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NY Times Op-Ed: Chappaquiddick Film Is ‘Character Assassination’ of Ted Kennedy
freebeacon ^ | April 6, 2018 | Alex Griswold

Posted on 04/07/2018 7:15:58 AM PDT by MarvinStinson

In a New York Times op-ed published Friday, a liberal journalist and film critic complained the new film Chappaquiddick was a "character assassination" of its central character, Democratic Senator Ted Kennedy.

"How ‘Chappaquiddick’ Distorts a Tragedy" wrote Neal Gabler, who is working on a biography of Kennedy.

Gabler complained the film, released in theaters Friday, has been "heavily promoted by conservative media outlets, and reviewers across the political spectrum have praised what they deem its damning but factual approach. Damning it is; factual it is not."

There actually was no "cover-up" of Kennedy's car accident that led to the death of an aide, he claims, adding that "no one but the most lunatic conspiracy theorists see this as anything but a tragic accident in which nothing much was covered up."

Chappaquiddick tells the story of a car accident that occurred on Chappaquiddick Island, Massachusetts in 1969. The accident was caused by Kennedy's negligence and resulted in the death of his passenger, Mary Jo Kopechne, who was trapped inside the vehicle. The screenwriters have said their efforts in making the film aren’t partisan and they aimed to tell the facts of the story.

Gabler doesn't actually point to any factual errors in the film (save for the fact that Joe Kennedy, confined to a wheelchair by a stroke, likely wouldn't be able to grunt one-word dialogue like he does in the film). Instead, his criticism is limited more to the depiction of Kennedy as a character.

"In this version, the Kennedy character leaves Kopechne to die as she gasps for air, and then, with the aid of his brothers’ old advisers, cooks up a scheme to salvage his presidential ambitions. A more callow, cunning, cowardly and self-interested yet moronic figure you couldn’t find," he wrote.

Gabler claimed Kennedy actually felt "deep remorse and responsibility," and eventually grew to be "an indispensable legislator whose achievements included the 18-year-old vote, the Americans With Disabilities Act and the Children’s Health Insurance Program."

"It is very possible that over time, through the osmosis of social media, the despicable Kennedy of this movie will eradicate the honorable if flawed real one," Gabler wrote.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: chappaquiddick; kennedyfamily; maryjokopechne; massachusetts; moviereview; nytimes; tedkennedy
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1 posted on 04/07/2018 7:15:58 AM PDT by MarvinStinson
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To: MarvinStinson

Some characters deserve assassination.


2 posted on 04/07/2018 7:18:13 AM PDT by jimfree (My17 y/o granddaughter continues to have more quality exec experience than an 8 year Obama.)
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To: MarvinStinson

What character?


3 posted on 04/07/2018 7:18:48 AM PDT by BookmanTheJanitor
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To: MarvinStinson

What character?


4 posted on 04/07/2018 7:18:51 AM PDT by AndyJackson
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To: MarvinStinson

As if he needed any help. He “suffered” from lack of character for years. I’d call him a pig but that would be an insult to pigs.


5 posted on 04/07/2018 7:19:45 AM PDT by rktman (Enlisted in the Navy in '67 to protect folks rights to strip my rights. WTH?)
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To: MarvinStinson
He got drunk, got in his car to drive a young girl to his house for a little nookie, drove off a bridge, got out of his car and walked the rest of the way home, leaving the girl to drown. But he called police and ambulance as soon as he got home, right? No, he went to bed.

Nice guy.
6 posted on 04/07/2018 7:20:19 AM PDT by LIConFem (I will no longer accept the things I cannot change. it's time to change the things I cannot accept.)
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To: MarvinStinson

More like he committed character suicide.


7 posted on 04/07/2018 7:20:20 AM PDT by ImJustAnotherOkie (All I know is what I read in the papers.)
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To: MarvinStinson

Mary Jo was unavailable for comment.


8 posted on 04/07/2018 7:20:41 AM PDT by Puppage (You may disagree with what I have to say, but I shall defend to your death my right to say)
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To: jimfree
Some characters deserve assassination.

To paraphrase StarTrek's Dr. McCoy: "He's already dead, Jim."

9 posted on 04/07/2018 7:21:10 AM PDT by Pearls Before Swine ("Married with children.")
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To: MarvinStinson

LOL....HE DIDN’T get the nickname because he was an Olympian....


10 posted on 04/07/2018 7:21:47 AM PDT by Doogle (( USAF.68-73..8th TFW Ubon Thailand....never store a threat you should have eliminated)))
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To: MarvinStinson

The Kool-Aid still pours continuously from every tap at the New York Times.


11 posted on 04/07/2018 7:22:11 AM PDT by Sooth2222 (Hanlon's Razor: "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.")
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To: MarvinStinson

Sounds like my kind of film


12 posted on 04/07/2018 7:22:17 AM PDT by laweeks
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To: MarvinStinson
Gabler complained the film, released in theaters Friday, has been "heavily promoted by conservative media outlets, and reviewers across the political spectrum have praised what they deem its damning but factual approach. Damning it is; factual it is not."

There are two possibilities for Gabler. He is either nine years old or (as Gil Grissom once said on CSI) as phony as a Chappaquiddick neck brace.

13 posted on 04/07/2018 7:22:28 AM PDT by stevem
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To: ImJustAnotherOkie

“More like he committed character suicide.”

Ditto


14 posted on 04/07/2018 7:22:39 AM PDT by polymuser (Its terrible to contemplate how few politicians are hanged today. - Chesterton)
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To: MarvinStinson

When it came to a woman’s life, he ran, leaving her to die.

A philanderer’s cowardice.

That’s all I need to know about this creep.


15 posted on 04/07/2018 7:22:52 AM PDT by onedoug
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To: MarvinStinson
“It is very possible that over time, through the osmosis of social media, the despicable Kennedy of this movie will eradicate the honorable if flawed real one," Gabler wrote.

The real Kennedy was despicable long before the movie was made.

16 posted on 04/07/2018 7:23:57 AM PDT by windsorknot
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To: MarvinStinson

W H A T . C H A R A C T E R . ?


17 posted on 04/07/2018 7:24:03 AM PDT by DoughtyOne (01/26/18 DJIA 30 stocks $26,616.71 48.794% > open 11/07/16 215.71 from 50% increase 1.2183 yrs..)
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To: MarvinStinson

“...character assassination of Ted Kennedy.....”

The exposition of facts is character assassination?

And yet, the on-going character assassination of a sitting President, with nothing but hearsay and manufactured “facts” is nothing but the exercise of free speech?

How absolutely amazing.

IMHO


18 posted on 04/07/2018 7:24:06 AM PDT by ripley (ose who dis)
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To: MarvinStinson
He was truly the Loin of the Senate.

(spellchecked for your protection)

19 posted on 04/07/2018 7:24:17 AM PDT by niteowl77
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To: MarvinStinson

20 posted on 04/07/2018 7:26:05 AM PDT by Fresh Wind (Hillary: Go to jail. Go directly to jail. Do not pass GO. Do not collect 2 billion dollars.)
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