Poor Kennedy

[Dr. Shane]

Rep Kennedy seeks drug abuse help

Now some of us are wondering when his dad is going to seek treatment

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One day after he crashed his car near the U.S. Capitol, Rep. Patrick Kennedy, son of Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Edward Kennedy, said on Friday he would seek treatment for a long-term drug abuse problem.

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Kennedy said he had no recollection of the crash. "I simply do not remember getting out of bed, being pulled over by the police or being cited for three driving infractions."

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I guess this is not unheardof with this medication. Poor guy... and it would have to happen on a slow news day too

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His father said in a statement, "All of us in the family admire his courage in speaking publicly about very personal issues and fully support his decision to seek treatment."

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Hmmmm, maybe dad should follow the example.

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WPRO-AM talk-show host Dan Yorke urged his listeners to fire Kennedy in the November elections, saying he had exhausted his good will and cannot effectively serve constituents.

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I may agree he needs to be fired for wacko political beliefs, if he believes like his dad, but for taking sleeping pills... I think that is a bit of an over-reaction. If he was driving drunk, then absolutely he should be tossed out but giving him the benefit of the doubt, I don't see a need for action based on this incident. I do find it odd the police didn't take a breathalizer test.

[gina i]

Poor Kennedy??

[Neil D]

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I may agree he needs to be fired for wacko political beliefs, if he believes like his dad, but for taking sleeping pills...

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Excuse me, but what is there to prevent your political beliefs being labled as "Wacko"?

To be a six term member of congress is no mean feat, Shane. Obviously, he must be doing something right if he is to stay in office, incumbant though he is.

But to label anyone as "wacko" is nothing short of rude behavior, Shane, regardless of the current politcal climate. Christians, suposedly, have a higher standard of registering thier displeasure than to revert to vulgarity and rudeness.

That is my opinion....of which you have to listen to it...don't have to take it, but you do have to listen to it.

[Dr. Shane]

Ted Kennedy is not a six-term congressman but I will stand by my statement that his beliefs are wacko. The only reason he has continued to be relected is because of the legacy of his two bothers that were assasinated. Any average American that has done what he has, and believes what he does, would not have survived in the US Senate like he has.

Now I don't know what his son believes and I am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt in this episode. It is actually quite scary to me. Others that have used the same drug have also reported sleep walking and even driving without being aware of it.

[olger]

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Shane said:

I will stand by my statement that his beliefs are wacko. The only reason he has continued to be relected is because of the legacy of his two bothers that were assasinated. Any average American that has done what he has, and believes what he does, would not have survived in the US Senate like he has.

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I agree fully. To quote my father "Every time I see this Ted Kennedy mentioned in the papers, he is supporting the most ridiculous liberal cause that there is.."

gcw

[Neil D]

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Shane said:

Ted Kennedy is not a six-term congressman but I will stand by my statement that his beliefs are wacko. The only reason he has continued to be relected is because of the legacy of his two bothers that were assasinated. Any average American that has done what he has, and believes what he does, would not have survived in the US Senate like he has.

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And I was NOT refering to Ted Kennedy as being a six term congressman. I was refering to Rep. Patrick Kennedy, son of Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Edward Kennedy.

To quote your article that YOU provided about Rep. Patrick Kennedy -

[:"blue"] Kennedy said he had been "fighting this chronic disease since I was a young man" and wanted to continue working for his constituents in Rhode Island.

"I need to stay in the fight," said the [:"red"]six-term congressman [/] who was re-elected with 64 percent of the vote in 2004. [/]

As for Ted Kennedy staying in politics on the coat tails of both dead brothers, I would say that would work for at least one round during an election....But Ted Kennedy has been in office for over 40 years...and that sympathy vote can only go so far for so long..and it aint 40 years worth of sympathy.

Olger, as for supporting weird liberal things, here is a list of his current "liberal" things that he supports. If you want to talk intelligently about what he has done and supported, perhaps it is best to set aside your prejudices and look at what he has actually supported with in the last year...

