Funnyman, that can happen only if you take the first step - you admit that you have sinned. You dont make up jokes about Chappaquiddick on your road to contrition.

http://www.examiner.com/x-722-Conservative-Politics-Examiner~y2009m8d27-Ted-Kennedy-loved-to-hear-and-tell-Chappaquiddick-jokes

In fact the most disgusting thing about this incident is how the most fundamental facts of what happened that night have not uncovered and no one made any serious efforts to do so.

Mary Jo Kopechne did NOT drown. She in fact suffocated. The woman perished while trapped in the submerged Oldsmobile sedan while under water in a dark tidal pond. It was long ago figured that Kopechne survived for at least an hour or more after the crash by breathing from an air pocket. No matter how it’s sliced, that has to be a tough way to die.

With a little detective work it has been figured that the real Chappaquiddick story was fundamentally different from the extensive lie promoted by Kennedy himself. Facts strongly suggest that Kopechne disappeared from the party at an earlier time. She’d mentioned to more than one person that cigarette smoke and the stuffy atmosphere at the cottage were making her feel ill. It was figured that Mary Jo Kopechne after making her way outside, found the unlocked Oldsmobile 4-door sedan, laid down across the back seat and fell asleep. There was no conspiracy or plot involved. It was a matter of simple happenstance.

Later that night, the routinely drunk Teddy Kennedy left the party with another woman, got behind the wheel of the Oldsmobile and aimed the car in the direction of the beach road. Kennedy, with one other person in the front and another laying down on the back seat only made it as far as the narrow Dike Bridge. With his driving skills impaired, Kennedy lost control and drove the car off the bridge and into the Chappaquiddick - Poucha tidal pond.

Perhaps it was the cold ocean water that helped Kennedy sober up enough to escape along with the mystery woman front seat passenger. It is believed that Kennedy did not know that another person was in that car. Kennedy made it back on foot to some point where he was able to make contact with his political minions. Somehow, the operatives got him over to the main island of Martha’s Vineyard, where Kennedy was checked into a motel. Records later showed that numerous phone calls were made back and forth from Kennedy’s room telephone all during the night. He was later seen, in the early morning, having breakfast at the motel coffee shop while casually chatting with other guests.

Meanwhile, local police had discovered in the tidal pond, the now partially exposed Oldsmobile sedan. Upon closer examination, the body of a young woman was found in a corner area near the rear window. Artificial respiration was carried out, but Mary Jo Kopechne could not be revived. Noticed at the time, was that no water could found in the woman’s lungs. Early on, it was figured that Kopechne had not drowned but instead had suffocated. Despite Massachusetts state law in such a case, no autopsy was ever performed on Mary Jo Kopechne’s body to discover the true cause of death.

Kennedy’s later contrived story had him at the risk of his own life “diving repeatedly in an effort to save Miss Kopechne”. At the time, innumerable Massachusetts residents, including me, were outraged. Political stooges had taken depraved actions of the drunk miscreant Teddy Kennedy and spun the homicidal debacle into a performance of heroism.

Despite all, the contemptible Kennedy was elected again and again to the United States Senate by the people of Massachusetts. To this day, I have been unable to find anybody who even admits to having voted for Kennedy. In life and now death Theodore Edward Kennedy was on every level, a despicable human being. Hopefully through the sobering light of time, the actual facts will be accurately weighed.

In the meantime, the entire federal election system along with congress and senate requires a good strong enema. This nation needs to return to the procedures of a true representative republic operated on real democratic principles Perhaps with Kennedy’s final flush through the sewer pipe of history, that much needed cleansing can now begin.

I find that Republicans get bounced for scandals more easily because Republicans think “that guy is a scumbag, I wont vote for him again” while liberal Democrats think “I dont care what he does off-hours, even if he’s an SOB, he’s *my* SOB.” Different voter mindset.

This is absolute and total nonsense. Ted Kennedy being a bloated murderous douchebag does not mean that Republican voters are more discerning. The two aren’t even related.

Tom DeLay? Dennis Hastert? These guys stayed in power for a very long time, despite being horrible. Why? Because they brought home the bacon for their constituents, just like ol’ Ted. It’s not a liberal/conservative thing. It’s a bunch of people in a district or state getting extra benefits, and ignoring how they were attained.

Seems pretty non-partisan to me. Seems pretty human to me actually. Stop trying to find the divide and just look at reality. It’s right there in front of your polarized face.

Spoken like a liberal Democrat.
I find that Republicans get bounced for scandals more easily because Republicans think “that guy is a scumbag, I wont vote for him again” while liberal Democrats think “I dont care what he does off-hours, even if he’s an SOB, he’s *my* SOB.” Different voter mindset.

How about the simple principle that power corrupts and that when powerful people act corruptly, the citizen voters need to boot that powerful person out of office to cleanse the office of corruption? .. Or more simply having some standards of ethical and legal behavior for officeholders? Would you hire a felon to be your accountant? your lawyer? your doctor? Then why accept it in your senator?

The fact is that the Kennedy family power was used and abused to get Ted Kennedy off of a vehicle homocide conviction after he got Mary Jo Kopechne killed.

Leo Damore’s “Senatorial Privilege” went through the details of exactly what Kennedy did and didnt do that caused the painful Chappaquiddick death of Mary Jo Kopechne, which included not just driving her off the bridge, but also fleeing the scene at a time Mary Jo was still alive. He swam 1/4 mile to the mainland then went to sleep and reported it to nobody until the next day; He didnt ask for help, but was trying to make up an alibi. the neck brace? A fake for media manipulation to make him look more injured than he was. So it wasnt merely careless drunk driving but abandoning a drowning victim at the scene of an accident at a time when *she was still alive*. Some people think it was just a drunk driving situation but it went beyond that. He killed her.

The Kennedy family manipulated the local DAs and judges to get Kennedy off so he did not have to face the serious charges that would have been filed had he been anyone else. What was is said about watergate? the coverup was worse than the crime? well, in this case the underly crime was bad enough but the coverup compounded it. It took Damore to unwind what really happened. There are drunk drivers who get life in prison for less intent/action to kill than what Kennedy did.

See:
http://www.amazon.com/Senatorial-Privilege-Chappaquiddick-Leo-Damore/dp/0895265648

Hyperbole should not get in the way of reality. Edward Moore Kennedy was a deeply flawed man who had a few good qualities. Clearly he was loved by his nieces and nephews and they are now mourning his death. For THEM I will pray sincerely.

I would rather be in an airplane with George W. Bush than in an Oldsmobile with Edward Moore Kennedy, that’s for sure!

Such a crime and abuse of power is forgivable enough to re-elect him again and again? I dont get that.

A senator like Ted Kennedy has an enormous amount of power and influence. That power extends to all the constituents in his state as well. No voter in his right mind would want to give up that kind of influence, even if it was based on principal. All that money and power flows right back into Massachusetts in the form of projects/grants/cash/etc. The people didn’t necessarily forgive him for anything, they just looked past it in order to get their hands on a slightly bigger piece of the pie. Kinda reminds me of Dennis Hastert actually.

Why do only Democrat politicians get this kind of get-of-jail-free card treatment though? Being able to manipulate the justice system and the media so he could literally get away with murder (or at least manslaughter) made him a more ‘comfortable’ man for Massachusetts voters? Such a crime and abuse of power is forgivable enough to re-elect him again and again? I dont get that.