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Well, isn't that a delightful factoid?
Yesterday and today, I and many of my fellow conservative bloggers have been taking a lot of guff on Twitter and abroad in the land, for daring to mention the unmentionable during this, the "national mourning period" for Senator Edward Kennedy.
The "unmentionable" being the unpleasant fact that in 1969, Kennedy left a woman to die after a car accident at which he was at the wheel.
One of those bloggers draws my attention to this little reflection by the great Jules Crittenden. I'll repost it here, without further comment, for your edification:
Meanwhile, listening to ”Reflections on Sen. Kennedy … Lion of the Senate” on the Diane Rehm Show on the drive home last night, I was deeply moved to hear Newsweek’s Ed Klein tell guest host Katty Kay about Kennedy’s love of humor. How the late senator loved to hear and tell Chappaquiddick jokes, and was always eager to know if anyone had heard any new ones. Not that Kennedy lacked remorse, Klein quickly added, seeming to intuit that my jaw and perhaps those of other listeners had just hit the floorboards. I gather it was a self-deprecating manuever on Kennedy’s part, exercised with the famous Kennedy charm, though it sounds like one of those “I guess you had to have been there” things.
Comments
Ted Kennedy 'loved to hear and tell Chappaquiddick jokes' about as much as you like to hear that you look like Squeaky Fromme...you tolerate so as to not"rock the boat"
Here's why you're a furious blogger and not a serious journalist.
The item you reported is not one you heard first hand. The item you reported is second-hand information, which is parenthetical, and not an exact description of what was said on the show.
It's third-hand by the time your furiously write it out.
From a first-hand listener: Klein: "One of his favorite topics of humor was, indeed, Chappaquiddick itself. And he would ask people 'have you heard any new jokes about Chappaquiddick?' I mean ... that is just the most amazing thing, it, not that he didn't feel remorse about the death of Mary Jo Kopechne, but that he still always saw, um, the other side of everything and the ridiculous side of things, too."
Now let us reason together, hold the fury for a moment: In most any "Chappaquiddick Joke" whom would you think would be the butt of the joke, Mary Jo or Teddy?
You are free to go back chewing nails.
Right on target. If I was as irresponsible as the "Camelot Kid" I would still be putting frying pans in the back of my pants as I spend the rest of my life behind bars with my "Best Friend Bubba".
Who cares what he did, he brought us Socialism, open borders, and illegal aliens, more people then ever are now beholding to the Democratic party for handouts, we shall overcome !
you are one seriously disturbed woman, Shaidle, if you in your wildest, distorted con imagination could believe that crap is true.
from now on, I will work to discredit all that you write.
Hey... I'm sorry for the man's family...
But to act disingenuously reverent toward a man who eroded the American people's freedom at any and every opportunity...
- who pushed policies which destroyed millions of black families (via government sponsorship)
- whose thrall to politically supportive unions made him help condemn generation after generation of poor and minority families to ignorance, locking them away from the American dream
- who sat in secret with our enemies, offering them aid and succor (MULTIPLE TIMES) in some instances where American fighting men were in the field and still dying
- and who spent a lifetime stealing American taxpayer money by larding up every congressional bill he ever worked on with money to buy political allies... is simply beyond me.
I know it is a harsh harsh thing to say... but I honestly see his dying two days ago as definitely the BEST, and quite possibly the ONLY accomplishment of Ted Kennedy which benefited this country.
You should know walrus since you probably had a crush on the Manson girls.
You missed the part "...and was always eager to to know if anyone had heard any new ones." Sounds like it went beyond just tolerance. He actively sought out such jokes and reveled in them.
You're saying Kathy looks like Squeaky...what? Actually, I can't imagine Ms. Shaidle tolerating anything because she didn't want to "rock the boat" as you put it. I think she's all about rocking the boat, though she probably wouldn't waste her breath on such a lame insult.
And, "not a serious journalist" -- now that's actually a compliment. I mean, what writer of any quality would want to be compared to "serious journalists" (losers) like Chris "tingling legs" Matthews.
Someone who kills a woman, gets away with it, salvages his career, and then when he's free and clear can't pass up an opportunity to hear the latest gag about the whole thing is not a down-to-earth, self-deprecating dude - he's a psychopath.
annie - shouldn't you be dedicating your life to destroying Ed Klein?
That must be Annie Ample commenting, because she's a big enough tit.
Um, isn't this the paragon of morality who named his dog, "Splash"?
I think this story is certainly within the realm of possibility.
um, Kathy:
Thanks for the clarification and the heads up to anyone in the future who happens to allow a young woman to drown while trying to figure out the political implications of it all. If you are going to get a chuckle out of it years after while dining with friends on K Street, make sure it's done in self-deprication.
You will have to forgive those with a fundamental sense of decency if they fail to abide by the distinction.
ah, third-hand hearsay -- stay classy!
Go on, speak ill of the dead while family members are grieving.
What an awesome way to get folks to be symathetic toward you.
Former Newsweek Editor confirms Kennedy liked to joke about Chappaquiddick
(At YouTube)
This isn't an accusation from Ted Kennedy's political opponents, but a nostalgic remembrance by one of his friends. Ed Klein, former Newsweek editor, tells the Diane Rehm Show:
"I dont know if you know this or not, but one of his favorite topics of humor was indeed Chappaquiddick itself. And he would ask people, have you heard any new jokes about Chappaquiddick? That is just the most amazing thing."
Just search YouTube for the video title:
"Kennedy liked to joke about Chappaquiddick?"
If there was a Republican senator who had gutted social security, eliminated medicare, abolished the environmental protection agency and, of course, crushed minimum wage requirements, he could have run a loaded school bus off the bridge at Chappaquiddick and all would be fine.
I do not see the humor in a Chappaquidic joke. RIP Mary Jo Kopechne.
Self-deprecating? Uh, no. You can be self-deprecating about your love life, your job, your family and just about anything else, but not when you're responsible for an innocent woman dying. I sincerely hope that Klein got it wrong and that Teddy had more class than this story indicates.
Of course, if this is true, I wonder how Teddy felt about all the jokes that portrayed him as a hapless drunk unworthy of respect and only making it in life because of who his brothers were. Something tells me he didn't care for those jokes. Y'know, the Mayor Quimby character on "The Simpsons" was a parody of him. Fun fact: according to Matt Groening, Kennedy didn't exactly like the character. Where was his sense of humor then?
Kennedy didn't like the Chappaquiddick jokes...it's like the fat kid on the playground telling the fat jokes on himself before the bullies could do it...it was a self-defense mechanism.
Hey, I wrote a Chappaquiddick joke. Teddy would have loved this one:
Mary Jo Kopechne arrives at the Pearly Gates, and there stands Saint Peter to greet her.
Mary Jo: This is so exciting! Can I see JFK?
St Peter: No, I'm sorry... John Kennedy isn't here.
Mary Jo: (shocked) Really? Well, what about Bobby? I'd love to see Bobby!
St Peter: (shakes his head sadly) No, I'm afraid Robert Kennedy isn't here either.
Mary Jo: (on the verge of tears) Well... What about Martin Luther King?
St Peter: (whispers to another angel) She wants to see the boss!
I, er, ah, love jokes about the woman i murdered while, er ah, driving drunk. I hope to see you all in hell.
Robert Moon is spamming The Activity Pit again: twi.cc/lAlq
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