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Honestly, we have no idea what really went on with the Cohen thing yet. But I am getting tired of people assuming the FBI is always competent and honest. (“Well surely the FBI didn’t go in without good reason.”…etc.) The track record of the FBI in high profile cases (not just political ones) does not point to competence, honesty, or even a penchant for following their own rules and guidelines.
Maybe there is something that justifies this intrusion of attorney client privilege, or maybe this is a fishing expedition on some trumped up garbage. With the info we have and the FBI’s track record we should be concerned it is the latter.
The discussion of Chappaquiddick – the event and the movie – was a bit disappointing. Todd and Mike seriously entertain a couple of far-fetched conspiracy theories, including one in which Ted Kennedy was not in the car when it crashed, yet choose to falsely inculpate himself!
The film takes care to present ambiguous facts in an ambiguous way. For example, because the Kennedys managed to head off an autopsy, we don’t know for sure that Mary Jo Kopechne survived in the car long enough, that she could have been rescued if Teddy had immediately called the police. As a result, the scenes of her in the car are presented as Teddy’s nightmare thoughts: even if it didn’t occur to him at the time, he would certainly have eventually learned that she may have been alive while he was dithering and thinking about protecting his political career.
Mike Stopa was talking about Irish neighborhoods where the homes have shrines to the Kennedy’s (with candles).
I was a paperboy in 1964 in an Irish/Italian/Polish neighborhood in Albany NY. I was in a lot of homes collecting the weekly newspaper money. No candles but it was very common to see portraits of JFK and Pope John XXIII side by side.
I really didn’t find those particular conspiracy theories very compelling – and don’t buy them much generally either. Didn’t seem that Kennedy would have much to gain by acting the way he did if he were in fact unaware that Kopechne had taken the car and driven it off the bridge.
But truly amazing that he behaved the way he did. Blood as cold as an iguana.
The film portrays Kennedy patriarch Joe telling Teddy, in a stroke-twisted single word groan – “Alibi” – in response to Teddy telling him about the accident. Joe repeats it in a second conversation. And the story shows Teddy making contact with people around his hotel, acting all calm and relaxed when he hasn’t yet called in the accident, as if he’s following his father’s instructions. The command from his father is the backbone of the movie’s fabricated “facts,” designed to offer some possible explanation for the ridiculous behavior of Ted. Why did Kennedy go back to his hotel and go to bed and only report the accident the next morning after the dive crew had already been called to the scene? The truth according to Ted (ie he says in the police report he dove to save Mary Jo, but when he couldn’t, ignored a house with the light on a hundred yards from the scene and walked back to the party a mile away. Then, in his live address to the country a week later, he offers for the first time that he returned with two aides and spent forty-five minutes diving with them – again, without thinking to call police) is far more unlikely to me than the two “far-fetched conspiracy theories” you deride! Also, the movie has Ted at first telling his two aids that he’s going to say Mary Jo was driving, but later changes his mind. Again, made up.
The film shows Joe slapping Teddy when he apologizes for the accident to his dad. But Joe’s nurse said that he actually pulled Ted’s hand to his heart in a display of anguish.
I don’t mind that the film made up lots of stuff – they were searching for a narrative that could make the so-called facts add up – but it did require filling in many blanks due to the massive cover-up and distortions of truth.
It makes no sense that Teddy was in the car, made two attempts to save Mary Jo but didn’t call police until 8 or 9 hours later, yet that’s the story he took to his grave.
Actually not that amazing, if we assume Teddy never imagined she might still be alive. As far as I know, he had no expertise in the behavior of cars in water. And, of course, once he thinks she’s dead, he switches to self-protection mode.
The film presents Teddy as weak, cowardly, and selfish – but not a monster.
I’ve always figured Teddy stayed away from the police overnight because he had to get the alcohol out of his system. There is no proof, of course, that he dove back into the water to try and save her. It’s at least as likely that he assumed she was already dead.
The film suggests his original plan was to say Mary Jo was the driver, but he just couldn’t do it, couldn’t put the blame on her on top of everything else. It could be interpreted as a spark of decency — or fear that the lie might be found out.
Much of Teddy’s behavior is consistent with that of a man who has always depended on the Kennedy machine to bail him out of trouble. Thus, he dumps the problem in the laps of his lackeys and slips away.
Unless weakness, cowardice and selfishness are the ingredients from which monsters are made.