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Truth of what really happened at Chappaquiddick dies with Senator Ted Kennedy
Examiner.com ^ | 8/30/09 | Melissa Newby

Posted on 08/30/2009 9:54:27 PM PDT by advance_copy

The truth of what really happened on July 18, 1969, on Chappaquiddick Island, Massachusetts will never be known. What is known is that at the end of the evening, Mary Jo Kopechne was found dead in a car that Edward (Ted) Kennedy had been driving. Was her death the result of a tragic accident or due to gross negligence on the part of Ted Kennedy?

Ted Kennedy and Mary Jo Kopechne attended the same party on the evening of July 18, 1969. Kennedy left the party with Kopechne as a passenger in his car and accidentally drove off the road and into a tidal channel on Chappaquiddick Island. As reported in the Boston Globe, Kennedy was able to escape the submerged car and swim to safety. Kopechne was not and her body was later found in the car. Kennedy contacted multiple aids right after the accident, but did not notify authorities until the following morning. In fact, by the time Kennedy contacted local police, Kopechne's body had already been found.

(Excerpt) Read more at examiner.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; News/Current Events; Political Humor/Cartoons
KEYWORDS: bfrc; chappaquiddick; kennedy; kopechne; secrets; tedkennedy
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To: advance_copy

The author says Kennedy paid a high price. The price was not high enough.


41 posted on 08/30/2009 11:55:48 PM PDT by freekitty (Give me back my conservative vote; then find me a real conservative to vote for)
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To: xzins
These articles speculate that Mary Jo was curled up asleep in the back while Ted and another woman were in front. They could have escaped through Ted's open window. It's possible, I guess. Yet, you'd think the identity of the 2nd woman would have been exposed by now.

http://tomroeser.com/blogview.asp?blogID=24593

http://dailysally.blogspot.com/2006/01/my-ted-kennedy-chappaquiddick-story.html

42 posted on 08/31/2009 12:08:07 AM PDT by crunk
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To: Goreknowshowtocheat

What would happen to a contract with Mary Jo’s parents now that Ted is dead?


43 posted on 08/31/2009 12:10:04 AM PDT by maggief (KennedyCare ... Dead in the Water)
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To: advance_copy

Now I know this is probably going to make one or more of the Libertarians on FR unhappy, but the truth is that the matter is NOT over with in this matter. There is a day coming when Ted Kennedy will stand before the Supreme Judge and answer for this. Count on it.


44 posted on 08/31/2009 12:11:55 AM PDT by righttackle44 (Forgiveness is not my strong suit, but I'm trying . . .)
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To: advance_copy

There is only one person who knew what happened at Chappaquiddick. Ted took that secret to the grave.

IMO Teddy was never in the car. He was never ever seen wet, as he would have been had he been in the car. He had driven over Dike Bridge hundreds of times and it is unlikely he would have missed the turnoff for the Ferry and gone into the drink.

Mary Jo’s parents were paid off to go away and keep their silence. So what did happen that night? We can only speculate.

One hypothesis that Mary Jo was murdered to cover up a pregnancy. More like is that Mary Jo was murdered to rtuin Teddy’s career. The plane crash he was in that injured his back for life was just a warning.

The Kennedys played hard ball with the big boys. They were heavily involved with the Chicago mob, organized crime in general and had many political enemies.

No one will ever know the truth.


45 posted on 08/31/2009 12:13:11 AM PDT by Cincinna (TIME TO REBUILD * PALIN * JINDAL * CANTOR 2012)
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To: Scotswife

I seem to remember hearing that a couple saw him around 2am, heading back toward his hotel, which, IIRC was in Edgartown, and he was soaking wet. The Ferry had stopped running for the night, and he had just swum across the channel that separates Chappaquiddick Island from Edgartown.


46 posted on 08/31/2009 12:34:53 AM PDT by SuziQ
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To: GnuHere

From what I’ve read in the past few days, there was an effort to exhume her body but her parents fought it. I’ve also heard that shortly after her death the parents moved to a much nice house.

No doubt her parents were persuaded by a consiglieri with a big check that convicting Teddy wouldn’t bring MaryJo back, so they might as well have some (blood) money for their loss. How could a perfectly middle class couple ever go up against the Kennedys and their slime machine without destroying their daughter’s reputation, as surely would happen? She was, after all, heading off in a car from a drinking party to a hotel with a married man. Better to just be quiet and let the whole thing die down. So, once again, at least it appears, the Kennedy power and money got Teddy out of a mess.

My memory from the time was that he tried to get a cousin to say he (the cousin) was driving the car. Thus, the call to the desk clerk complaining of the noise next door, and asking the desk clerk what time it was, to establish his alibi.

Honorable statesman, right.


47 posted on 08/31/2009 12:38:53 AM PDT by EDINVA (A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul -- G. B. Shaw)
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To: HiTech RedNeck

back then,a different world morally,she could have,as has been speculated,been pregnant which would have been a motivation for the parents to not want to look deeply.Perhaps even the hint and not even the reality would have been enough.


48 posted on 08/31/2009 1:39:24 AM PDT by wiggen (Never in the history of our great country have the people had less representation than they do today)
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To: freekitty

gee whiz,he wasn’t able to become president.


