Bob & Valerie & Ted & Mary Jo
posted at 12:58 am on August 27, 2009 by Karl
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Editor and Publisher has compiled a list of where establishment media outlets placed the first mention of the Chappaquiddick accident in their obits of Ted Kennedy. E&P claims they compiled a similar list of where news outlets first mentioned the Plame case in covering the death of Robert Novak, but failed to provide a link — and searches failed to find it. Out of curiousity, I decided to compare them myself.
The Associated Press mentioned Chappaquiddick in the 7th graf of the Kennedy obit; Plame appears in the 2nd graf of the Novak obit (which later had to be corrected regarding the Plame case). Reuters mentioned Chappaquiddick in the 18th graf, but mentioned the Plame case in the lede. The New York Times mentioned Chappaquiddick in the 14th graf, Plame in the lede. The Washington Post put Chappaquiddick in the 9th graf, Plame in the 2nd graf (and the second sentence). The Chicago Tribune and the L.A. Times put Chappaquiddick in the 12th graf, Plame in the lede. USA Today put Chappaquiddick in the 19th graf, Plame in the 6th graf. The Hill made no mention of Chappaquiddick, but put the Plame case in the second graf. Roll Call put Chappaquiddick in the 25th graf, Plame in the 12th. The NY Daily News put Chappaquiddick in the 13th graf, Plame in the 9th graf.
Not every media outlet followed the pattern. The Politico put Chappaquiddick in the 24th graf, but put Plame in the 30th. The Wall Street Journal placed Chappaquiddick in the 6th graf, and Plame in the 11th. But these were the exceptions proving the rule.
WaPo media critic Howard Kurtz may have been surprised that Chappaquiddick was a trending topic on Twitter (and a number of the hottest searches on Google), but few in flyover country are likely to be surprised. Chappaquiddick — in addition to its inherent tragedy — is a milestone in double-standards, both in American politics and the establishment media. Carl Cannon has a must-read piece on the subject at Politics Daily, which I can merely excerpt here:
The one-car mishap was Teddy Kennedy’s fault, of course, no one disputes that. And his actions that followed – not summoning emergency personnel who might have saved her life, the cover-up of the facts, not even reporting the accident until the following morning – likely would have landed a man without political connections in prison. That thought has stuck in the craw of Kennedy critics and assorted conservatives for forty years. It was heartbreaking for her family and friends to experience the loss of a lovely, devout, and socially committed 28-year-old woman. For millions of Americans who never knew her, the tragic incident has fed a festering cultural grudge.
The idea that Edward M. Kennedy could be a viable national politician – let alone a much-admired and lionized political figure – has convinced millions of everyday citizens and succeeding generations of conservative activists that among the elites of academia, politics, and the media two standards of behavior exist: One for liberal Democrats and another for conservative Republicans. Along with sweeping changes in immigration law, soaring oratory, and strengthening the nation’s social safety net, this reservoir of class resentment is also part of Kennedy’s legacy.
Liberals in the media pretend not to see this. Or rather, they blame those who feel aggrieved…
***
[T]he Kennedy “haters,” to use James Fallows’ word, rarely seemed to include the Republicans who knew Teddy personally. Many ordinary Americans without access to the corridors of power saw it differently. They should not necessarily be discounted as wrong, either. In protesting Gerald Ford’s pardon of Richard Nixon, Kennedy thundered, “Is there one system of justice for the average citizen and another system for the high and mighty?” These words, uttered five years after Chappaquiddick, are ubiquitous on conservative websites where they are offered up as evidence, not only of Kennedy’s hypocrisy, but the mainstream media’s as well.
Similarly, to movement conservatives, Kennedy’s attack on Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork is offered up as a case study in the press’s historic double standard…
How bad is this double-standard? As the two men were dying of brain cancer, Ted Kennedy was far kinder to Robert Novak in life than Novak’s media colleagues were to Novak in death.
Blowback
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It’s one thing to befriend and individual who has made a mistake and repented. It’s entirely different for Ted because he never repented but because he’s a Kennedy and a proud socialist to boot, he gets a pass from the media and still worst the admiration from his buddies in the Senate club, you know the exclusive club for pompous rich ass wipes that despise the little people. Much like his Junior Senate colleague, Kerry, he was just as adapt at treason. Good riddance.
larvcom on August 27, 2009 at 7:13 AM
Have there been any comments from Mary Jo’s family? I wonder what they are feeling. I suppose they have been gagged . . .
liv2race on August 27, 2009 at 8:46 AM
Valerie is very much alive.
Mary Jo is very dead.
Moral equivalence is in full bloom.
Nichevo on August 27, 2009 at 8:54 AM
So where did Ted’s interference in his nephew’s rape trial show up in these obituaries?
If Ted had an R by his name, the first three paragraphs would have been about Chappaquiddick, William Kennedy Smith, and cheating at Harvard.
Ted truly was the epitome of a modern leftist. Vehemently moralistic in his public appearances and a complete sybarite and aristocrat out of the public eye.
18-1 on August 27, 2009 at 11:50 AM
Heh. You’re showing your age with that title, Karl.
