Ted Kennedy pulled an all-nighter last night - how ironic is that? There must be something about Ted Kennedy and all-nighters on July 18, because it was 38 years ago tonight that he pulled another one. At Chappaquiddick. Will Teddy?s Senate office issue a statement today about the anniversary of his 1969 drive off the bridge? They used to. But you know the Kennedy bumkissers would prefer to ignore this day which will live in his infamy. Nothing to see here, folks, move along. After all, Teddy?s got so many big issues on his plate, even after the defeat of his latest illegal-alien amnesty bill.
There?s Iraq, of course, which is what the planned all-nighter was about. And Teddy?s been trying to get some new ?hate crimes? legislation passed. Ted?s very concerned about crime. Just don?t bring up any of the ones he committed. You know what the Kennedy coatholders will say. It was so long ago. Hasn?t he suffered enough? How much does one family... blah blah blah. But somebody?s got to mention it. I mean, right now the liberals are trying to run Louisiana Republican David Vitter out of the Senate because he had a few, ahem, indiscretions. So in the interest of recalling a sordid chapter of American history that the Beautiful People would like to consign forever to oblivion, let?s go straight to Teddy?s speech a week after Mary Jo Kopechne was killed when he drove his mother?s 1967 Oldsmobile Delmont off a bridge. (Comments in italics.) ?This morning I entered a plea of guilty to the charge of leaving the scene of an accident.? And lost his driver?s license - not that it stopped him from driving, of course. A couple of weeks later he would be stopped in Waltham, for driving without a license. ?On the weekend of July 18, I was on Martha?s Vineyard island participating with my nephew, Joe Kennedy - as for 30 years my family has participated - in the annual Edgartown Sailing Regatta.? You know Joe Kennedy - it would be another four summers before he crippled a young woman, Pam Kelley, in a Jeep accident on the other island, of Nantucket. ?There is no truth, no truth whatever to the widely circulated suspicions of immoral conduct that have been leveled at my behavior. Nor was I driving under the influence of liquor.? Riiiiiiight. Just ask Sen. Chris Dodd. Then the Delmont went into the drink, as it were. ?My conduct and conversations during the next several hours, to the extent that I can remember them, make no sense to me at all.? Actually, for Ted Kennedy, they make perfect sense. ?I was overcome, I?m frank to say, by a jumble of emotions - grief, fear, doubt, exhaustion, panic, confusion and shock.? Sounds like a bad ice cube to me, but you can trust Sen. Kennedy - he?s not like the others. ?In the morning, with my mind somewhat more lucid.? Did someone say hangover? ?These events, the publicity, innuendo and whispers which have surrounded them and my admission of guilt this morning raises the question in my mind of whether my standing has been so impaired that I should resign my seat in the United States Senate.? Another dream denied. ?For me this will be a difficult decision to make.? Sort of like, Chivas on the rocks or Chivas straight. Mary Jo died 38 years ago tonight. And yet we the people of Massachusetts re-elected him, in 1970, 1976, 1982, 1988, 1994, 2000 and 2006. And isn?t that the real lesson of Chappaquiddick? In a democracy, you get the government you deserve, dammit.