Before we begin yet another campaign season focused on the Republican “War on Women,” it might be worth a look back at an actual casualty, not of only a woman but of equal justice under the law. T. Becket Adams used Storify to compile the tweets of Brian Cates (@drawandstrike) to present “Ted Kennedy & the Death of Mary Jo: The Chappaquiddick Rant.”
For many years, people hear mention of 'Chappaquiddick' & 'Mary Jo Kopechne could not be reached for comment'.
— Brian Cates //Flynn & Breitbart's Army! (@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 //Flynn & Breitbart's Army! (@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 //Flynn & Breitbart's Army! (@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 //Flynn & Breitbart's Army! (@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 //Flynn & Breitbart's Army! (@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 //Flynn & Breitbart's Army! (@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 //Flynn & Breitbart's Army! (@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 //Flynn & Breitbart's Army! (@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 //Flynn & Breitbart's Army! (@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 //Flynn & Breitbart's Army! (@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 //Flynn & Breitbart's Army! (@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 //Flynn & Breitbart's Army! (@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 //Flynn & Breitbart's Army! (@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 //Flynn & Breitbart's Army! (@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 //Flynn & Breitbart's Army! (@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 //Flynn & Breitbart's Army! (@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 //Flynn & Breitbart's Army! (@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 //Flynn & Breitbart's Army! (@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 //Flynn & Breitbart's Army! (@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 //Flynn & Breitbart's Army! (@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 //Flynn & Breitbart's Army! (@drawandstrike) July 18, 2014
That's 1 way to end a conversation that's going badly, I guess.
— Brian Cates //Flynn & Breitbart's Army! (@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 //Flynn & Breitbart's Army! (@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 //Flynn & Breitbart's Army! (@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 //Flynn & Breitbart's Army! (@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 //Flynn & Breitbart's Army! (@drawandstrike) July 18, 2014
Kennedy then goes to breakfast with friends.
— Brian Cates //Flynn & Breitbart's Army! (@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 //Flynn & Breitbart's Army! (@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 //Flynn & Breitbart's Army! (@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 //Flynn & Breitbart's Army! (@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 //Flynn & Breitbart's Army! (@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 //Flynn & Breitbart's Army! (@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 //Flynn & Breitbart's Army! (@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 //Flynn & Breitbart's Army! (@drawandstrike) July 18, 2014
Here's a picture of the car in the pond off of Dike Road bridge: pic.twitter.com/QXqLs6Z2Cq
— Brian Cates //Flynn & Breitbart's Army! (@drawandstrike) July 18, 2014
The two fishermen immediately report the accident, something Kennedy could have done hours ago.
— Brian Cates //Flynn & Breitbart's Army! (@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 //Flynn & Breitbart's Army! (@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 //Flynn & Breitbart's Army! (@drawandstrike) July 18, 2014
Senator Ted Kennedy then leaves the ferry landing & heads for the Edgartown police station to turn himself in.
— Brian Cates //Flynn & Breitbart's Army! (@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 //Flynn & Breitbart's Army! (@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 //Flynn & Breitbart's Army! (@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 //Flynn & Breitbart's Army! (@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 //Flynn & Breitbart's Army! (@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 //Flynn & Breitbart's Army! (@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 //Flynn & Breitbart's Army! (@drawandstrike) July 18, 2014
At the press conference he did following the accident, Kennedy showed up in a neck brace, pretending to be injured. pic.twitter.com/6YDX2nK6if
— Brian Cates //Flynn & Breitbart's Army! (@drawandstrike) July 18, 2014
Diver John Farrar, who found Kopechne's body in the car, ascertained she was alive for hours afterwards.
— Brian Cates //Flynn & Breitbart's Army! (@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 //Flynn & Breitbart's Army! (@drawandstrike) July 18, 2014
Farrar testified that he believed Kopechne was alive for at least 2 hours inside the submerged car.
— Brian Cates //Flynn & Breitbart's Army! (@drawandstrike) July 18, 2014
The positioning of Mary Jo Kopechne's body when diver John Farrar discovered her: pic.twitter.com/kNAoZ6lyRY
— Brian Cates //Flynn & Breitbart's Army! (@drawandstrike) July 18, 2014
People who assume Kopechne died instantly have never answered the testimony of diver John Farrar: pic.twitter.com/u7ExH4t7na
— Brian Cates //Flynn & Breitbart's Army! (@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 //Flynn & Breitbart's Army! (@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 //Flynn & Breitbart's Army! (@drawandstrike) July 18, 2014
Fortunately for Ted Kennedy, he was Ted Kennedy.
— Brian Cates //Flynn & Breitbart's Army! (@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 //Flynn & Breitbart's Army! (@drawandstrike) July 18, 2014
In his later years, Ted Kennedy loved to hear Chappaquiddick jokes.
— Brian Cates //Flynn & Breitbart's Army! (@drawandstrike) July 18, 2014
Now you know the story of Chappaquiddick. A sitting US Senator killed somebody & walked away scot free.
— Brian Cates //Flynn & Breitbart's Army! (@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 //Flynn & Breitbart's Army! (@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 //Flynn & Breitbart's Army! (@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 //Flynn & Breitbart's Army! (@drawandstrike) July 18, 2014
I had to spend 20 years watching Ted Kennedy being held up as some kind of great man.
— Brian Cates //Flynn & Breitbart's Army! (@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 //Flynn & Breitbart's Army! (@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 //Flynn & Breitbart's Army! (@drawandstrike) July 18, 2014
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