Quote of the Day: Mark Steyn on Ted Kennedy

 

Mark Steyn’s columns always have plenty of quotable passages, but he surpassed himself with a review of the movie Chappaquiddick:

There is, as it happens, another brother – or “brother”: Kennedy cousin Joe Gargan, who lost his parents at a young age and was raised by Teddy’s parents as (almost) one of their own. As played by Ed Helms, Joe is the conscience of the picture: he doesn’t exactly do the right thing, but he’s broadly in favor of others doing the right thing, which, in the moral universe of the Kennedys, gives him a sporting chance of winding up a couple of circles of hell further out from where the rest of them are headed.

From a column he wrote after Ted Kennedy’s death:

As Joan Vennochi wrote in The Boston Globe:

Like all figures in history – and like those in the Bible, for that matter – Kennedy came with flaws. Moses had a temper. Peter betrayed Jesus. Kennedy had Chappaquiddick, a moment of tremendous moral collapse.

Actually, Peter denied Jesus, rather than “betrayed” him, but close enough for Catholic-lite Massachusetts. And if Moses having a temper never led him to leave some gal at the bottom of the Red Sea, well, let’s face it, he doesn’t have Ted’s tremendous legislative legacy, does he? Perhaps it’s kinder simply to airbrush out of the record the name of the unfortunate complicating factor on the receiving end of that moment of “tremendous moral collapse.” When Kennedy cheerleaders do get around to mentioning her, it’s usually to add insult to fatal injury. As Teddy’s biographer Adam Clymer wrote, Edward Kennedy’s “achievements as a senator have towered over his time, changing the lives of far more Americans than remember the name Mary Jo Kopechne.”

You can’t make an omelet without breaking chicks, right? I don’t know how many lives the senator changed – he certainly changed Mary Jo’s – but you’re struck less by the precise arithmetic than by the basic equation: How many changed lives justify leaving a human being struggling for breath for up to five hours pressed up against the window in a small, shrinking air pocket in Teddy’s Oldsmobile? If the senator had managed to change the lives of even more Americans, would it have been OK to leave a couple more broads down there?

I hope that I never make Mark Steyn angry with me.

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  1. Jim McConnell Member
    Jim McConnell
    @JimMcConnell

    I think Steyn was actually being quite charitable toward Kennedy.

    • #1
  2. Basil Fawlty Member
    Basil Fawlty
    @BasilFawlty

    “Speaking Ill of the Ted.” Heh.

    • #2
  3. OldPhil Coolidge
    OldPhil
    @OldPhil

    I’m trying very hard to remember some of Ted’s towering achievements…um…wait, there was Borking, right?

    • #3
  4. danok1 Member
    danok1
    @danok1

    OldPhil (View Comment):

    I’m trying very hard to remember some of Ted’s towering achievements…um…wait, there was Borking, right?

    Don’t forget the Waitress Sandwich.

    • #4
  5. Misthiocracy secretly Member
    Misthiocracy secretly
    @Misthiocracy

    “Like all figures in history – and like those in the Bible, for that matter – Kennedy came with flaws. Moses had a temper. Peter betrayed Jesus.”

    Jesus yelled at trees, but that’s really more of an eccentricity than a flaw.

    ;-)

    • #5
  6. PHenry Inactive
    PHenry
    @PHenry

    OldPhil (View Comment):

    I’m trying very hard to remember some of Ted’s towering achievements…um…wait, there was Borking, right?

    Chain migration

    • #6
  7. PHCheese Inactive
    PHCheese
    @PHCheese

    Ted secretly wrote the Russians offering to aid them against President Reagan.

    • #7
  8. Old Bathos Member
    Old Bathos
    @OldBathos

    My favorite quote about Teddy Kennedy was from the late Joe Sobran:  “Ted Kennedy is so concerned about not imposing his religious views on others that he does not impose them on himself.”

    At the time of Chappaquiddick there were four women who rented the house next door to my parents’ home in Georgetown.  They all worked on Capitol Hill and with some reluctance occasionally revealed to my mother what life was like for young women working in Congress 50 years before the #MeToo era.  They all knew Mary Jo Kopechne and for them the worst part of the tragedy would be that she would be remembered as a bimbo picked up at a party by Ted Kennedy.  Resisting the worst the Hill had to offer without getting fired and struggling to preserve reputation must have been hard.  

     

    • #8
  9. CarolJoy, Above Top Secret Coolidge
    CarolJoy, Above Top Secret
    @CarolJoy

    Old Bathos (View Comment):

    My favorite quote about Teddy Kennedy was from the late Joe Sobran: “Ted Kennedy is so concerned about not imposing his religious views on others that he does not impose them on himself.”

