Good News / Bad News

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Even in these days of Hope n' Change, what goes around comes around. 40 years ago, an undoubtedly inebriated Senator Kennedy drove off the Chappaquiddick bridge into 8 feet of water. He got out of the vehicle, but Mary Jo Kopechne, the young intern who probably expected nothing more than a tryst, was left in the submerged car. This car...

She was not killed. She was not unconscious. But in the dark of night, she didn't know how to escape - so she curled into a position that let her breathe in a trapped air bubble, waiting for rescue...

Teddy Kennedy did not rescue her. He did not even immediately alert authorities. First he returned home, then contacted his legal and political advisors - none of whom showed any interest in Kopechne or the possibility that she was dying as they spoke. Afterwards, Teddy Kennedy went to bed for a good night's sleep. And in the morning, he called the police.

Somewhere in the night, Mary Jo's air ran out. But when she got into that car with Teddy Kennedy, her luck ran out.

Because of his name and political power, he got away with manslaughter without so much as a rebuke. He did not change his drinking. He did not change his womanizing.

And he became the "moral conscience" of the Democratic Party.