Was Mary Joe driving

Fr Tod Umptious

Not sure if this belongs here or in History or in Conspiracy Theory

Watched a documentary on BBC last week about the Chappaquiddick Incident.
It was first broadcast in 1994 to make the 25th anniversary of the incident

As most people know the story goes that Kennedy and Mary Jo left the party to catch the last ferry, Kennedy took a wrong turn and drove the car over the bridge at approx 11.45pm, escaped, tried to get Mary Joe Kopeche out, failed, returned to his hotel and did not report the incident till after 9am the next morning.

Now his story is full of holes

• Why did he not report the incident straight away, he went back to the cottage the party was at passing the local fire station on the way.
• How could he have 'taken a wrong turn on to a dirt road' when he knew the area and knew that a dirt road did not lead to the ferry
• Why was he driving, his driver was at the party
• A sheriff's deputy gave testimony that he saw a car that he thought was Kennedy's on the road close to 12.45am, an hour later that the accident was supposed to have occurred
• Plus the was Kennedy described how he got out of the car is inconsistent with how 99% of other people describe escaping from a sinking car

The show came up with the following theory

Kennedy left at 11.45 with Mary Joe, not to take the ferry but to go and have sex
Both he and Mary Joe were over the drink driving limit
They meet the deputy on the road and hour later
Kennedy, afraid of being caught drink driving in the company of a young woman that was not his wife, decided to give Mary Jo the keys and told her to drive back to the cottage.
Mary Jo was not used of driving a big car like a Oldsmobile (she owned a Beetle), did not know the road, and was drunk.
She drove of the bridge too fast and ended up in the water

At some stage in the night Kennedy made it back to his hotel
The car was found by the police with Mary Jo it it
Kennedy's associates at the party got wind of this
They went to Kennedy's hotel and told him, this was the first he heard of it. Some people who were talking to him in the hotel, he was is normal self, then some of his friend raced in and they went to a room, Kennedy came out a few mins later and was totally shook.

At that stage Kennedy went to the police, the logic being that claiming to be the driver , pleading guilty to the leaving the scene, and giving a public address about trying to save Mary Jo was better than saying he gave Mary Jo the keys because he was afraid of being caught DUI with a woman that was not his wife

Not sure how plausible this is but it is certainly the first time I have ever heard this take on the story.

Now that Kennedy is dead it would be good if one of the peole who were at the party came clean about what happened

Black Swan

Someone should also question why the BBC continues to raise this issue? Didn't they also resurrect it during the last anniversary of Mary Jo's death? There have been several articles and books written over the past 4 decades about this incident, so how is it now NEWS? What's the BBC motive?

Well, the BBC resurrected it again... My theory about the July 1969 incident:

Have you ever gotten so drunk at a party that you woke up the next morning to find yourself in your bed, wondering how in the world did you get home? Binge drunk? Well, this has happened to me a couple times, sad to say, and I couldn't tell you what happened between leaving the party and waking up the next morning. Nor could the person I live with, who was just as drunk as I those times. Plus, I'm not sure who drove home, nor was she.

That's what happened to Ted Kennedy and Mary Jo? But they didn't end up in bed together (naughty, naughty!), but rather in the water. She drowned and he somehow wandered back to bed without her, not knowing how?

She was found. The alarm was raised. And the Kennedy political machine (in a panic!) went to work doing damage control. They invented the story about all the attempts to rescue Mary Jo by Ted, perhaps while Ted was in a state of still being drunk and hung-over the next morning, wet, but not knowing why? I'm surprised he got back by 9AM!

So if I had driven Cinful and I off the Balboa pier into the Pacific Ocean (or she had driven me off into the water, because we could not remember who drove), and one of us drowned, should the other be convicted for what? Being young and stupid?

Now if I was the survivor and very rich, I could hire OJ's Dream Team, give them a couple million USD, and after they got through making me out to be a heroine in the nation's press, I could compete with Sarah Palin in the primaries for president in 2012, and probably beat her cause I am younger and prettier than her, ha! (Qualified? Who cares if I can see Russia from where I live? But give me $150,000 to spend in clothes at Neiman Marcus, and you've got a candidate!). After all, you get the best justice in America that money can buy! It's the American Dream! "Money talks and Ted Walks!" But this isn't news... (what's the opposite of "news?" Olds?).

**I obviously drank too much coffee in this java house tonight! I think I'll get a couple tall cool ones at the bar across the way that has a nice Pacific Ocean view and chill out. Want a lift home after?**

Victor

Is this relevant at all other than as a historical footnote?

johngalway

Blue_Lagoon wrote: »

Someone should also question why the BBC continues to raise this issue?

Possibly someone in the BBC despises the Kennedys. My reason for saying that was the reaction on a lot of UK forums I peruse to Ted Kennedys death. The level of venom was slightly disturbing.

SLUSK

johngalway wrote: »

Possibly someone in the BBC despises the Kennedys. My reason for saying that was the reaction on a lot of UK forums I peruse to Ted Kennedys death. The level of venom was slightly disturbing.

The level of "venom" was a bit disturbing you say? I find it more disturbing that he let a woman die and then tried to cover it up to save his own political career.

All his life was filled of immorality.
http://www.lewrockwell.com/cooper/cooper19.1.html

He was also a terrorist supporter.

johngalway

You don't work for the Beeb do you?

AlekSmart

Is this relevant at all other than as a historical footnote?

Like Victor,I too would have asked this question.....UP until Budget Day 2010 when our esteemed Minister for Finance included this as part of his Budget Speech..........

ONCLUSION

A Cheann Comhairle, I want to recall the death earlier this year of Senator Ted Kennedy. Senator Kennedy was unquestionably one of the best friends Ireland ever had on Capitol Hill.

Today, in a modest way I would like to honour the memory of a great man from a great family. The Government will provide funding for a project at the Kennedy Homestead in Dunganstown, County Wexford from which his forefathers emigrated in the early nineteenth century. The development of this important visitor attraction will be a welcome boost to tourism in the South East.

The inauguration of John F Kennedy as President of the United States in nineteen sixty-one gave a powerful sense of hope, possibility and self-belief to Irish people all over the world.

Had the BBC a hand in Brian Lenihan`s speech .....Perhaps they confused him with Graham...??? Either way I am still at a loss to explain away this reference....???