Chappaquidick?

Several have messaged aboot the whole Chappaquidick affair and why I hold it against the fabled Lion of the Senate. They are to young to have any real recollection of the antics of that night.  Quite simply, Ted Kennedy committed a heinous crime, possibly murder, and walked away. His entire existence was to operate at the level of pond scum while cloaking himself in his dead brothers legacy.  

I was going to pen a paragraph or two on the Chappaquicdick incident.  This guy beat me to it....via twitter.  This is epic.

For many years, people hear mention of 'Chappaquiddick' & 'Mary Jo Kopechne could not be reached for comment'.—
Brian Cates (@drawandstrike) July 18, 2014

Beyond some snark & vague rumors that Senator Ted Kennedy 'killed a girl' most people know almost nothing about this event on July 18, 1969.—
Brian Cates (@drawandstrike) July 18, 2014

Some roll eyes at the Chappaquiddick references, but here's the thing. It's a fact that Ted Kennedy left a woman to die in a submerged car.—
Brian Cates (@drawandstrike) July 18, 2014

On the night of July 18, 1969 a party was held on Chappaquiddick Island in which campaign volunteers called 'Boiler Room Girls' mingled.—
Brian Cates (@drawandstrike) July 18, 2014

These volunteers had worked on Robert Kennedy's campaign in 1968, so the party was a reunion. 1 of the 'Boiler Room Girls' was Kopechne.—
Brian Cates (@drawandstrike) July 18, 2014

Kennedy, a married man, and Kopechne left the party together at around 11:15 pm. Their whereabouts for the next hour are unknown.—
Brian Cates (@drawandstrike) July 18, 2014

About 12:45 that night, a local police officer parked in his car sees a dark car turn into a cemetery road and stop. He figures it's lost.—
Brian Cates (@drawandstrike) July 18, 2014

The police officer gets out of his own car & approaches, calling out. The dark car immediately speeds off at a high rate of speed.—
Brian Cates (@drawandstrike) July 18, 2014

Very drunk & in a car with a young woman who is not his wife, & with a suspended license, Kennedy doesn't want to get stopped by a cop.—
Brian Cates (@drawandstrike) July 18, 2014

Kennedy is not familiar with Chappaquiddick's roads. The thinks he's on the road to the ferry now, but he's not. He's on Dike Road.—
Brian Cates (@drawandstrike) July 18, 2014

In the dark,and likely checking his rearview to ensure the cop is not following, Kennedy does not see the road turn & the bridge coming.—
Brian Cates (@drawandstrike) July 18, 2014

Dike Road Bridge is a wooden bridge with no guardrail. Kennedy drives right off of the road. The car flips in the air.—
Brian Cates (@drawandstrike) July 18, 2014

Kennedy's Oldsmobile Delmont '88 lands on it's roof in about 6 feet of water. Kennedy immediately manages to exit the submerged car.—
Brian Cates (@drawandstrike) July 18, 2014

For the next 9+ hours, of all that followed & did or did not happen, 1 fact is indisputable: Kennedy did not report the accident.—
Brian Cates (@drawandstrike) July 18, 2014

Kennedy leaves the scene of the accident, walking back to the cottage where the party was being held that he had left an hr & 1/2 before.—
Brian Cates (@drawandstrike) July 18, 2014

On his journey back to the cottage, Kennedy passes several houses with lights on. He makes no attempt to call for help.—
Brian Cates (@drawandstrike) July 18, 2014

Getting in a car, the 3 men return to accident scene, and make several attempts to reach Kopechne. They can't get to her.—
Brian Cates (@drawandstrike) July 18, 2014

Both men tell Kennedy it's time to report the accident, get professional help in case she's still alive. Kennedy refuses.—
Brian Cates (@drawandstrike) July 18, 2014

Instead, Kennedy begins working on an alibi, insisting he's going to tell authorities that Mary Jo was driving the car.—
Brian Cates (@drawandstrike) July 18, 2014

The other two men continue to insist the accident must be reported. Kennedy then yells out he'll report it himself, they are not to.—
Brian Cates (@drawandstrike) July 18, 2014

Kennedy then jumps into the water and swims the 300 foot channel back to Edgartown where his hotel room is.—
Brian Cates (@drawandstrike) July 18, 2014

That's 1 way to end a conversation that's going badly, I guess.—
Brian Cates (@drawandstrike) July 18, 2014

Dripping wet, Kennedy arrives back at this hotel room, changes his clothes, stands outside where he will be seen.—
Brian Cates (@drawandstrike) July 18, 2014

Kennedy makes it a point at 2:30 am to ask a passing hotel employee what time it is. He's establishing his alibi.—
Brian Cates (@drawandstrike) July 18, 2014

His story was now going to be that he wasn't in the accident at all, Mary Jo dropped him off at his hotel & left in the car on her own.—
Brian Cates (@drawandstrike) July 18, 2014

As if that wasn't enough of an alibi, Kennedy makes it a point to find the hotel owner at 2:55 am & complain a 'noisy party' woke him up.—
Brian Cates (@drawandstrike) July 18, 2014

Kennedy then goes to breakfast with friends.—
Brian Cates (@drawandstrike) July 18, 2014

At 8:00 am Gargan & Markham arrive at the hotel to discover Kennedy chatting with friends, just having finished breakfast. Gargan is furious—
Brian Cates (@drawandstrike) July 18, 2014

He pulls Kennedy aside and lets him have it verbally. He knows Kennedy didn't report the accident like he claimed he would.—
Brian Cates (@drawandstrike) July 18, 2014

