Patterico's Pontifications

She might have:
Cured Cancer or mothered the one who did.
Become a serial killer. Highly unlikely, but since she’s dead, anything could have happened.
Charged a Kennedy with rape.
Been a happy woman with a good career as whatever it was she chose to be.

Mostly she would have done as she ought: Lived.

Vivian Louise (eeeb3a) — 7/26/2010 @ 9:51 am

She was an only child with a bright future. Her only mistake was to associate with privileged and self important scum like Kennedy. There is no doubt in my mind that he was taking her to a beach and he was drunk. There was a house with a light on 100 yards away from the scene.

Mike K (0ef8c3) — 7/26/2010 @ 9:59 am

This death was brought to you in service of Teh Narrative. Crissyhooten and timmah and their ilk approve.

JD (a0372a) — 7/26/2010 @ 10:05 am

Since some liberals think her life and death is best understood in the context of how it served Ted Kennedy, perhaps she’d simply have written many jokes for Sen Kennedy to make him laugh, having deprived him of some of his favorites.

Yes, I’m being mean. But not to Ms. Kopechne.

And speaking of mean (but hilarious), here’s Glenn Beck et al riffing on Sen. Kennedy’s very warped sense of humor (skip to 4:20 — NSFW warning for adult topics and criticism of a deceased person):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPmczKV66IY

no one you know (196ed7) — 7/26/2010 @ 10:32 am

But for her association with Ted Kennedy, God only knows.

Gabby (df70b7) — 7/26/2010 @ 10:54 am

I despised Teddy for the way he behaved and used his contacts and privilege to “save” himself while letting her drown. Still Mary Jo’s death definitely prevented him from ever becoming POTUS.

What saddens me even today, though, is that at 28 she was old enough to have known better than get into a car driven by a drunk married man late at night. I’ve often wondered–assuming she herself was sober– what exactly did she think was going to happen next? This aspect alone must have been difficult for her poor parents to reconcile even as they were dealing with the loss of their child.

elissa (69e565) — 7/26/2010 @ 11:08 am

mmm, i think we should just let the dead rest in piece. I am sure she went on to a better world. Kennedy, on the other hand, endangered his mortal soul that day, and thus his fate is less certain.

But you know just the other day this site ran a story about how a man intentionally made a family receive junk mail for a person they loved to hurt them. This is not the same thing, but if i was a member of the family, maybe i would want to read our site without having that loss shoved in my face. So i would say lets drop this as a topic in the future. Alot of women get their lives cut short. She deserved to be highlighted up until now as an indictment on Kennedy and yes, even the voters who kept sending him back. but i think beyond that, we should just let her and her family rest in peace.

If anyone in her family should listen, we are all sorry she died. i think most of us wish kennedy paid a deeper price for what he had done. and i hope you all have found peace.

Aaron Worthing (A.W.) (f97997) — 7/26/2010 @ 11:12 am

Mary Jo was tied to all 3 Kennedy brothers. She was one of George Smathers secretaries when JFK sounded out Smathers as a replacement for LBJ on the second term ticket. In the Fall of 1963, Mary Jo had the inside scoop on the hottest piece of political dynamite in all of Washington DC.

Mary Jo also happened to share a condo with Nancy Tyler who was secretary to Bobby Baker, or Little Lyndon as he was know around the Senate.

After JFK was murdered in Dallas, Mary Jo went to work for Bobby Kennedy, she was working on his campaign for the Democrat nomination when he was murdered in Los Angeles.

And, of course, everyone knows where she was when Ted Kennedy took a wrong turn in Chappaquiddick.

ropelight (bc442a) — 7/26/2010 @ 11:17 am

It’s been 330 days since Fat Teddy assumed room temperature. (or whatever they keep the temp at in Hell.)

