Chappaquiddick: What if it had happened today?

[ZOS23xy]

I suppose that "oh, the humanity" radio broadcast would have been far different...

 

[B_ScaredLittleBoy]

One word:

Karma.

 

[tripod]

One word:

Karma.

Yep, and the Kennedys have more fucked up Karma than most any families around today. Nothing surprises me with them.

 

[ballsaplenty2156]

Recently, some engineering students at M.I.T. researched the incident at Chappaquiddick, and found that Ted Kennedy had to be traveling over 78 mph when the car entered the water.
They based their findings on the fact, that amount of speed would have produced the energy necessary to knock Mary Jo Kopechne's panties into the glove box.

 

[anettenorge]

What a silly question.

If it happened today? At first, he would flatly deny any involvement at all. When that was proven false, he would claim it was not his car. When that was proven false, he would deny that he was driving. When that lie fell through, he would claim it was due to alcohol addiction and go into rehab. When he finished that in one week, he would make a public statement, thanking god for his miraculous healing, and all his friends and family for their support.

Then he would win the following election by a multiple majority.

Dead on, and within a month there would be 10 conspiracy theory websites about how the 'vast, right-wing conspiracy' framed this Democrat senator and there would be millions of otherwise normal and intelligent people who would adhere to this belief system and put bumper stickers on their cars and drink out of coffee mugs that referenced their conspiracy mantras.

 

[HazelGod]

Dead on, and within a month there would be 10 conspiracy theory websites about how the 'vast, right-wing conspiracy' framed this Democrat senator and there would be millions of otherwise normal and intelligent people who would adhere to this belief system and put bumper stickers on their cars and drink out of coffee mugs that referenced their conspiracy mantras.

Sounds like you know damn well who attacked us on 9/11. :wink:

 

[2322]

(quote=Chappaquiddick Incident

Kennedy made a wrong turn onto an unlit dirt road that led to Dike Bridge (also spelled Dyke Bridge), a wooden bridge angled obliquely to the road with no guardrail, and drove over its side. The car plunged into tide-swept Poucha Pond (at that location a channel) and came to rest upside down underwater. Kennedy later recalled that he was able to swim free of the vehicle, but Kopechne was not. Kennedy claimed at the inquest that he called Kopechne's name several times from the shore, then tried to swim down to reach her seven or eight times,
(quote)


I felt that his actions were negligent, but not criminal. One cannot overlook the fact that the lack of a guardrail and no lighting on the Dike Bridge were causative factors in this tragedy and posed dangers to the public. I hope that these risks have been eliminated. As Kopechne had only minutes left to live immediate action was needed and Kennedy tried to save her. But he and others that night were faced with the extremely difficult task of locating and rescuing someone in darkness underwater, which proved to be a fruitless exercise.

Your claim that he was not convicted is not true Wartrac. He pled guilty to and was convicted of the charge of leaving the scene of an accident after causing injury.

Being forgiving people is never a sad thing. In this case the forgiveness came from the girl's aggrieved parents. We need more forgiveness in this world as opposed to less.

Quoteortia:
The quality of mercy is not strain'd,
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest:
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.


The Merchant Of Venice Act 4, scene 1, 180–187

This would be all well if one of the three involved in the incident hadn't spoken out. As I noted before, Kennedy's cousin Joseph Gargan, one of the two men he had spoken to about the incident that very night, and whom Kennedy entreated to cover-up the affair, wrote about what Kennedy did that night. According to him, Kennedy made no attempt to rescue Kopechne who was still likely alive according to the medical examiner, in the air bubble in the back seat. She may have lived as long as two hours in that air pocket, yet even when Kennedy, Gargan, and Paul Markham returned to the scene, no effort was made to rescue the girl. There was little water in Kopechne's lungs but there was blood. She may have been injured in the initial crash, moved to the air pocket, and remained there until air ran out at which time she lost consciousness from lack of oxygen. She did not appear to have drowned. This is only a preliminary report from the medical examiner as part of the declaration of death. No autopsy was ever performed.

 

[TinyPrincess]

Sounds like you know damn well who attacked us on 9/11. :wink:

Well, don't we all??? We just can't say it out loud.

Recently, some engineering students at M.I.T. researched the incident at Chappaquiddick, and found that Ted Kennedy had to be traveling over 78 mph when the car entered the water.
They based their findings on the fact, that amount of speed would have produced the energy necessary to knock Mary Jo Kopechne's panties into the glove box.

LOL :biggrin1:

 

[D_Marazion Analdouche]

Sounds like you know damn well who attacked us on 9/11. :wink:

Oh let's not start that up lol.

 

[Notaguru2]

Silly rabbits! When are you going to realize that when you MAKE the laws, you are ABOVE them? Here's a short list of criminals to get us started...