[:"blue"] KENNEDY, DEMOCRATS URGE ENERGY SECRETARY TO CHANGE COURSE ON CONTRACTOR PENSIONS 05/05/06

STATEMENT OF SENATOR EDWARD M. KENNEDY ON LETTER TO DELPHI CORPORATION 05/05/06

STATEMENT OF SENATOR EDWARD M. KENNEDY ON UNEMPLOYMENT OF GULF STORM SURVIVORS 05/05/06

SENATOR EDWARD M. KENNEDY'S REACTION TO CONTENT OF THIRD BUSH FLU PLAN 05/04/06

KENNEDY, ROMNEY JOIN UMASS AMHERST TO ANNOUNCE A $16 MILLION FEDERAL GRANT FROM THE NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION 04/24/06

KENNEDY, COLLEAGUES URGE COAST GUARD TO OPPOSE FALL RIVER LNG PROJECT 04/19/06

KENNEDY, McGOVERN PRAISE ATTLEBORO'S REVITALIZATION 04/17/06

KENNEDY: MASS LEADS THE WAY IN HEALTH CARE FOR ALL 04/12/06

KENNEDY, COLLEAGUES APPLAUD FUNDING FOR NEW ENGLAND FISHERMAN AFFECTED BY RED TIDE 04/04/06[/]

[Dr. Shane]

Neil:

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I was NOT refering to Ted Kennedy

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I was.

Shane:

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I may agree he needs to be fired for wacko political beliefs,

if he believes like his dad

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Neil:

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that sympathy vote can only go so far for so long..

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In liberal New England it will last a lifetime. Ted drove off a bridge and left a female campaign worker to drownd. He didn't call the police until the next day! There is no politician that could get away with that except him. Bill Clinton couldn't even get away with something like that. It would have been different if he had called the police right away but he obviously had something to hide.

Jack and Robert have some very long coattails. Let's not even pretend the man deserves in any way to be a senator. He deserves to be an exconvict. When he gets votes people are voting for his last name, not his first. Ted is a disgrace. I take my hat off to his son. At least his son can admit he has a problem and do something about it. That is commendable. Daddy should take a lesson.

[Dr. Shane]

I stole this from a website.

Could you imagine what Teddy Kennedy would be asked if he was in Judge Alito's position? Here's my take on it:

"Thank you, Mr. Kennedy, for appearing before this inquisition, er, panel to answer questions pertaining to your suitability for sitting on the Supreme Court. As you have already been sworn in, please answer the following questions on your ethical ability & views truthfully and to the best of your ability:

1. Who was Mary Jo Kopechne?

2. Were you married at the time you knew Mary Jo Kopechne?

3. Did you have sexual relations with her as defined either by popular convention or by the Bill Clinton definition?

4. What happened that night in Chapaquitic?

5. Were you drinking that night?

6. Were you drunk?

7. Why were you driving?

8. Why did you leave that girl to die in a sinking car?

9. Why should you not be in a prison for drunken driving & vehicular manslaughter?

10. Have you ever been under the influence while in a Senate committee or on the Senate floor?

11. For the record, how many times have you been married?

12. For the record, have you ever lied, or knowingly stretched the truth in your testimony today or in hearings before any other committee?

13. Do you have an agenda? If so, what is it?

Thank you, Mr. Kennedy, for invoking your 5th Admendment rights. Please do not call us, we will call you. Please take care in leaving this chamber and don't let the door hit you on the way out."

[Neil D]

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I was NOT refering to Ted Kennedy

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I was.

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I may agree he needs to be fired for wacko political beliefs, if he believes like his dad

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Well, you may jump topic and move it from Robert to Ed, but I was attempting to keep on topic. YOU wanted to move it to Ed Kennedy. And apparently it has hit a sore spot with you as you went on to this diatribe-

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In liberal New England it will last a lifetime. Ted drove off a bridge and left a female campaign worker to drownd. He didn't call the police until the next day! There is no politician that could get away with that except him. Bill Clinton couldn't even get away with something like that. It would have been different if he had called the police right away and done all he could to try and save her. But he left her behind and didn't even bother to call for help.

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What does this have to do with Robert Kennedy? NOTHING! Instead, you went off, and showed how you truely felt about Ed Kennedy AND the JUstice system. You feel that he got away with murder....I will admit, there are questions that I didn't get a satisfactory answer. But I wasn't there, and I have to trust that the justice system will work itself out. Seems to me that is something that YOU told me over the Valery Plame affair...Now, here you are, upset that the justice system did work it out, and you are still upset over it...

