Teddy Kennedy's Secret Love Child?

Okay... it's from the National Enquirer, which people have mixed feelings about -- tabloid trash, yes, but they seem to win most of their lawsuits -- so this might be irresponsible rumor-mongering. (As opposed, I guess, to responsible rumor-mongering.)

But I'm not on much sleep so fire away:

The National Enquirer splashes this week with a shocking story about Sen. Ted Kennedy’s secret love child with a Cape Cod woman whom the mag says he dated during his days as a swinging single.

According to the tabloid’s source, the boy, named Christopher, just celebrated his 21st birthday and is “mature enough to make his own choices about his background and biological father.�

A Kennedy family confidante told the Enquirer, “This is one of the biggest secrets in the Kennedy family and known to only a few people including Ted’s ex-wife, Joan.�

As for the senator, his spokesgal Melissa Wagoner last night called the tabloid tale “irresponsible fiction.�

Here’s the story according to the Enquirer: Back in 1983, Kennedy, then 51, took up with Caroline Bilodeau, an attractive brunette, several months before divorcing Joan, the mother of his three kids — Kara, Ted Jr. and Patrick.

Bilodeau’s friends told the Enquirer the local lass became so smitten with the senator, she “had dreams about being the next Mrs. Ted Kennedy.� But the love affair came crashing down when Bilodeau told Ted a baby was on the way, the mag reports.

“Caroline announced to the family that she was two months pregnant around May 1984,� blabbed a Bilodeau confidante. “Ted was not happy about the news. He already had three kids with Joan and knew a baby out of wedlock could hurt him politically.�

According to the Enquirer, the scandal-scarred senator begged Bilodeau to have an abortion, but she refused.

“He told her he couldn’t undergo another scandal — not after Chappaquiddick, not so close to his divorce from Joan� said the source. “He was very angry when she defied him and had the child.�

Such things happen, I suppose, but the liberal media only seems to notice conservative hypocrisy. Yes, conservatives are hypocrites, as is any person on the face of the earth who professes a belief in an ideal or code of conduct.

Do you believe in honesty? Then you're a hypocrite, because you lie. Do you believe in personal responsibility? Then you're a hypocrite, because surely there's been at least a couple of times in your life when you did something very wrong and attempted to claim circumstances beyond your control.

The liberal media, especialy Michael Kinsley, who's quite a bear on the subject, are forever pointing out hypocrisy as a vehicle to undermine the value itself being championed. They don't like anti-drug laws, for example, so they're delighted when a Senator's son gets caught with coke and the Senator, quite understandably, fights tooth and nail to keep his kid out of prison. (HYPOCRITE!, they shout.)

But it's only the values they're not very fond of they play this hypocrisy game with. For values they don't particularly deem high priorities, the fact that someone might be a hypocrite is, to them, proof that the value itself is meaningless and should probably not be considered a value at all.

But that's absurd. The only people who aren't hypocrites are perfect nihilists, and there aren't even any of those, because even nihilists secretly believe in some values.

All reporters profess to believe in "honesty" (giggle), but they never suggest that hypocrisy as regards this important value is evidence of its valuelessness.

So, Ted Kennedy, liberal lion, secular saint, lectures Sam Alito about his alleged mysogyny while, until last week, belonging to a Harvard-associated club which refused women members, and he bullies women into abortions and keeps children in bastardy to protect his political career.

Hypocrisy?

Not to the liberal media. The only hypocrisy that counts is that which undermines conservative values. If a liberal hero falls while championing liberal ideals -- well, so be it.

Certainly it says nothing at all about feminism. There are just some ideals that are so wonderful and yet hard to live up to that some will, inevitably, fail in living up to them. And really, who are we to judge? Can't we all be brothers? Or, I mean, sisters?

Thanks to Craig. Via Wizbang.

posted by Ace at 08:24 PM

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