(btw, if I ever do ANY of the crimes that Fat Teddy did, feel free to make all the snide comments you want upon my death. So don’t give me that ‘respect for the dead’ crap.)

jakee308 (e1996a) — 7/26/2010 @ 11:20 am

Yes, let her Rest in Peace…
Ah, the Kennedy dynasty. Fame is a vapor; riches take wing. Although that endures is character. What Kennedy ever actually showed good character? I expect that the one sister was an innocent and yet was given an unnecessary lobotomy as a convenience for her “family”.

Mary Jo’s untimely death was instrumental in sparing us a Fat Teddy presidency. JFK, Jr. spared us himself as possible future POTUS. What does it say about the people of Massachusetts who kept sending scum back to DC? And that includes Lurch sKerry. Btw, whatever happened to Teddy’s pooch Splash?

aoibhneas (47f3ae) — 7/26/2010 @ 11:23 am

All I know is that if she hadn’t gotten in that car with the late Teddy Kennedy, she would have lived a longer life…period.

I feel great sympathy for her family. No parent should have to bury their child, especially under these particular circumstances.

Teddy Kennedy had no soul as evidenced by his life on earth. Mary Jo Kopechne is in a better place, and she was a better person BY FAR than Teddy Kennedy EVER was.

Charlotte (dad663) — 7/26/2010 @ 11:38 am

==If anyone in her family should listen, we are all sorry she died. i think most of us wish kennedy paid a deeper price for what he had done. and i hope you all have found peace==

AW, you consistently show yourself on this blog to be a compassionate and thoughtful person and it is duly noted and respected by me, and I am sure by many regulars. Since you may have felt an earlier comment of mine was harsh and disrespectful to MJ I will add this: As a guy you may not realize that Mary Jo and Teddy were used as a ready example by parents for a couple of generations of young ladies which included me. (Steer clear of married men, and if drinking is going on and you are stuck somewhere when it’s time to leave and you need a ride home always call us or a cab.) If any other gals are on this thread I’m sure they will immediately relate to what I am saying about this.

elissa (69e565) — 7/26/2010 @ 11:41 am

The odds are in favor of her still being alive today, but for one tragic lapse in judgment.

Icy Texan (1fc458) — 7/26/2010 @ 11:45 am

It is so sad, that a life was ended far too soon, and the one responsible skated away for 40 yeara

ian cormac (16bb53) — 7/26/2010 @ 11:46 am

It is so sad, that a life was ended far too soon, and the one responsible skated away for 40 yeara

Comment by ian cormac — 7/26/2010 @ 11:46 am

Amen. Her poor, poor parents, especially since she was an only child. For this act alone of putting her in danger, and leaving her there for his own benefit, Kennedy deserves the undending scorn of all decent people.

We’re not supposed to speak ill of the dead but some people’s acts are so reprehensible that pretending that someone’s passing into eternity renders them morally good seems a desecration all its own.

no one you know (196ed7) — 7/26/2010 @ 11:52 am

Not only is this horse dead, but so is the man that killed it, so why keep beating it?

libarbarian (90bd00) — 7/26/2010 @ 12:13 pm

To quote Senator Kennedy’s brother:

“We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien philosophies, and competitive values. For a nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people.” Nov. 21, 1963

BfC (5209ec) — 7/26/2010 @ 12:36 pm

Libarbarian: As my five year old daughter used to say when she was five … How Rude!

PatAZ (9d1bb3) — 7/26/2010 @ 1:12 pm

Mary Jo is looking down now at Teddy, thinking “Well, you let me drown. Sorry, Ted. Can’t help you now.”

either orr (58d2a4) — 7/26/2010 @ 2:38 pm

I still think the best Kennedy was killed when his plane filled with explosives crashed during WWII – Joe Jr., we hardly knew ye. Or his sister Kit, who told her family (particularly her evil shrew of a mother) to go f-ck themselves when she married a British war hero who got divorced shortly before their nuptials (an Episcopalian as well, horrors!). They were both also killed in a plane crash during WWII. All the tragedies I believe are the direct result of the sins of their father, who made a great fortune in ill – gotten deals with mobsters and bilking the main street investors in the stock market. They all took their personality and MO from their father, with predictably tragic results. If Joe Sr. had not made his sons pit themselves against each other for his affection, Joe Jr. would probably have not gone on such a dangerous mission (his term was up) – but he had to, since his younger brother had come home in glory (but not really, if you look at his record during his PT boat disaster).

