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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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To: MarvinStinson

America would have been much better off if teddy was the one who drowned that night.


41 posted on 04/07/2018 7:39:37 AM PDT by Leep (Make The Swamp Small Again!)
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To: Mears
Nothing is more liberal than the desire for money.

To be fair, he's trying to get it by producing a book people will want to pay for.

Noting is more liberal than taking by force money from other people who worked hard to earn it.

42 posted on 04/07/2018 7:39:55 AM PDT by null and void ("We don't let them have ideas. Why would we let them have guns?" ~ Joseph Stalin)
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To: EDINVA

People in my neighborhood,who all loved JFK, used to call Ted “The fat little brother”.

.


43 posted on 04/07/2018 7:39:58 AM PDT by Mears
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To: rktman

A new nickname for him then - we dub thee - pigbut.

nice ring kinda reminds one of manbearpig too...


44 posted on 04/07/2018 7:40:13 AM PDT by BrandtMichaels
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To: rktman

It is impossible to “assassinate” something that never existed. There was no “character” in Ted Kennedy to even be assassinated.

What he was, turned out to be revealed over time, and history is not kind to fools.

“The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones.”

Summing up, Ted Kennedy lived far too long.


45 posted on 04/07/2018 7:40:17 AM PDT by alloysteel (There are old pilots, and there are bold pilots. There are no old, bold pilots.)
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To: MarvinStinson
To liberals, being liberal excuses pretty much all else.

Gabler wrote: "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,"

Correcting him: It is very possible that over time, through the dissemination of the truth - despite the media's attempts to suppress it, the despicable Kennedy that was real will eradicate the honorable if flawed fake one.

46 posted on 04/07/2018 7:40:51 AM PDT by neverevergiveup
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To: MarvinStinson

“...as anything but a tragic accident in which nothing much was covered up.”

Nothing much? Just a murder, that’s all. I hope the Lion of the Senate is enjoying his eternal slow turning barbecue with the devil’s spit up his ass and out his mouth with an apple in his mouth and cherries in his eye sockets. Wide awake.


47 posted on 04/07/2018 7:43:31 AM PDT by Bonemaker (invictus maneo)
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To: BlueStateRightist

That was just one of many such encounters for “Top Bread” Ted.


48 posted on 04/07/2018 7:46:14 AM PDT by oblomov
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To: BookmanTheJanitor

Oh he had lots of character. It was just all bad character.


49 posted on 04/07/2018 7:46:24 AM PDT by yarddog
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To: MarvinStinson
Neal Gabler, Kennedy and Democratic lickspittle.

Enough said.

50 posted on 04/07/2018 7:46:26 AM PDT by RedMonqey (" Those who turn their arms in for plowshares will be doing the plowing for those who didnÂ’t.")
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To: MarvinStinson

Mary Jo Kopechne would disagree with the NYT’s assertions.

Oops, I forgot... She’s not here to do so.


51 posted on 04/07/2018 7:46:41 AM PDT by NFHale (The Second Amendment - By Any Means Necessary.)
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To: MarvinStinson

The NYT deserves nothing but scorn.


52 posted on 04/07/2018 7:47:01 AM PDT by I want the USA back (Lying Media: willing and eager allies of the hate-America left. PS. f*ck the media.)
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To: LIConFem

She did not drown. She ran out of air while awaiting the Beast’s rescue ...

Which was far worse.


53 posted on 04/07/2018 7:47:05 AM PDT by PIF (They came for me and mine ... now it is your turn ...)
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To: MarvinStinson

“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.”

Kennedy left Kopechne, and she died. I can’t believe the poor girl wasn’t gasping for air towards the end.

Where exactly is the untruth here?


54 posted on 04/07/2018 7:47:28 AM PDT by Junk Silver ("It's a little hard to herd people onto trains when they're shooting at you." SirLurkedalot)
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To: MarvinStinson

The radio ad cracked me up. I said “Contains graphic language and historical smoking”....... Historical smoking??


55 posted on 04/07/2018 7:47:49 AM PDT by tbpiper
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To: MarvinStinson

The truth hurts liberals.


56 posted on 04/07/2018 7:48:39 AM PDT by tennmountainman ("Prophet Mountainman" Predicter Of All Things RINO...for a small fee.)
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To: Mears

40 Years Since Chappaquiddick; Ted Kennedy, Mary Jo Kopechne

Newsbusters.org ^July 18, 2009 | Rich Noyes
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/rich-noyes/20...mfort-mary-jo-k

Today marks the 40th anniversary of the death of Mary Jo Kopechne, killed July 18, 1969 after leaving a party with Senator Edward Kennedy. That night, Kennedy drove his car off a bridge, and left the scene with Kopechne still in the submerged vehicle; he did not call the police until the following morning.

Over the course of the past four decades, the media elite have touted Kennedy as a “liberal lion,” spending far more time celebrating his ideological agenda than reminding people of his behavior that night in 1969. As Brent Baker noted in an op-ed back in 1999, the media have come to refer to Chappaquiddick as a “Kennedy tragedy,” not a “Kopechne tragedy.”

Perhaps the most egregious example of the liberal media planting a pro-Kennedy spin on Chappaquiddick came in a January 5, 2003 Boston Globe Magazine profile of Kennedy:

“If she had lived, Mary Jo Kopechne would be 62 years old. Through his tireless work as a legislator, Edward Kennedy would have brought comfort to her in her old age,” wrote the Globe’s Charles Pierce.

The quote was recognized as the worst of the year at the MRC’s DisHonors Awards in 2004.

In Memoriam: Mary Jo Kopechne


57 posted on 04/07/2018 7:50:05 AM PDT by MarvinStinson
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To: MarvinStinson

NY Times Op-Ed: Chappaquiddick Film Is ‘Character Assassination’ of Ted Kennedy

As if the Corrupt, fat slob had any character to assassinate to begin with. Total Bullshit.


58 posted on 04/07/2018 7:51:18 AM PDT by GoldenPup
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To: niteowl77
He was truly the Lying of the Senate.
59 posted on 04/07/2018 7:51:38 AM PDT by RedMonqey (" Those who turn their arms in for plowshares will be doing the plowing for those who didnÂ’t.")
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To: Mears

NYT complaining abort TK character abuse - roger wilco - directly over target, resume scrafing and bombing post haste.

Possibly yet another new nickname the

‘The fat little lyin brother’

I too believe the theory that Mary Jo was pregnant at the time of a possibly sleep-induced drowning. There are very many other interesting lose ends too. Like did the car crash and then later wind up in the pond - or did he crash it directly into the pond?


60 posted on 04/07/2018 7:52:02 AM PDT by BrandtMichaels
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