49 posted on 08/31/2009 1:42:31 AM PDT by wiggen (Never in the history of our great country have the people had less representation than they do today)
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To: advance_copy
Ted beat a murder wrap.
For a short time.
He is no longer beating the wrap . . . . . . .
50 posted on 08/31/2009 2:49:30 AM PDT by DeaconRed (0 has gotta GO. . . . before the country goes. . . . Wisdom from V537)
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To: advance_copy

Is this the start of the Diefication of Ted Kennedy?
Are we seeing a serious effort to rewrite history?
To clean up Teddy’s biography by creating a false meme as to why he he acted so cowardly?
Or to even question the judgment that he did act irresponsibly and cowardly?

Much of the true information on his despicable life already seems to be disappearing from the internet.

The truth is that the truth is well known - at least for now.

He was a wealthy, irresponsible, alcoholic playboy who was used to running away from problems and responsibility with the aid of his daddy’s money and connections.

He was booted from Harvard for cheating and for paying another person to take a test for him, but was eventually readmitted.

He enlisted in the Army during the Korean Conflict for three (some reports say four) years but his daddy got his enlistment term shortened to less than two years.
He was flunked out of Army intelligence school and went on to receive a plum assignment in Paris while the fighting in Korea raged. During that time he never rose above the rank of PFC, even with the great political influence of his family.

His lifelong career as an arrogant, irresponsible, drunken, philandering politician is known to all.

If he didn’t have the Kennedy money and political pull to get through college and become elected to the senate he would never have made it past the doors of the nearest barroom and whorehouse.


51 posted on 08/31/2009 3:53:57 AM PDT by Iron Munro (America's awkward stage: too late to work within the system, too early to shoot the bastards)
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To: EDINVA

I don’t think he was in the car. I read an article somewhere that had this theory. They said that Kennedy and Mary Jo had been in the car together at one point but then later he got out of the car and she drove off. She was not familiar with the area and accidentally drove off the bridge. He didn’t report the accident because he was not aware of it until the next day.

I’m not sure why Kennedy would claim to be in the car if he really wasn’t. It doesn’t make a lot of sense, but it never made any sense that he was somehow able to get out of the car after it went off the bridge and she was not able to get out. Surely someone would have seen him in town soaking wet and would have asked him questions. But nothing like that happened.


52 posted on 08/31/2009 5:12:52 AM PDT by blueinkpen
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To: maggief

Good question, but the Kennedys have it covered I bet.


53 posted on 08/31/2009 5:54:07 AM PDT by Goreknowshowtocheat
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To: blueinkpen
This is all from recollection: the Kapell theory (if I got the name right) is that Teddy took MJK for a drive that night and he hit something -- of course, he was driving drunk. MJK was severely injured, and Teddy thought she was dead. It happens that MA state law requires that when a legally intoxicated driver is responsible for a traffic accident which results in a fatality, that driver must be charged with manslaughter.

So, after consulting with Markham and Gargan, Teddy ran the car off the Dyke Bridge and concocted the story about missing the turn in the dark, hours of disorientation, etc. Not very good, but the best that could be done on short notice. The point being, they all thought MJK was dead anyway, so they were just avoiding a legal complication by keeping Teddy away from the breathalyzer until his BAC returned to a legal level.

As it turned out, she wasn't dead, and if Teddy and company hadn't been so concerned about political office and damage control, the whole thing could have been cleared up that night, once MJK came around.

He wouldn't even have had to wear a neck brace.

54 posted on 08/31/2009 6:02:11 AM PDT by thulldud (It HAS happened here!)
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To: thulldud

The story did not die with Kennedy. There are others involved who know what happened. Why they won’t step forward and be honest is beyond me.


55 posted on 08/31/2009 6:13:34 AM PDT by King Hawk
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To: pawdoggie

Oh come on - he was with a single woman - driving off the main road to go to a deserted beach - had been at a party with 8 young single women and 8 married men - without their wives - and drives off a bridge where the young woman dies and doesn’t call the authorities until enough time as gone by for an alcohol test to be meaningless... yeah, no one will ever know... right.


56 posted on 08/31/2009 7:30:29 AM PDT by GOPJ (What's Socialism ??: "Envy" gussied up as a political cause...... David Horowitz)
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"the article I read today said he went to a hotel.
Did anyone ever say if they saw him wet? or dry?"

I don't remember reading that, or not.

But here is one of the best summaries of Ted's adventure with Mary Jo..................

He didn't call the Police until 9am the next morning; after breakfast.

57 posted on 08/31/2009 7:34:00 AM PDT by NoRedTape
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To: Old Seadog

That brace was probably one of Jack’s old ones...


58 posted on 08/31/2009 7:52:16 AM PDT by 5thGenTexan
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To: NoRedTape

Oh come on - he was with a single woman - driving off the main road to go to a deserted beach - had been at a party with 8 young single women and 8 married men - without their wives - and drives off a bridge where the young woman dies and doesn’t call the authorities until enough time as gone by for an alcohol test to be meaningless... yeah, no one will ever know... right.


59 posted on 08/31/2009 8:06:10 AM PDT by GOPJ (What's Socialism ??: "Envy" gussied up as a political cause...... David Horowitz)
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To: EDINVA

[From what I’ve read in the past few days, there was an effort to exhume her body but her parents fought it.]

Yep, and the Kennedys paid their lawyer bills.


60 posted on 08/31/2009 10:48:04 AM PDT by KansasGirl ( Obama's heroes have always been left-wing radicals.)
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