esteem –on the contrary.

In any case, one has to wonder how he managed to survive politically over the past 40 years. I have to question the Massachusetts voters, but then again, we are living in a country that elected a community organizer as president, so why bother asking a stupid question.

Again, I feel badly for his family, but I am totally outraged at the way he has been revered and honored – it’s unconscionable in my mind. Hero???? I don't think so. Sorry.