Dmac (d61c0d) — 7/26/2010 @ 3:12 pm

#16

“Not only is this horse dead, but so is the man that killed it, so why keep beating it?”

Comment by libarbarian — 7/26/2010 @ 12:13 pm

Ah, so what you are saying is…” The perpetrators are dead, the victims are dead”, so, therefore, all should be forgiven and forgotten? Why beat the dead horse? Like Hitler, Mussolini, Checheskiew (sp), Lenin, Pol Pot, and such? Really? Why beat a dead horse? Oh, yeah, the perpetrators and victims are dead…so never mind?

I would venture to say, that if Mary Jo would have been 70, her parents are no longer alive. I don’t know for fact, but I will say this…Her parents suffered all of their lives because of the actions of one of the Kennedy clan. And you seem to think it matters not? alllllllllllrighty then!

Please, do RIP, Mary Jo.

jw (067e77) — 7/26/2010 @ 3:58 pm

If Ted had been a Greyhound bus driver, his career would have been over. They have higher standards than the U.S. Senate.

Huey (efe02b) — 7/26/2010 @ 4:06 pm

“Not only is this horse dead, but so is the man that killed it, so why keep beating it?”

To borrow a line from “She Wore A Yellow Ribbon“:
“Lest we forget!”

This is, as elissa points out, one of those lessons in life that need to be continually taught, and remembered;
so that they shall not be repeated.

AD - RtR/OS! (46981b) — 7/26/2010 @ 4:21 pm

Teddy heroic!
shout “look for air pocket!” and
then swim to safety

ColonelHaiku (ac3c3c) — 7/26/2010 @ 5:17 pm

What would she be doing today? Thanking Ted Kennedy for his legacy. Isn’t that what we were told, not that long ago?

Patterico (c218bd) — 7/26/2010 @ 5:34 pm

I don’t know what she would be doing today, but she certainly should have had the opportunity to live long enough to actually decide what she would be doing. The decision should not have been made for her.

Dana (8ba2fb) — 7/26/2010 @ 5:38 pm

I was on Cape Cod as a kid on a family vacation when the incident at Chappaquidick occurred and remember it vividly, including the discussions among the adults about how Teddy was going to get away with it. As a teenager I visited the site of her drowning on a bicycle trip. Teddy must have been really plastered not to have been able to help her.

If she were 70, I would hope that she were a Republican activist.

daleyrocks (940075) — 7/26/2010 @ 5:41 pm

Between Mary Jo
and wife Joan Teddy leave quite
trail of wreckage

ColonelHaiku (ac3c3c) — 7/26/2010 @ 5:55 pm

Mary Jo undoubtedly was of the left. If she was intrinsically that way, then her politics would not have shifted right as she grew older. IOW, wisdom would not have penetrated her thinking as she matured (ie, chronologically), anymore than what happened to Ted Kennedy.

Since liberals tend to be lousy assessors of reality, and often upside-down when judging the good and bad in both people and situations, I can easily imagine Mary Jo from beyond the grave proclaiming:

“Teddy Kennedy was a wonderful, beautiful, compassionate, noble, big-hearted liberal. Yes, he was kind of a scumbag, but he was a scumbag of the left. And being a progressive is all that matters, is all that counts in life—and beyond!”

Mark (411533) — 7/26/2010 @ 8:36 pm

“A Bridge Too Far” with
Foster Brooks as lovable
Teddy Kennedy

ColonelHaiku (ac3c3c) — 7/26/2010 @ 8:43 pm

Lib, so once a murderer and his victim are both dead, we should stop talking about the fact that his fame bought his freedom?

I disagree.

Mitch (e40959) — 7/26/2010 @ 10:14 pm

#

If Ted had been a Greyhound bus driver, his career would have been over. They have higher standards than ~~the U.S. Senate~~ Massachusetts Democrats.