Great post, as usual.
UltimateBob on August 27, 2009 at 12:28 PM
Tell me this is the same Kennedy eye-ing Ted’s open seat.
Browncoatone on August 27, 2009 at 12:31 PM
Waitress Sandwich Kennedy
http://men.style.com/gq/features/full?id=content_5585&pageNum=5
Can someone please explain to me why this ***** is worshiped while current politicians are vilified for minor crap.
TimeTraveler on August 27, 2009 at 12:32 PM
No, the rapist is sitting in prison (I think).
The drunken drug addict is the one they’re eye-ing to take Tedward’s seat.
UltimateBob on August 27, 2009 at 12:33 PM
Quite so. I was watching that pompous self-satisfied weasel Shephard Smith last night, and he was asking someone he was interviewing why people insisted on not liking Ted Kennedy.
The interviewee said it was a southern thing, that southerners did not like integration.
Shep says something on the order of, “guess so.”
Like, what, these guys simply aren’t yet aware of Chappaquiddick?
Alana on August 27, 2009 at 12:33 PM
And that is the age-old question (with one slight alteration by me).
You know, I’ve seen the bumper stickers that say, “Ted kennedy’s car has killed more people than my guns” but I never put one on my car.
I might do it now though. The fact that he’s dead and being sainted by the left will give it a little extra “bite.”
UltimateBob on August 27, 2009 at 12:36 PM
Nope.
BobMbx on August 27, 2009 at 12:37 PM
Somewhere there’s a portugese water dog named ‘Splash’ that misses his master.
That’s sad.
bridgetown on August 27, 2009 at 12:37 PM
All I can say is I can’t wait to get me some of that incredible, state-of-the-art Kennedycare. My current insurance sucks, now we’re all gonna get the same treatment as Ted Freakin’ Kennedy!
And all paid for by the Super Rich! It won’t cost me nothin’!
I can’t wait.
miles on August 27, 2009 at 12:38 PM
Beside a proposed KennedyCare bill,
How about a new DWI law called the “The Kennedy Blood Alcohol Awareness Act”
veni vidi vici on August 27, 2009 at 12:44 PM
Ted never reported the accident. The car was discovered by somebody else and the sgerriff was called. Ted was at the hotel trying to make an alibi.
ObamatheMessiah on August 27, 2009 at 12:44 PM
Liberal Lion indeed. How about Senate Swimmer?
NJ Red on August 27, 2009 at 12:45 PM
Should I feel ignorant for not knowing what a “graf” is? I assume it’s short for paragraph?
TK should have spent time in prison, not the US Sentate.
toliver on August 27, 2009 at 12:50 PM
Yes, “graf” is journalese for “paragraph.”
WesternActor on August 27, 2009 at 12:56 PM
Not just conservative Republicans: why was Bob Packwood driven out of the Senate, while Teddy was allowed to stay?
Realist on August 27, 2009 at 12:58 PM
I am so sick and tired of hearing how Teddy Kennedy’s political connections allowed him to avoid any punishment for the death of Mary Jo. Look it up, people. He was severely punished. By the Massachusetts DMV. They suspended his license for SIX MONTHS. /faux outrage
BigAlSouth on August 27, 2009 at 1:01 PM
The rapist nephew got off thanks to Teddy’s interference but did not go into politics.
Patches the one in politics, hasn’t raped anyone AFAIK, but he is known for his lack of intelligence and drug additions. He actually hit a police car while driving drunk, but being a Kennedy got off.
18-1 on August 27, 2009 at 1:12 PM
It’s dead now. Thank heavens, it’s finally dead.
Kralizec on August 27, 2009 at 1:17 PM
If any of us did what Ted did those many years ago we’d probably still be in prison or at the very least on probation, yet Ted lived a long life of luxury and privelage and is now being considered for sainthood by the left!
Typical lefty hypocrisy at its best…SICKENING!
I don’t like to speak ill of the dead and I truly pray for Ted’s family but I will never er look at Ted as some hero of the common man…regardless Ted is now facing the long overdue judgement he was never made to face when he was alive, may God have mercy on his soul and justice finally be done.
Liberty or Death on August 27, 2009 at 1:19 PM
Edward Kennedy the “Lion of the Senate”. Bill “it all depends on what is–is” Clinton. Robert “Klu Klux Klan” Byrd.
Defenders of the Constitution. Where is our country headed? Just look around and see what’s coming down the road that has to be passed yesterday.
Herb on August 27, 2009 at 1:20 PM
as someone who plead “no contest” to a dui, i am under no delusions as to the special status awarded to ted kennedy by the massachusetts’ criminal justice system. on that night i was drinking and driving, i crashed my car head on into a parked car. had that car been occupied, and on the road, i am positive that driver would have been killed. my suv went up on the hood, pushed the engine block back to the driver seat, and my front tire had broken the windshield. equally lucky, my passenger was unhurt, too. i took responsibility for that accident, served my probation, and not a day has gone by where i don’t thank my lucky stars that i received a second chance to not take an innocent human life.
had someone been killed, i know i would be rightfully sitting in jail now. ted kennedy, never spent a day in jail for killing someone. it disgusts me, and should disgust everyone else, too. he wasn’t even the “lion of the senate” when this happened. just a boy born with a silver spoon in his mouth and a sense of entitlement that the rules of normal society don’t apply to him. he lived his life for decades even after killing someone. he makes me sick. i don’t think of him these days, but rather, mary jo, and her family.
she never had a chance. ted had too many.
photoboy74 on August 27, 2009 at 1:20 PM
How anout Senile senate swimmer?