Kennedy responds by saying he was sure Mary Jo was still alive. He 'felt' this as he swam across the channel.—
Brian Cates (@drawandstrike) July 18, 2014

Again, Markham & Gargan gang up on Kennedy, insisting the accident must be reported. NOW. Kennedy finally agrees, or appears to.—
Brian Cates (@drawandstrike) July 18, 2014

They take the ferry back to Chappaquiddick & Kennedy gets inside a phone booth, ostensibly to report the accident at last.—
Brian Cates (@drawandstrike) July 18, 2014

But instead Kennedy, in the privacy of the phone booth, is calling friends and asking for advice. He still hasn't reported it.—
Brian Cates (@drawandstrike) July 18, 2014

Meanwhile, earlier that morning, as Kennedy was eating breakfast with his friends at the hotel, 2 fishermen spotted the car in the pond.—
Brian Cates (@drawandstrike) July 18, 2014

Here's a picture of the car in the pond off of Dike Road bridge: http://t.co/QXqLs6Z2Cq—
Brian Cates (@drawandstrike) July 18, 2014

The two fishermen immediately report the accident, something Kennedy could have done hours ago.—
Brian Cates (@drawandstrike) July 18, 2014

At 8:45 am, professional diver John Farrar, who had been summoned, discovers Mary Jo's body in the car.—
Brian Cates (@drawandstrike) July 18, 2014

Kennedy is still on the phone at the ferry landing furiously calling friends for advice when he's told the body has been found.—
Brian Cates (@drawandstrike) July 18, 2014

Senator Ted Kennedy then leaves the ferry landing & heads for the Edgartown police station to turn himself in.—
Brian Cates (@drawandstrike) July 18, 2014

He has Markham prepare a statement for him which he gives to the police. In it, he claims to have been dazed all night & not remember much.—
Brian Cates (@drawandstrike) July 18, 2014

In that statement to police, Kennedy tells several huge lies. He claims he was in shock, walked back to the party, was taken to the hotel.—
Brian Cates (@drawandstrike) July 18, 2014

He then fell asleep and did not remember anything until he woke up in the morning and heard about the accident.—
Brian Cates (@drawandstrike) July 18, 2014

He made no mention of agreeing to report the accident, swimming the channel, trying to establish an alibi, etc.—
Brian Cates (@drawandstrike) July 18, 2014

Kennedy is then released on his own recognizance. He gets on the ferry, crossing paths with the Medical Examiner coming to see Mary Jo.—
Brian Cates (@drawandstrike) July 18, 2014

7 days later, Kennedy is charged only with leaving the scene of an accident. He's given a 2 month suspended sentence.—
Brian Cates (@drawandstrike) July 18, 2014

At the press conference he did following the accident, Kennedy showed up in a neck brace, pretending to be injured. http://t.co/6YDX2nK6if—
Brian Cates (@drawandstrike) July 18, 2014

Diver John Farrar, who found Kopechne's body in the car, ascertained she was alive for hours afterwards.—
Brian Cates (@drawandstrike) July 18, 2014

Farrar ascertained that Kopechne did not die from the vehicle crash, or from drowning, but instead from suffocation when the air ran out.—
Brian Cates (@drawandstrike) July 18, 2014

Farrar testified that he believed Kopechne was alive for at least 2 hours inside the submerged car.—
Brian Cates (@drawandstrike) July 18, 2014

The positioning of Mary Jo Kopechne's body when diver John Farrar discovered her: http://t.co/kNAoZ6lyRY—
Brian Cates (@drawandstrike) July 18, 2014

People who assume Kopechne died instantly have never answered the testimony of diver John Farrar: http://t.co/u7ExH4t7na—
Brian Cates (@drawandstrike) July 18, 2014

With all the facts in evidence, a charge of manslaughter would have been de rigueur for 99% of Americans. But this was a Kennedy.—
Brian Cates (@drawandstrike) July 18, 2014

If 99% of Americans had gotten drunk, caused an accident, left the scene & another person to die, they'd go to prison.—
Brian Cates (@drawandstrike) July 18, 2014

Fortunately for Ted Kennedy, he was Ted Kennedy.—
Brian Cates (@drawandstrike) July 18, 2014

The judge at the inquest could have filed for manslaughter but did not. The DA could have brought the charge, but also did not.—
Brian Cates (@drawandstrike) July 18, 2014

In his later years, Ted Kennedy loved to hear Chappaquiddick jokes.—
Brian Cates (@drawandstrike) July 18, 2014

Now you know the story of Chappaquiddick. A sitting US Senator killed somebody & walked away scot free.—
Brian Cates (@drawandstrike) July 18, 2014

This miscarriage of justice wasn't done behind a curtain either, it was done with the entire country watching.—
Brian Cates (@drawandstrike) July 18, 2014

There is no better stark example of what Liberals/Progressives really want: 1 system for you and a different one for them.—
Brian Cates (@drawandstrike) July 18, 2014

We're either a nation of laws where we are all equal under the law, or we are not. Chappaquiddick demonstrated the truth of the matter.—
Brian Cates (@drawandstrike) July 18, 2014

I had to spend 20 years watching Ted Kennedy being held up as some kind of great man.—
Brian Cates (@drawandstrike) July 18, 2014

Democrats were able to do this because the truth about Chappaquiddick was quickly buried & most media never reported on it.—
Brian Cates (@drawandstrike) July 18, 2014

As long as you are helping advance Liberal/Progressive causes, literally any sin can be overlooked. Including leaving a woman to die.—
Brian Cates (@drawandstrike) July 18, 2014