Comment by Huey — 7/26/2010 @ 4:06 pm

FTFY Huey

Have Blue (854a6e) — 7/26/2010 @ 10:21 pm

What would she be doing today? Thanking Ted Kennedy for his legacy. Isn’t that what we were told, not that long ago?

Comment by Patterico — 7/26/2010 @ 5:34 pm

From my January 2010 blog entry recounting how I was temporarily banned from Mediaite after turning a fat joke about Rush Limbaugh into a fat joke about Ted Kennedy:

Many progressives feel that Kennedy’s life of public service atoned for his complicity in Kopechne’s demise, with one [HuffPo blogger Melissa Lafsky] even suggesting that Mary Jo[‘s death] was the “catalyst for the most successful Senate career in history … Who knows — maybe she’d feel it was worth it.” New York Times writer and Kennedy biographer Adam Clymer actually wrote (in 1999): “[His] achievements as a senator have towered over his time, changing the lives of far more Americans than remember the name Mary Jo Kopechne.” How sick is that? Mary Jo was a human being who deserved a full life. Through his negligence (to put it mildly), Ted Kennedy ended her life. But when she becomes the topic, some people use themselves as human shields to protect Kennedy from accepting responsibility as if he were their own child.

Remember what George W. Bush said about Adam Clymer? He knew of what he spoke.

L.N. Smithee (51aebb) — 7/27/2010 @ 5:53 am

Sorry, forgot link:

http://lnsmitheeblog.blogspot.com/2010/01/well-isnt-this-interesting.html

This too, from former Newsweek editor Ed Klein (what IS it about these journalists named “Klein”?) who had the following conversation on NPR the morning after Kennedy died:

KATTY KAY, NPR HOST: Ed Klein, that’s what I’m hearing today, that people are sad at his passing, and yet celebrating this huge life and its huge long list of accomplishments.

ED KLEIN, FORMER NEWSWEEK EDITOR: I think he’d be the last person who would want us, those he’s left behind … to, um, be, uh … morose and, and full of bathos. I think he, he —

KAY: He would come in with a big guffawing laugh and make us laugh too.

KLEIN: He would, yes. You’re so right, he would. And he’d probably have a joke to tell as well.

KAY: At his own expense.

KLEIN: Well y’know, he, I don’t know if you know this or not but, one of his favorite topics of humor was indeed Chappaquiddick itself. And he would ask people, “Have you heard any new jokes about Chappaquiddick?” I mean, that is just the most amazing thing. It’s not that he didn’t feel remorse about the death of Mary Jo Kopechne, but that he still always saw, um, the other side of everything and the ridiculous side of things, too.

Audio here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaiTipTtbak&feature=player_embedded

L.N. Smithee (51aebb) — 7/27/2010 @ 6:08 am

Amen, L.N. Amen. The lionization of Sen. Swimmer is disgusting.

JD (a6e035) — 7/27/2010 @ 6:09 am

Teddy asking for jokes about Chappaquiddick is like Susan Smith asking for jokes about kids drowning in cars. Tasteless and truely ookie.

But hey, a tasteless, womanizing, drunk asshat was totally awesome because he was a progressive. Check! I got the memo.

I’m thinking it’s time to bring my “I <3 McCarthy" t-shirt out of storage.

Vivian Louise (eeeb3a) — 7/27/2010 @ 7:04 am

“…It’s not that he didn’t feel remorse about the death of Mary Jo Kopechne, but that he still always saw, um, the other side of everything and the ridiculous side of things, too…”

Well, sure, Ted Kennedy was more than a little ridiculous. But I am eternally surprised by the mind reading going on in this kind of situation.

What kind of person makes jokes about a situation where a woman drowned? Especially when that person, um, bore some responsibility for the death?

It’s clearly creepy beyond belief. And yet the MSM gave him cover. How did Klein know that Ted Kennedy felt remorse?

It just fit Teh Narrative.

