…is dead, CNN is reporting on TV. No online news sites seem to have it yet.

Christopher Frizzelle was The Stranger's print editor, and first joined the staff in 2003. He was the editor-in-chief from 2007 to 2016, and edited the story by Eli Sanders that won a 2012 Pulitzer...

46 replies on “Ted Kennedy…”

  8. sadly right now perezhilton.com has more information regarding his death than msnbc or bbc…and raindrop i completely agree with you. TK made a fucked up decision and never made reprimands for his actions

  12. It’s a shame he didn’t live to see universal health care. Or that he couldn’t have been more meaningfully involved in the current debate. RIP.

  15. Death is not delayed justice, Raindrop – but an escape from rectums like you. In his lifetime Ted accomplished more on the floor of the US Senate for the good of this nation than anyone else, and while these substantial accomplishments do not make up for his grievous transgressions, it still places him in an a niche far from your contumely.

  17. The National Catholic Register, Weekly Standard and their ilk will probably rush out an ‘obituary’ shitting all over his deathbed first thing tomorrow morning.

    The Lion sleeps tonight. RIP.

  19. Cool! So much for the 60 vote lock! “Health Care “reform”” will fit nicely along side his bloated corpse when they lower him into the ground! Anyone check Byrd’s pulse lately?

  23. @20 – not if they push it through on a reconciliation vote, which only requires 50 votes. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

    RIP, Teddy. Thank you for your years of service and all you’ve done for the “little guy” throughout the years. You will be sorely, sorely missed by the American people, whether they know it or not.

  24. @20, the attitude you expressed is why your girlfriend begs me to bang her over and over again.

    In fact, right about the time you were making that disgusting post, she was laughing her ass off about how you’re a premature ejaculator.

    Hee Hee! 🙂

  26. How very sad, we have lost an icon.

    As a very far left Democrat, I loved the Kennedy family. Not because they fit my political theories perfectly, but, because they pushed hard to move all of America a few more steps toward the good.

    What a legacy of action, focus on major change and support for often unpopular issues.

    Ted Kennedy was a giant supporter of Gay rights, among the strongest going way back.

    His support for national health care was legend.

    Teddy will be missed, esp. by those of us who know no human is perfect, and flaws always ride along side the better side of each of us.

    I dreamed last night of death, a most horrid night. I thought it was for a friend’s lover whose health is declining.

    It was rather the energy of the dying Ted Kennedy, the end of an era and a dynasty.

    Some of these posts are so shallow and shitty, they deserve no comment. God, what fucked souls some of you have.

    Alex la Rouge

  28. Two fishermen saw the overturned car in the water and notified the inhabitants of the nearest cottage to the pond, who called the authorities at around 8:20 am. A diver was sent down and discovered Kopechne’s body at around 8:45 am. The diver, John Farrar, later testified at the inquest that Kopechne’s body was pressed up in the car in the spot where an air bubble would have formed. He interpreted this to mean that Kopechne had survived for a while after the initial accident in the air bubble, and concluded that
    “Had I received a call within five to ten minutes of the accident occurring, and was able, as I was the following morning, to be at the victim’s side within twenty-five minutes of receiving the call, in such event there is a strong possibility that she would have been alive on removal from the submerged car.”

  29. And in this thread, people who weren’t involved with a tragedy that happened 40 years ago, and aren’t related to anybody who was, trot out the name of a dead girl they really have nothing to do with, in order to make the Other Political Party feel bad/troll the internets.

  30. Teddy’s route back to the cottage took him past four houses from which he could have telephoned and summoned help; however, he did not do so. The first of those houses was only 150 yards away from the bridge, and was occupied by Sylvia Malm and her family at the time of the incident. Malm later stated that she had left a light on at the residence when she retired for that evening.

  31. @31 not about trolling, it’s about keeping the lionization of the man in check. He was a guy who worked for lefty causes who fucking killed a young women. He left her at the bottom of a fucking river. How is that not relevant?

    I’m a lefty and I can’t stand when politicians get away with murder.

  32. Gargan and Markham drove with Kennedy to the ferry landing, both insisting multiple times that the accident had to be reported to the authorities.
    According to Markham’s testimony Kennedy was sobbing and on the verge of breaking down.
    Kennedy went on to testify that “[I] had full intention of reporting it. And I mentioned to Gargan and Markham something like, ‘You take care of the other girls; I will take care of the accident!’
    According to his own testimony, Kennedy swam across the 500-foot channel, back to Edgartown and returned to his hotel room, where he removed his clothes and collapsed on his bed.
    Back at his hotel, Kennedy complained at 2:55 am to the hotel owner that he had been awoken by a noisy party.
    By 7:30 am the next morning he was talking “casually” to the winner of the previous day’s sailing race, with no indication that anything was amiss.[
    At 8 a.m., Gargan and Markham joined Kennedy at his hotel where they had a “heated conversation.” According to Kennedy’s testimony, the two men asked why he hadn’t reported the accident. Kennedy responded by telling them “about my own thoughts and feelings as I swam across that channel … that somehow when they arrived in the morning that they were going to say that Mary Jo was still alive”.
    The three men subsequently crossed back to Chappaquiddick Island on the ferry, where Kennedy made a series of phone calls from a payphone by the crossing to his friends for advice;
    he again did not report the accident to authorities.

  33. @33: It’s not a question of relevance, it’s a question of sincerity. I doubt anybody here really cares about the girl or what happened. They’re not interested in setting things right, but in taking Dead Ted down a peg.

    Which is what happens when celebrities, politicians included, die. Everybody tries to make the deceased out as either Jesus or Hitler. It’s rarely very truthful either way.

