remembering mary jo - emaiL i got

[sniffa]

whoopty fuckin doo!!!! aLL week Long i've been getting pounded with RW emaiLs about kerry and democrats (%90 being easiLy destroyed with a trip to snopes). i just got one about mary jo kopechne and ted k. and how that refLects poorLy on kerry, etc (it aLso incLuded) a few charges against kennedy that i've never heard:

> Neither does Generation X know how Kennedy was
> thrown out of Harvard on his ear 15 years earlier --
> for paying a fellow student to take his Spanish
> final. Or why the US Army denied him a commission
> because he cheated on tests.

the maiL aLso referrences his (nephew's?) "credibLe accusation of rape".

i didn't repost the whoLe emaiL here because i don't feeL Like reading a Laundry List of repLies from DUers who cry about posting anything at aLL from the right, but if you want it, i'LL post the whoLe thing.

anyhow... i was muLLing over the best response (aside from ignore) and i think the best response is a "remembering the guy Laura bush kiLLed"

is there something aLong those Lines fLoating around? is there credibLe (i shouLdn't give them that) news sources i can reference if i need to create my own?

[Hobarticus]

1. How desperate...starting to disparage DEAD MEN now...

Just say no to stupidity.

[sniffa]

2. ted's not dead

neither is john.

[WolverineDG]

3. they're more desperate than before

i guess their tactic of trying to slam kerry by bringing up bill & hillary isn't working so now they have to try to beat kerry up with the kennedy stick. man, they must be running out of ammo.

i think this stuff about teddy is true, tho & the nephew--william kennedy smith--was acquitted.

dg

[sniffa]

4. i'm Looking to go on offense

i don't shy away from their tecniques.. so if they're gonna pLay the teddy = murderer card, i'm pLaying the Laura = murderer card. fuck them

[Lydia Leftcoast]

5. Ted Kennedy does have some "youthful indiscretions" in his past

and his drinking problems were well known.

I remember the Mary Jo Kopechne incident well, and his story never hung together. I suspect the truth was that he was driving drunk, went off the bridge, panicked, saved himself, and left Mary Jo to drown in the car. Not a pretty story in any sense, but not surprising for someone who was probably an uncontrolled alcoholic at the time. (And this was the summer after he lost yet another brother to assassination, so the temptation to drink would have been stronger than ever.)

A former teaching colleague of mine was related to the man who served as bailiff during the ensuing court proceedings, which, as I recall, were closed to the media. According to her, the bailiff would not reveal any details of what was said in court except to comment that Ted Kennedy would never be able to run for president.

He cleaned up his act in later years, and despite his many, many personal problems, he has consistently advocated for the interests of the non-wealthy of this country.

Compare and contrast his story with that of another alcoholic with a history of "youthful indiscretions," who has never given two hoots for anyone who wasn't part of his country club set.