Eric Blair (d7ba5c) — 7/27/2010 @ 7:44 am

Ted can exchange Chappaquiddick jokes with the Devil, now.

But, in the overall scheme of things … they are both out of our power and out of our judgment. Let the dead bury the dead.

nk (db4a41) — 7/27/2010 @ 7:55 am

Like so many others who died before their time… who knows? I lost friends in both Vietnam and to the not-so-Cold War. Should I be blaming Lyndon Johnson and Ronald Reagan for ordering troops into harms way? What of the 40,000 people per year to die on US highways? Are they any less valuable than an unknown bimbo?

I hated Ted Kennedy for his cowardice; this chest beating has to stop, folks. Enough is enough. They are both dead and gone. Let it rest.

Wil North (a77f60) — 7/27/2010 @ 8:15 am

Maybe Ted would have left his wife and married her.

Kevin Murphy (5ae73e) — 7/27/2010 @ 8:44 am

I would hope that Mary Jo would have gone on to fulfill whatever career and family desires that would have made her happy.

I gather that when the grim reaper was on Kennedy’s doorstep he wrote a letter for the pope and had the President deliver it. When you read the letter it is filled with self-serving statements on how much good he did and asked for the Pope to pray for him. As a catholic, I’m of the opinion that this sort of “hail mary” pass doesn’t work. Look up the note and have a read. Never does this arrogant fellow ask for forgiveness or show any form of repentence.

I suspect that Teddy is, at least, doing penance in purgatory or has failed life’s test completely and currently resides in a considerably warmer climate.

scr_north (6ae2d1) — 7/27/2010 @ 9:45 am

I have a picture in my mind what the Old Sot is doing. It involves Richard Nixon and is not safe for work or family.

PCD (1d8b6d) — 7/27/2010 @ 10:13 am

Should I be blaming Lyndon Johnson and Ronald Reagan for ordering troops into harms way?

What a stupid reaction to the fact that Ted Kennedy’s irresponsible drunk driving killed a person, and he got away with his crimes because he was part of the aristocracy.

Blame Reagan for his mistakes, blame LBJ for theirs, but they were not killing people because they were drunk and selfish babies. They took on tremendous responsibilities that include national security, and part of the burden is that people die because of their decisions.

Good grief.

I think an occasional remembrance of just how Ted Kennedy was, and what he cost, is a terrific service.

Dustin (b54cdc) — 7/27/2010 @ 10:42 am

I lost friends in both Vietnam and to the not-so-Cold War. Should I be blaming Lyndon Johnson and Ronald Reagan for ordering troops into harms way?

Every national leader takes on the responsibility of being the person whose decision causes the deaths of innocent people counting into the millions. If you believe that you lost loved ones as a result of a foolhardy decision to send them into combat by the Commander-in-Chief, most people would not begrudge your personal feelings even if they agreed with the overall strategy.

(It must be noted that in the case of Reagan, nobody that he sent to war was conscripted.)

What of the 40,000 people per year to die on US highways? Are they any less valuable than an unknown bimbo?

I hated Ted Kennedy for his cowardice; this chest beating has to stop, folks. Enough is enough. They are both dead and gone. Let it rest.

Comment by Wil North — 7/27/2010 @ 8:15 am

If there was justice in the case of the death of Ms. Kopechne (or, as you just called her, “an unknown bimbo”) we would not be discussing either her or Ted; “Edward Moore Kennedy” would be a trivia quiz answer. But his coddling and failure to be significantly punished for his culpability in her death is no less a moral outrage than other deaths that went unpunished in that same era due to privilege presumed by the perpetrators.

L.N. Smithee (fe0773) — 7/27/2010 @ 10:51 am

That Wil North calls Mary an unknown bimbo is enough to completely justify this remembrance.
For all I know, she would have been a powerful democrat thorn in my side. She had every right to try to do whatever she wanted.

I doubt she would have been an unknown bimbo.