1. Ted Kennedy, Killed a girl with no motive established. Sound reasonable.
2. Bill Clinton, using State Troopers to "summon" women to his sexual pleasure.
3. Hillary Clinton, turning a $1,000 investment into a bad realty deal into $1M. I want in!
4. Clinton Inc., the murder of Vince Foster. It's true, but we'll never know for sure because docs are forever protected under attorney/client privilege.
5. Ronald Reagan, Iran-Contra. Appeasement is a threat to our national security.
6. Rush Limbaugh, black market pharmaceutical drug dealer. He's not a policy maker, but certainly an influencer.
7. Richard Nixon, no explanation necessary. However, he should have gone to jail.
8. George W. Bush, treason. Lying to the American public about the case to go to war and the tremendous loss of blood and treasure that have and will continue to be the result of his legacy.
9. George W. Bush, running a dictatorship under the guise of a democracy.
10. Barack Obama, for being black. We cannot have a black man run for president before a white chick who thinks we owe it to her does. Wait.. disregard that.

I thought you'd find that entertaining. Feel free to add more! =)

 

[D_Marazion Analdouche]

8. George W. Bush, treason. Lying to the American public about the case to go to war and the tremendous loss of blood and treasure that have and will continue to be the result of his legacy.
9. George W. Bush, running a dictatorship under the guise of a democracy.

So it was just Bush that lied? I guess none of the Democratic or Replublican congressmen/women that sat on the Intellegence commitee had nothing to do with it. Bush/Cheney/Rummy just photoshopped some pictures to show everybody and they bought it and voted the OK to go to war?

 

[Notaguru2]

So it was just Bush that lied? I guess none of the Democratic or Replublican congressmen/women that sat on the Intellegence commitee had nothing to do with it. Bush/Cheney/Rummy just photoshopped some pictures to show everybody and they bought it and voted the OK to go to war?

They can all go to jail for all I care, as long as Bush is the line-leader.

 

[B_ScaredLittleBoy]

As for this Chappaquiddick incident (I'm shocked that its in the spellchecker btw!)

I think that foul play probably was involved. I've never heard of this air pocket idea before nor the two hour thing. Seems likely to me that Kennedy made an advance and she declined. Or perhaps they did have a tryst and she threatened to tell.

Either way I think Kennedy staged the crash and killed her before she entered the water.

But its nice to know what goes around comes around :smile:

 

[tripod]

If Kennedy really wanted her killed, then he wouldn't at all have to do it himself... he wouldn't need to. The family was connected.

 

[Notaguru2]

But its nice to know what goes around comes around :smile:

Wait! Are you basking in his apparent terminal illness? Btw, we all die and Ted is past the "average life expectancy" so your reap-what-you-so philosophy doesn't really play. lol

 

[D_Marazion Analdouche]

Wait! Are you basking in his apparent terminal illness? Btw, we all die and Ted is past the "average life expectancy" so your reap-what-you-so philosophy doesn't really play. lol

lol I was about to type that until I scrolled down :tongue:

Yeah he's been punished, lived a long life full or power and money, I'm sure most people would like to be punished that way. What I laugh about is the fact that the Kennedy family is full of devout catholics. Not being religious myself, it's people like this makes me hope heaven and hell does exist.

I feel for the family for JFK and Bobby, but not Ted. (Not that JFK was an angel either).

 

[rederic]

Good point Tripod. We'll never know what really happened on Chappaquiddick. (Oh, and BTW, I've been to the site of the incident, driven across the new bridge sober in broad daylight and found it fairly terrifying!) Just like we'll never know who was behind his brothers' murders, or that of Dr. Martin Luther King. I could go on and on with this list.

Times change, public attitudes change.... Sex and scandal was hushed up in the earlier part of the twentieth century; it was what we did as a society. Hindsight is typically 20-20 and these days we all too often make the mistake of viewing the past through our present collective experience, rather than in the context of the time.

I don't hear anyone beating on George Washington or Thomas Jefferson, both of whom made their "fortunes" off the sweat of slave labor; the prior also apparently bi-sexual and the latter fond of his young female slaves. Or more recently there was J. Edgar Hoover (who might well have been involved in some of those '60s "incidents") and his fondness for young boys.

What if it happened today, indeed!

 

[B_jacknapier]

You people are sick to talk badly about him. The man has cancer.

 

[montanaguy]

I'm of the opinion that the Chappaquiddick incident was done to cover up an unexpected pregnancy so that Teddy couldn't be fingered as being the father of the child.

 

[faceking]

If I am not mistaken Eliot Spitzer had to give up the governorship just cuz he paid for sex, a totally victimless crime. An Idaho guy had to quit cuz he had gay bathroom sex, not even a crime.

Agree... I think he'd be asked to resign... and would.

The guy should resign on his voting record alone, and same goes for Ruth Bader Ginsberg.