    At the time of Chappaquiddick there were four women who rented the house next door to my parents’ home in Georgetown. They all worked on Capitol Hill and with some reluctance occasionally revealed to my mother what life was like for young women working in Congress 50 years before the #MeToo era. They all knew Mary Jo Kopechne and for them the worst part of the tragedy would be that she would be remembered as a bimbo picked up at a party by Ted Kennedy. Resisting the worst the Hill had to offer without getting fired and struggling to preserve reputation must have been hard.

     

    I was pleased that the movie Chappaquiddick let us know that Mary Jo was not a bimbo. She made one mistake: allowing herself to take a  ride home with Ted Kennedy.

    • #9
  10. GlennAmurgis Coolidge
    GlennAmurgis
    @GlennAmurgis

    The DC Press complains about the “norms” that Trump violates. This is the same DC press that looked away the “antics” of the Kennedy Family.  JFK and RFK are still venerated and Ted is known as the “Liberal Lion”.  

    • #10
  11. Eridemus Coolidge
    Eridemus
    @Eridemus

    Ted left a kind of legacy. Didn’t the democrats insist on passing the ACA in his “honor”?

    • #11
  12. GrannyDude Member
    GrannyDude
    @GrannyDude

    Old Bathos (View Comment):

    My favorite quote about Teddy Kennedy was from the late Joe Sobran: “Ted Kennedy is so concerned about not imposing his religious views on others that he does not impose them on himself.”

    At the time of Chappaquiddick there were four women who rented the house next door to my parents’ home in Georgetown. They all worked on Capitol Hill and with some reluctance occasionally revealed to my mother what life was like for young women working in Congress 50 years before the #MeToo era. They all knew Mary Jo Kopechne and for them the worst part of the tragedy would be that she would be remembered as a bimbo picked up at a party by Ted Kennedy. Resisting the worst the Hill had to offer without getting fired and struggling to preserve reputation must have been hard.

     

    HEY! Dude! 
    Not to derail—I [heart] Mark Steyn, and Ted Kennedy was horrible—but guess what? My family rented that house on Olive Street when my mother was pregnant with me. So we were your parents’ neighbors! (1962-ish)

    I grew up knowing that Mary Joe Kopechne rented “our” house either before or after we did… 

    • #12
  13. Old Bathos Member
    Old Bathos
    @OldBathos

    GrannyDude (View Comment):

    Old Bathos (View Comment):

    My favorite quote about Teddy Kennedy was from the late Joe Sobran: “Ted Kennedy is so concerned about not imposing his religious views on others that he does not impose them on himself.”

    At the time of Chappaquiddick there were four women who rented the house next door to my parents’ home in Georgetown. They all worked on Capitol Hill and with some reluctance occasionally revealed to my mother what life was like for young women working in Congress 50 years before the #MeToo era. They all knew Mary Jo Kopechne and for them the worst part of the tragedy would be that she would be remembered as a bimbo picked up at a party by Ted Kennedy. Resisting the worst the Hill had to offer without getting fired and struggling to preserve reputation must have been hard.

     

    HEY! Dude!
    Not to derail—I [heart] Mark Steyn, and Ted Kennedy was horrible—but guess what? My family rented that house on Olive Street when my mother was pregnant with me. So we were your parents’ neighbors! (1962-ish)

    I grew up knowing that Mary Joe Kopechne rented “our” house either before or after we did…

     

    • #13
  14. Online Park Member
    Online Park
    @OnlinePark

    What about the recent hypothesis that Kennedy had another female in the car, heading off to a quiet place and didn’t know that Mary Jo was sleeping in the back seat of the car? 

    • #14
  15. Old Bathos Member
    Old Bathos
    @OldBathos

    The ladies I knew were friends but not housemates of Mary Jo.

    I know Olive St. I had some Daily News and Evening Star deliveries there on my paper routes 1961-62. My family was about 6-7 blocks north on Cambridge Pl.

    Lots of prominent pols and journalists on my routes (I also had a Post route for a bit). I learned at an early age that the more important and famous people are the less likely they are to tip and the more they expect special treatment.

    • #15
  16. I Walton Member
    I Walton
    @IWalton

    Old Bathos (View Comment):

    The ladies I knew were friends but not housemates of Mary Jo.

    I know Olive St. I had some Daily News and Evening Star deliveries there on my paper routes 1961-62. My family was about 6-7 blocks north on Cambridge Pl.

    Lots of prominent pols and journalists on my routes (I also had a Post route for a bit). I learned at an early age that the more important and famous people are the less likely they are to tip and the more they expect special treatment.

    You were lucky.  You learned important lessons as a young man.  

    • #16
  17. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    OldPhil (View Comment):

    I’m trying very hard to remember some of Ted’s towering achievements…um…wait, there was Borking, right?

    And don’t forget the legislation that created HMOs.

