Mary Jo Kopechne is known as the woman who was found dead in Senator Ted Kennedy’s car. Read about her and see photos below.

Mary Jo Kopechne

As everyone knows by now, Senator Edward ‘Ted’ Kennedy was rushed to the hospital this morning for what was thought to be a stroke and then later was determined to be seizures for unknown reasons. When I first heard the reports, everyone was speaking about him in the past tense. It was as though they assumed he was already dead or dying. The reporters and commentators gradually changed over to talking about what a great man he is as reports came out that he apparently was going to be just fine.

As it is right now, Teddy Kennedy has not had to face the ghost of Mary Jo Kopechne just yet.

I had to leave the television. Please don’t misunderstand me, I don’t wish anyone harm, not even Ted Kennedy. But when I hear people talking about him and using words like ‘courageous’, ’statesman’, ‘leader’, ‘American icon’, ‘legend of the political left’, etc., it just makes me nauseous. People talk about what a difficult life he has had. Could someone PLEASE explain that to me? What difficult life? I realize he’s had some deaths in his family, but who hasn’t? He was born with unlimited money and power and has used it throughout his life to get whatever he wants and to avoid responsibility for any behavior.

He has enough power and money that he was able to get the Pope to give him an annulment from his wife of many years and the mother of his children, thus, ensuring his path to heaven …. at least as far as his divorce and remarriage is concerned.

He has enough money and power that when Mary Jo Kopechne died in his car, he could come up with a far-fetched story claiming he couldn’t save her in 5 feet of water even though he was able to swim 500 feet across the channel. He didn’t report the crime until a day or so later. He not only didn’t spend a moment in jail, he kept his seat in the Senate and has been re-elected to the Senate repeatedly every since. All he had to do was put a neck brace on and go before the American people and talk about how her death affected HIM and all was forgiven.

Sorry folks, but his name is forever linked with the name of Mary Jo Kopechne. I suppose he has enough money and power that those around him choose to believe his every utterance, choose to speak of him in grandiose terms and choose to forget that he has lived a life of exceptional cowardice, gluttony, narcissism, immorality, dishonesty, childishness and self-promotion.

Take a moment and read (or listen to) his speech after he left Mary Jo Kopechne to die in his submerged car on Chappaquiddick Island. Read what he has to say in his own words, with a neck brace around his neck for good effect and see why there are those who haven’t forgotten his history and don’t view him as the great statesman he would like to be his legacy. Just because he’s lived longer than some, doesn’t make him a better person.

By his own statement, he and his family had participated in the sailing event on the island for 30 years, yet he accidentally drove off the bridge because it was dark and the bridge has an odd angle to it. He’s 30 years familiar with the island, yet not familiar enough to navigate the roadways.

He was comforting Ms. Kopechne and other Kennedy campaign secretaries because they were so upset over the death of Robert Kennedy. That’s all. Nothing more. His wife would have been there, but she wasn’t feeling well.

And, he adds, he doesn’t like the fact that people implied he might have been driving drunk or conducting himself in an immoral manner! He had been at the party and had simply been comforting these ‘girls’ and was simply giving Mary Jo Kopechne a ride.

His conduct and statements over the few hours after he allowed Ms. Kopechne to drown in his car is simply inexplicable. He says he can’t explain it because he doesn’t remember it. His doctors told him it was shock. Yet, he can tell us how he felt as the water rushed into the car, how he got to the surface and how he repeatedly dove down to try to rescue Ms. Kopechne until he thought he would drown again.

He remembers clearly going back to the party and getting his kin folk to come help him. The only reason he told them not to tell anyone else was because he didn’t want to scare the other ‘girls’ who were friends of Ms. Kopechne. His only concern was for them.

He had been much too exhausted to rescue the ‘girl’ he was escorting, but for some inexplicable reason, he dove back into the water, swam across the 500 foot channel, went to his hotel and slept till the next morning.

The next morning he called his family attorney who convinced him to report the accident.

That all makes perfect sense, doesn’t it? If he says it, it must be true.

The one thing in the speech that rang true, he said:

This last week has been an agonizing one for me and for the members of my family, and the grief we feel over the loss of a wonderful friend will remain with us the rest of our lives.

It was all about him. Awfully inconsiderate of Mary Jo Kopechne to die in his car like that and leave him to have to salvage his marriage and career.

Don’t worry, Teddy Kennedy is feeling better, but Mary Jo Kopechne is still dead.

Mary Jo Kopechne