Hyperbole and nonsense. The movie is not a "rightwing hit job," and absolutely does not make Ted Kennedy out to be the most evil man in the history of politics. It makes him out to be exactly what he was, a corrupt, cowardly, self-serving man who used his family connections to escape consequences that would almost certainly have resulted in a manslaughter conviction had he not been a Kennedy. He got drunk, drove off a bridge, and left a woman to die -- she took hours, BTW, gasping out her last breath in the dark in a tiny air pocket inside the overturned, submerged vehicle. He could have tried to save her. He didn't. He could have gone for help immediately. He didn't and given how long she took to die, she almost certainly could have been saved had he done so. And the reason Kennedy didn't try to get help in time was very likely -- almost certainly -- the damage he knew the scandal would cause to his political career. (It still did damage it of couse, but drunk and shocked by a traumatic event, it's no surprise that he wasn't thinking clearly about that. Then when he started to gather his wits, he and his family went into damage control mode: in other words, he was thinking primarily about himself, not the poor woman whose life was lost because of him.)
Ted Kennedy was far from the most evil man in the history of politics. He was more weak and selfish than evil. I don't doubt that he sincerely felt guilt at what he had done, but he never felt it enough that he didn't use his wealth and name to avoid the consequences that you or I would certainly have faced in the same situation, and that's quite bad enough. And I don't know what disgusts me more, that you're trying to make this about your political opponents today, or that you would defend this sleazeball.
reply
share