Don't Make Kennedy a Total Hero

Ted Kennedy has passed away. He suffered through his illness, and I pray that God rests his soul. As I flip through the channels and surf the web, I see more people trying to turn him into "America's Hero." Now granted he did do some good things for this country, but he also did a lot of bad. He is no hero of mine, and he should not be a hero of yours. Here are some facts on Senator Kennedy:



1. He was caught cheating at Harvard when he attended it. He was
expelled twice, once for cheating on a test, and once for paying a
classmate to cheat for him.

2. While expelled, Kennedy enlisted in the Army, but mistakenly signed up for four years instead of two.

Oops! The man can't count to four! His father, Joseph P. Kennedy, former U.S. Ambassador

to England (a step up from bootlegging liquor into the US from Canada during prohibition),

pulled the necessary strings to have his enlistment shortened to two years, and to ensure that

he served in Europe, not Korea , where a war was raging. No preferential treatment for

him! (like he charged that President Bush received).

3. Kennedy was assigned to Paris , never advanced beyond the rank of
Private,and returned to Harvard upon being discharged. Imagine a
person of his "education" NEVER advancing past the rank of Private!

4. While attending law school at the University of Virginia, he was
cited for reckless driving four times, including once when he was
clocked driving 90 miles per hour in a residential neighborhood
with his headlights off after dark.. Yet his Virginia driver's
license was never revoked. Coincidentally, he passed the bar exam in 1959. Amazing!

5. In 1964, he was seriously injured in a plane crash and
hospitalized for several months. Test results done by the hospital
at the time he was admitted had shown he was legally
intoxicated. The results of those tests remained a "state
secret" until in the 1980's when the report was unsealed. Didn't hear
about that from the unbiased media, did we?

6. On July 19, 1969, Kennedy attended a party on Chappaquiddick
Island in Massachusetts . At about 11:00 PM, he borrowed his
chauffeur's keys to his Oldsmobile limousine and offered
to give a ride home to Mary Jo Kopechne, a campaign worker.
Leaving the island via an unlit bridge with no guard rail, Kennedy
steered the car off the bridge, flipped, and into Poucha Pond.

7. He swam to shore and walked back to the party passing several
houses and a fire station. Two friends then returned
with him to the scene of the accident. According to their later
testimony, they told him what he already knew - that he was required
by law to immediately report the accident to the authorities.
Instead Kennedy made his way to his hotel, called his lawyer, and went
to sleep. Kennedy called the police the next morning and by then
the wreck had already been discovered. Before dying Kopechne had
scratched at the upholstered floor above her head in the upside-
down car. The Kennedy family began "calling in favors", ensuring
that any inquiry would be contained. Her corpse was
whisked out-of- state to her family before an autopsy could be
conducted. Further details are uncertain, but after the accident
Kennedy says he repeatedly dove under the water trying to rescue
Kopechne and he didn't call police because he was in a state of
shock. It is widely assumed Kennedy was drunk, and he held off
calling police in hopes that his family could fix the problem
overnight. Since the accident Kennedy's "political enemies" have
referred to him as the distinguished Senator from Chappaquiddick. He
pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident, and was given a
SUSPENDED SENTENCE OF TWO MONTHS.
Kopechne's family received a small payout from the Kennedy's
insurance policy and never sued. There was later an effort to have
her body exhumed and autopsied, but her family successfully fought
against this in court, and Kennedy's family paid their attorney's
bills.... a "token of friendship"?

8. Kennedy has held his Senate seat for more than forty years, but
considering his longevity, his accomplishments seem
scant. He authored or argued for legislation that ensured a
variety of civil rights, increased the minimum wage in 1981, made
access to health care easier for the indigent, funded Meals on Wheels for fixed-
income seniors, and is widely held as the "standard-bearer for
liberalism". In his very first Senate roll he was the floor
manager for the bill that turned U.S. Immigration Policy
upside down and opened the floodgate for immigrants from third world countries..

9. Since that time, he has been the prime instigator and
author of every expansion of an increase in immigration up to and including
the latest attempt to grant amnesty to illegal aliens. Not to
mention the pious grilling he gave the last two Supreme Court
nominees, as if he was the standard bearer for the nation in
matters of what's right. What a pompous ass!

10. He is known around Washington as a public drunk, loud,
boisterous, and very disrespectful to ladies. JERK is a better
description than "great American". "A blond in every pond" is
his motto. Let's not allow the spin doctors to make this jerk a hero --
how quickly the American public forgets what his real legacy is.