    • #17
  18. GrannyDude Member
    GrannyDude
    @GrannyDude

    Old Bathos (View Comment):

    The ladies I knew were friends but not housemates of Mary Jo.

    I know Olive St. I had some Daily News and Evening Star deliveries there on my paper routes 1961-62. My family was about 6-7 blocks north on Cambridge Pl.

    Lots of prominent pols and journalists on my routes (I also had a Post route for a bit). I learned at an early age that the more important and famous people are the less likely they are to tip and the more they expect special treatment.

    I was the pasty, squawking, large-headed baby clutched to the bosom of a harrassed, very young mother with a toddler (my sister) peering round her skirt. 

    I gathered that my parents lived in Georgetown for the same reason Mary Jo and her housemates did; because it was on a busline to Capitol Hill and was relatively cheap. In those days! 

     

    • #18
  19. Old Bathos Member
    Old Bathos
    @OldBathos

    GrannyDude (View Comment):

    Old Bathos (View Comment):

    The ladies I knew were friends but not housemates of Mary Jo.

    I know Olive St. I had some Daily News and Evening Star deliveries there on my paper routes 1961-62. My family was about 6-7 blocks north on Cambridge Pl.

    Lots of prominent pols and journalists on my routes (I also had a Post route for a bit). I learned at an early age that the more important and famous people are the less likely they are to tip and the more they expect special treatment.

    I was the pasty, squawking, large-headed baby clutched to the bosom of a harrassed, very young mother with a toddler (my sister) peering round her skirt.

    I gathered that my parents lived in Georgetown for the same reason Mary Jo and her housemates did; because it was on a busline to Capitol Hill and was relatively cheap. In those days!

    Georgetown was more affordable then. My parents sold their house a few years ago for almost exactly 40X what they paid in 1961. I was a member at the Jellef Boys Club at Wisconsin & R St and most of those kids were the sons of blue collar fathers.

    • #19
  20. Gossamer Cat Coolidge
    Gossamer Cat
    @GossamerCat

    Online Park (View Comment):

    What about the recent hypothesis that Kennedy had another female in the car, heading off to a quiet place and didn’t know that Mary Jo was sleeping in the back seat of the car?

    A second woman theory?  

    • #20
  21. David Carroll Thatcher
    David Carroll
    @DavidCarroll

    As far as I am concerned, Ted Kennedy is a dead issue.  ;-)

    • #21
  22. Fritz Coolidge
    Fritz
    @Fritz

    Gossamer Cat (View Comment):

    Online Park (View Comment):

    What about the recent hypothesis that Kennedy had another female in the car, heading off to a quiet place and didn’t know that Mary Jo was sleeping in the back seat of the car?

    A second woman theory?

    The theory is that Mary Jo K had overindulged in drink so had gone for a nap (i.e., passed out)  in the backseat. Ted drove off later with some other woman, unaware MJK was out like a light in the backseat.

    After driving off the bridge, Ted and his squeeze (or she’d been dropped off somewhere already?) managed to get out and survived, and only later did anyone in the party realize MJK was missing, and then what had happened.

    The identity of the hypothetical woman has never been revealed, if she did actually exist, but the theory lends some explanation to Kennedy’s 10-hour delay before reporting the accident.

    • #22
  23. Gossamer Cat Coolidge
    Gossamer Cat
    @GossamerCat

    Fritz (View Comment):

    Gossamer Cat (View Comment):

    Online Park (View Comment):

    What about the recent hypothesis that Kennedy had another female in the car, heading off to a quiet place and didn’t know that Mary Jo was sleeping in the back seat of the car?

    A second woman theory?

    The theory is that Mary Jo K had overindulged in drink so had gone for a nap (i.e., passed out) in the backseat. Ted drove off later with some other woman, unaware MJK was out like a light in the backseat.

    After driving off the bridge, Ted and his squeeze managed to get out and survived, and only later did anyone in the party realize MJK was missing, and then what had happened.

    The identity of the hypothetical woman has never been revealed, if she did actually exist, but the theory lends some explanation to Kennedy’s 10-hour delay before reporting the accident.

    They talk about it here.  I never heard it.  I don’t know why he would lie under oath about letting a young woman deliberately drown if all he needed to say was:  “I didn’t know she was in the back seat.  How horrible.”  

    • #23
  24. TBA Coolidge
    TBA
    @RobtGilsdorf

    Gossamer Cat (View Comment):

    Online Park (View Comment):

    What about the recent hypothesis that Kennedy had another female in the car, heading off to a quiet place and didn’t know that Mary Jo was sleeping in the back seat of the car?

    A second woman theory?

    Yeah, he took the second woman to a grassy knoll. 

    • #24
  25. Henry Castaigne Member
    Henry Castaigne
    @HenryCastaigne

    I’m thinking that Kennedy is how you get a Trump. 

    • #25
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