The Little-Known Story of Mary Jo Kopechne

I am so old, I actually remember when Chappaquiddick happened. Some years later, I looked into the facts and found that they are quite clear: Senator Ted Kennedy, then 37 years old, drove his car off a bridge and saved himself, leaving a young woman to die, when she could have been rescued if he had simply called for help like a normal human being. Instead, he tried to convince his cousin to take the fall and, failing that, lawyered up. Ted Kennedy is not history’s most contemptible man, but he is easily in the bottom one percent.

Via InstaPundit, we have this: “50 Years Later, ABC ‘Uncovers’ ‘Little-Known Story of Mary Jo Kopechne'”.

Almost 10 years after the death of Democrat Senator Edward “Ted” Kennedy of Massachusetts, and 50 years after the death of Mary Jo Kopechne — and almost two years after a major Hollywood film on the incident — the media are starting to finally reveal the truth about what happened at Chappaquiddick.

That film is Chappaquiddick, which I highly recommend. It goes a little easy on Kennedy, but the facts are pretty clearly laid out.

ABC’s 1969 docuseries episode “The Girl in the Car” on Tuesday night finally put the focus on the real victim, Ms. Kopechne (despite Cokie Roberts calling Chappaquiddick “yet another huge tragedy for the Kennedy family” in one cringe-worthy line).

Cokie Roberts is a spokeswoman for the Democratic Party, like most “mainstream” reporters and commentators. She is the daughter of Democrat Hale Boggs, former Majority Leader of the House of Representatives.

ABC’s 20/20 Twitter account promoted, “The little-known story of Mary Jo Kopechne, who died after Senator Ted Kennedy abandoned her in a submerged car. WATCH as #1969ABC uncovers her story…” which begs the question, why is Kopechne’s story so little-known and why is ABC only now uncovering it 50 years later?

I think we all know the answer to that question. One could also ask, why did it take 40 or 50 years for the “mainstream” media to hint at John Kennedy’s predatory sexual behavior while he was president? In the press, party loyalty counts for much more than any commitment to honest reporting.

In press materials, ABC admitted the media’s culpability in taking the spotlight off of Kopechne and putting it on Kennedy, stating that “her story has largely been lost to history as the media and the public focused on the man whose career was forever damaged by the accident, rather than the bright and young woman who did not live to tell us what really happened on that mysterious night.”

It isn’t actually all that mysterious:

Both the search and rescue diver and accident investigator on the scene in 1969 were interviewed and said that Kopechne died of suffocation, not drowning as the medical examiner report said – but no autopsy was done. [Ed.: The Kennedys enlisted an archbishop of the Catholic Church to tell the Kopechne family that it would be a sin to do an autopsy.] Her body was found pushed up against a small pocket of air in the back of the car. The diver, John Farrar, called out Kennedy’s shameful actions after the crash when Kopechne was still alive but running out of air, “Since he had plenty of time to get help, why didn’t he get help? Might have saved her life.”

Instead of calling for help, in the next 10 hours, Kennedy made 17 calls, went out for coffee with friends, then met with two lawyers before finally reporting the accident – after authorities had already found his car and Kopechne’s body. From Kennedy’s shady behavior and inconsistencies to the grand jury being stymied, 1969 casts a lot of doubt on Kennedy’s story in just an hour’s time.

“The whole system was manipulated,” Nelson contended. “A girl died that night in his car due to negligence. After they settled the grand jury, he didn’t have to say anything more.”

Accident Investigator Bob Molla told interviewers, “My feelings, he used his political influence to get him off with the easiest outcome possible. He used his privilege as a senator and as a well-to-do Kennedy.”

There isn’t any doubt about that. But liberals like Ted Kennedy have always believed that some people are important, and others aren’t. Mary Jo Kopechne was in the latter category. She was collateral damage in the Left’s attempt to remake American society. If she is mostly forgotten today, it is because most news outlets shared Ted Kennedy’s political goals and were happy to cover up his craven cowardice.

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