Oh, as as for Chappaquiddick affair, here is a simplified version that you can read for yourself.

[:"blue"]Chappaquiddick

On July 18, 1969, after a party on Chappaquiddick Island near the island of Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, Kennedy drove away with Mary Jo Kopechne as a passenger in his 1967 Oldsmobile Delmont 88. According to Kennedy, he made a wrong turn onto an unlit road that led to Dike Bridge (also spelled Dyke Bridge), a wooden bridge angled obliquely to the road with no guardrail, and drove over its side. The car plunged into tide-swept Poucha Pond (at that location a channel) and came to rest upside down underwater. Kennedy was able to swim free of the vehicle, but Kopechne did not. Kennedy claims he tried several times to swim down to reach her, then rested on the bank for several minutes before returning on foot to the Lawrence Cottage, where the party attended by Kopechne and other "Boiler Room Girls" had occurred.

Joseph Gargan (Kennedy's cousin) and party co-host Paul Markham then returned to the pond with Kennedy to try to rescue Kopechne. Although there was a telephone at the Lawrence Cottage, nobody called for help. When their efforts to rescue Kopechne failed, Kennedy decided to return to his hotel on the mainland. As the Edgartown-Chappaquiddick ferry had shut down for the night, Kennedy swam across the 500-foot channel, back to Edgartown. The next day, he appeared on camera wearing a neck brace.

Kennedy discussed the accident with several people, including his lawyer and Kopechne's parents, before he contacted the police.

The next morning, the police recovered Kennedy's car. Kopechne's body was discovered by diver John Farrar, who observed that a large amount of air was released from the car when it was righted in the water, and that the trunk, when opened, was remarkably dry. These observations and others have led some to believe that Kopechne had not drowned, but suffocated in an air pocket within the car. As per her parents' wishes, no autopsy was performed and the precise cause of death is unknown.

The incident quickly blossomed into a scandal. Kennedy was criticized for allegedly driving drunk, for failing to save Kopechne, for failing to summon help immediately, and for contacting not the police but rather his lawyer first.

Kennedy entered a plea of guilty to a charge of leaving the scene of an accident after causing injury. He received a sentence of two months in jail, which was suspended. An Edgartown grand jury later reopened the investigation but did not return an indictment.

Many still question whether justice was served in this case. The case resulted in much satire directed against Kennedy, including a National Lampoon page showing a floating Volkswagen Beetle with the remark that Kennedy would have been elected President had he been driving a Beetle that night; this satire allegedly resulted in legal action by Volkswagen complaining of unauthorized use of their trademark. [/]

[Dr. Shane]

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But he left her behind and didn't even bother to call for help.

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Yes, I was mistaken on this point. He claims to have tried to save her before returning to others for help but not to call the police. I was also mistaken that he called the police the next day. He never did call the police. They found the car and called him.

The fact is that he was drinking that night. Mary Jo Kopechne's parents wouldn't allow an autopsy which would have shown the level of alcohol in her blood and possibly if she had sex that night.

It touches a nerve with me because drunk drivers kill over 10,000 people each year. Everyone of those deaths is avoidable. Every single one. There is no politician that could have killed someone in a drunk-driving accident and survived politically except a Kennedy in New England.

So like I said, daddy can learn something from his son.

[Neil D]

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The fact is that he was drinking that night. Mary Jo Kopechne's parents wouldn't allow an autopsy which would have shown the level of alcohol in her blood and possibly if she had sex that night.

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How do you know that she was drinking? How do you know that she had sex? YOu are assuming things that the courts may have addressed and you are already prejudiced against the man.

Never the less, this is totally

You are surmising things that the courts have already dealt with and you don't trust the courts to have done thier work. That is YOUR problem, not ours...And we dont need to listen to your poison. That is why I am done with this thread.

[Dr. Shane]

I am not one that believes in conspiracy theories but any thinking person knows there was a cover-up and this is totally on topic.

Ted Kennedy's son is now suspected of drunk driving. While I give his son the benefit of the doubt, I am not so generous with dad.

Thousands die each year in this country from drunk driving. (More than 10 times the number that die in Iraq) Those that die at the hands of drunk drivers are not dying for a noble cause or because of a viral outbreak. They die because some selfish person got drunk and decided to drive. Drunk driving deaths are 100% preventable.