Dustin (b54cdc) — 7/27/2010 @ 10:56 am

Dustin — Even if you are a liberal and are thankful that Teddyquiddick was around to promote your agenda for decades on end, that still should not cause you to overlook the injustice that made it possible.

King David is lauded in the Scriptures as a mighty leader fighting on behalf of God (and a forefather of the Messiah), but he also was responsible for the cowardly murder of his pregnant mistress’ husband (Uriah the Hittite). The Almighty allowed him to continue to live, but only after he confessed, repented, and his new son died. Even after that, he rarely had a moment’s peace afterward (2 Samuel 11:1-12:25).

I don’t think David walked around with a smile asking if anyone had heard any yuk-yuks about Uriah being up against the wall, or something. But if you think that’s fair game, I’ll play along. (Ahem…) Eventually, someone will name a school after Ted. I propose that its team mascot be a killer whale.

L.N. Smithee (fe0773) — 7/27/2010 @ 12:13 pm

I didn’t so much hate Teddy as I hated that gang of remora fish around him, who’d have covered it up as best they could even if he’d shot Mary Jo just to watch her die. And I despised the Massachussetts voters who mindlessly voted him back into the senate every election.

Technomad (e2c0f2) — 7/27/2010 @ 2:27 pm

I think Absalom was David’s older son and Solomon was his younger. But it is a wonderful teaching story about human pride and arrogance. I think the Twenty-third Psalm says it all, in the end.

nk (db4a41) — 7/27/2010 @ 2:50 pm

Wanna play, “What if?”

Consider the death of Mary Jo Kopechne from two other perspectives, much darker ones.

Imagine, if you will, that Ted Kennedy may have intended to kill Mary Jo all along, that he blamed her for taking part in the murder of both his older brothers, and that he killed her in revenge.

Or, consider the possibility that Richard Nixon wanted to eliminate the threat Teddy posed in the upcoming presidential election, so Nixon’s Plumbers arranged to put an incapacitated Kopechne in Ted’s car and shove it off the bridge while Ted was drugged and dog drunk, and had no idea where he was or what happened till later.

ropelight (248476) — 7/27/2010 @ 4:13 pm

___________________________________________

KLEIN: Well y’know, he, I don’t know if you know this or not but, one of his favorite topics of humor was indeed Chappaquiddick itself. And he would ask people, “Have you heard any new jokes about Chappaquiddick?”
In my semi-regular salute to the left, I hereby repost the following:

Reason.com, December 2006

The people who give the least are the young, especially young liberals. [Public policy professor Arthur C.] Brooks writes that “young liberals — perhaps the most vocally dissatisfied political constituency in America today — are one of the least generous demographic groups out there….In 2002, they were 12 percent less likely to give money to charities, and one-third less likely to give blood.” Liberals, he says, give less than conservatives because of religion, attitudes about government, structure of families, and earned income.

He writes that young liberals are less likely do nice things for their nearest and dearest, too. Compared with young conservatives, “a lower percentage said they would prefer to suffer than let a loved one suffer, that they are not happy unless the loved one is happy, or that they would sacrifice their own wishes for those they love.”

^ Keep in mind that many humans during their younger years tend to have a soft spot for left-leaning dogma and various forms of lazy liberalism. IOW, fewer people begin life favoring conservatism and then move leftward. So the liberalism of many folks is rooted in something that’s corrupt and surprisingly just the opposite of what “leftys” like to think of themselves.

A lot of left-leaning sentiment and many liberals, in essence, are born BAD.
___________________________________________

Mark (411533) — 7/27/2010 @ 8:12 pm

12. Elissa

So true. I always tell my daughter, no matter where you are, no matter what time, call me and I will come and get you.

Mr. A. W. you have real class …if only … would be that we have a statesman or two with your disposition and thoughtfulness.

Ms. Kopechne was the sacrificial lamb that spared us a POTUS Ted Kennedy. Sadly her family shared that terrible sacrifice no parent should have to suffer.

drone (a279c6) — 7/27/2010 @ 11:30 pm

7/26/2010

What Would She Be Doing Today?

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