  34. In the murder of Mary Jo Ted Kennedy revealed himself to be an unspeakably sleazy weasel.
    His actions the night of her murder were designed to shield him from responsibility- it did not work and the scandal dogged him every day of his life.
    To the mortal perspective justice delayed may seem to be justice denied but eternity is a long time.
    Teddy is finally keeping a delayed appointment with justice.

  35. Dear Raindrop and others….

    It must be awful to be so bitter, lonely, and socially retarded that you obsess over something you know nothing about, that happened forty years ago.

    Until you can accept responsibility for your failings as a human, you will continue to lash out at others, and thus be a unhappy miserable bastard. You’ll never change, so why don’t you just end it? You’d be doing us all a favor, and you’ll finally find that peace that eludes you.

    Ted Kennedy did something with his life. All you do with your life is pass on thirdhand gossip and let yourself be devoured by envy. You’re pathetic, but contemptible, so it’s hard to even feel pity for you.

  36. @37 Who is obsessing?

    1. Yes, I have failings. Many to be sure. I have yet to be directly involved in anyone’s death however.

    2. Third hand gossip? That’s nonsense and you know it.

    @33
    The unabashed gushing over the man (some of it very deserved) just needs to be balanced with the fact he is responsible for the death of a young woman. If I wanted to gossip, or “take him down a peg” I would talk about his lifelong struggle with alcoholism, etc. But I didn’t say anything about that stuff because it is normal run of mill shit that many people struggle with.

    He killed a person, and you fuckers just sweep it under the rug and ignore it so the “details” wont sully your fond memories of the man. Then you get angry at people who bring it up? Grow the fuck up.

  37. Isn’t it funny how right-wingers became curiously quiet about Chappaquiddick while Laura Bush was First Lady?

    I wonder why that was.

  41. 43 no- @39 is right…

    Actually the man Laura Bush hit languished for hours before he died.
    The car was over him, slowly settling on top of his trapped body.
    As it settled jagged metal slowly pierced his flesh and steadily gouged him open.
    The weight of the car and the tramau of the gash killed him eventually.
    Laura was of course horrified when the accident occured.
    She certainly meant to call for help- an ambulance and firemen with equiptment to free the man- who was pleading for his life and for assistance.
    But first she crossed the street and went to the drug store a block away.
    Enroute she passesd 3 payphones and a cop patrolling his beat. She said nothing…(there was a chance the guy could wiggle himself free from the wrecked car, she allowed herself to hope)
    At the drugstore she had an ice cream float (it was a hot day..) and picked up some magazines and a new shade of nail polish she had been wanting to try.
    She went home and read the magazines.
    Then did her nails.
    She called several friends and chatted.
    The accident never came up.
    Oh yeah- she also took a nap.
    The next day she did alert the authorities.
    She told them how horrible she felt about the tragedy.
    As you can well imagine.

  42. The car plunged into tide-swept channel and came to rest upside-down underwater. Kennedy later recalled that he was able to swim free of the vehicle, but Kopechne was not. Kennedy rested on the bank for around fifteen minutes before returning on foot to Lawrence Cottage. In addition to the working telephone at the Lawrence Cottage his route back to the cottage took him past four houses from which he could have telephoned and summoned help; however, he did not do so. The first of those houses was only 150 yards away from the bridge.
    Gargan and Markham drove with Kennedy to the ferry landing, both insisting multiple times that the accident had to be reported to the authorities. Kennedy was sobbing and on the verge of breaking down. Kennedy testified “[I] had full intention of reporting it. And I mentioned to Gargan and Markham something like, ‘You take care of the other girls; I will take care of the accident!’
    Kennedy swam across the 500-foot channel, back to Edgartown and returned to his hotel room, where he removed his clothes and collapsed on his bed. He put on dry clothes and asked someone what the time was. He testified that, as the night went on, “I tossed and turned and walked around that room … I had not given up hope all night long that, by some miracle, Mary Jo would have escaped from the car.”

    Back at his hotel, Kennedy complained at 2:55 am to the hotel owner that he had been awoken by a noisy party. By 7:30 am the next morning he was talking “casually” to the winner of the previous day’s sailing race, with no indication that anything was amiss.At 8 a.m., Gargan and Markham joined Kennedy at his hotel where they had a “heated conversation.” According to Kennedy’s testimony, the two men asked why he hadn’t reported the accident. Kennedy responded by telling them “about my own thoughts and feelings as I swam across that channel … that somehow when they arrived in the morning that they were going to say that Mary Jo was still alive”. The three men subsequently crossed back to Chappaquiddick Island on the ferry, where Kennedy made a series of phone calls from a payphone by the crossing to his friends for advice; he again did not report the accident to authorities.

    Earlier that morning, fishermen had seen the overturned car in the water and notified the authorities. A diver was sent down and discovered Kopechne’s body pressed up in the car in the spot where an air bubble would have formed. Kopechne had survived for a while after the initial accident in the air bubble.
    “Had I received a call there is a strong possibility that she would have been alive on removal from the submerged car.” the diver said.

  44. @41 – yes, but one could write the public option portion of health care reform as a spending bill and pass it through reconciliation while the rest is passed as a regular bill. They are discussing it as a possibility right now.

  46. 60 votes? Aw, what’s so bad about a fillibuster? It would be the cherry on the asshole sundae! Maybe it would be fun to have somebody stand up and be Strom Thurmond, 1957, and give people something to look back on and wonder WTF was wrong with people back in the olden days. Imagine Michelle Bachmann babbling for 24 hours…

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