The Obit Ted Kennedy Deserves

Karl from Hot Air's Green Room has a great post about the MSM's differing treatment of the Robert Novak and Ted Kennedy Obits. For Novak, the Plame non-scandal is mentioned early, sometimes even in the second paragraph. Sometimes even in the second sentence.

For Kennedy, Chappaquiddick is only mentioned deep, deep into the article.

Good piece.

But the real find here is this Carl Cannon piece on Chappaquiddick and the media's selective memory.

I thought it was good piece as it explained why conservatives care about Chappaquiddick and liberals in the MSM are wrong to dismiss these concerns as merely held by "haters."

But then it got... appalling, as it recounted the Chappaquiddick Manslaughter in harrowing detail. Details I never knew about before. It's the little things that stick with you, and there are some little things here (not little at all for Mary Jo Kopechne) that truly bring home how vile this man was.

So, Howie Kurtz is surprised Chappaquiddick and Kopechne are hot search terms, and that some of the "comments are pretty harsh?"

He ought to read Carl Cannon's piece. You know what's harsh? Kennedy returning to the party from which he absconded with Mary Jo Kopechne and telling his (married) male friends not to tell Kopechne's (unmarried) female friends that their coworker and friend was currently lying, state of life or death questionable, beneath a river.

In order, he would (illegally) later tell police, to keep the women from going off on some hare-brained rescue attempt that might jeopardize their lives. See, he withheld news of the crash from Mary Jo Kopechne's friends to protect them.

He was all about protecting the women.

That is one of the several fresh (to me) facts that is sticking with me. Returning to a party and deliberately withholding the possible death of a woman (who might actually have been rescuable at that point; we'll never know) from her friends.

Treating Kopechne's life as completely disposable, and a mere political obstacle. Dead? Alive? Who knows; gotta sober up and start working on a story for the police (including claims of heroic rescue attempts, naturally). She was just an unconnected party-girl anyway; the world is filled with them, and won't miss her much.

On the other hand, there were issues of genuine consequence, such as contriving a story as to why exactly Kennedy was driving drunk to the beach with a woman not his wife.

It really is sickening stuff. I recommend that all those liberals in the MSM who can't fathom why we conservatives still care about a petty little manslaughter read particularly closely about Teddy Kennedy's long, heroic walk back to the party he just left, and the telephones he passed along the way.

One of which was no more than 150 yards from the site of Kopechne's eventual death.

posted by Ace at 02:22 PM

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