UltimateBob on August 27, 2009 at 1:24 PM
Has the canonization of St. Kennedy been completed yet?
GarandFan on August 27, 2009 at 1:25 PM
Fascinating, infuriating, and not the least bit surprising.
Mike D. on August 27, 2009 at 1:35 PM
This article seems to be a pretty fair assessment:
Too bad it’s from a British paper.
lonesome_pine on August 27, 2009 at 1:58 PM
I thought they were part of the cover-up.
Count to 10 on August 27, 2009 at 2:00 PM
What about the crapweasles who partied with Teddy that night. According to the story they did nothing after Teddy told his tale of woe. How come they’ve never been held to account either?
Oh yeah, they were all Democrats. And being a Democrat means never facing the consequences…at least in this life.
Iblis on August 27, 2009 at 2:08 PM
While the death of Ms. Kopechne is bad and wrong, Teddy Kennedy did worse. When we pulled out of South Vietnam, America pledge to lend air support to any defense from invasion from the North. When that invasion came, it was Senator Kennedy who forced America to reneg on that promise, dooming South Vietnam. About 165,000 South Vietnamese died in the subsequent re-education camps. 1.6 million Vietnamese fled, a quarter million of them taking to boats, of whom a third died at sea. Nor did they die quick, like Ms. Kopechne, who was one of Teddy’s more fortunate victims.
Tantor on August 27, 2009 at 2:11 PM
In all the talk about Chappaquiddick, one fact still hits me like a brick –
The car was in 7′ of water.
The man was a pig.
The length of the memory is often inversely related to the benefit derived from its loss.
Goes double in politics.
IndieDogg on August 27, 2009 at 2:13 PM
This is just 2 months ago.
davo on August 27, 2009 at 2:33 PM
Was just listening to a guest on Fox talk about Teddy, his love for the water, he wanted to die on the water, at times he was so weak he would fall over in his wheel chair,…am I the only one who thinks it’s rather odd for this man to have so much admiration & love with something that destroyed such a huge part of his life?
Maybe RoseMary was the lucky one after all.
christene on August 27, 2009 at 2:37 PM
See Allah’s “Quote of the Day” post from last evening, last link:
Ted Kennedy: The Senator of Sleaze who was a drunk sexual bully… and left a young woman to die
It pretty much sums up Teddy’s life — from a British news site, since we can’t expect anything more than propaganda from our “state-run media.”
Nichevo on August 27, 2009 at 2:45 PM
Unfortunately, Ms. Kopechne died a slow, horrible, terrifying death. She was trapped in an air pocket in the backseat of the car, and after being submerged for several hours eventually died of asphyxiation, not drowning.
Puddleglum on August 27, 2009 at 2:55 PM
Yup, there are those of us with very long memories. Forgiveness is always possible, but not to forget. Ever.
itzWicks on August 27, 2009 at 3:15 PM
Teddy & Barry hate this country so much, they wouldn’t even get an American dog.
HellCat on August 27, 2009 at 3:33 PM
Maybe…just maybe…
After death there was a bright light, Kennedy drew closer to the pearly gates..and inside the gates was Mary Jo Kopechne who said “go spend the night in hell and then I’ll report your arrival in the morning. We’ll see what the big man decides then”
Rockygold on August 27, 2009 at 3:56 PM
If you think Democratic liberalism is devoid of racism, I have three words for you: rich. white. man.
What penalty did he pay? He lost a job promotion. Oh wow.
He may have done many good and wonderful things in the 40 years since Chappaquiddick ( … nah…), but he committed some form of a criminal homicide and paid no public, social price for it. What Kennedy did was appallingly bad, something that society can justly demand a large recompense for. But did he pay it? Nope. Did society ask for it. Hardly.
Frankly, if he had been tipsy and smashed into a tree and killed her outright, that would have been one thing, deplorable and gruesome, but quick and inevitable. But to walk away and let her struggle for two hours until she drowned while he gathered his family’s advisors, that’s just depraved. I have never had one single scintilla of respect for him since then.
Nor for the party who supported him … the same party that tolerated and even honored an admitted race liar who ran for president (Sharpton). Or a Klan recruiter (Byrd). Or a race hustler, presidential candidate, and extramarital daddy (Jackson). Or just a class-envy candidate, and, oh yeah, extramarital daddy (Edwards). (Don’t get me started on the subprime catastrophe and the House Banking Committee of Fools and other bad actors.)
CO2MAKER on August 27, 2009 at 3:57 PM
Always thought of the Kennedy’s like cockroaches, if you can see one, theres a thousand in the walls.
bklyn04 on August 27, 2009 at 3:58 PM