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« Reply #1 on: April 02, 2018, 04:15:16 PM » |
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The Patriot Post Digest 4-2-2018
From The Federalist Patriot
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On the night of 18 July, Kennedy left a party [on Massachusetts’ Chappaquiddick Island] with an attractive young intern en route to a private secluded beach on the far side of Dike Bridge. Kennedy lost control on the single-lane bridge and his vehicle overturned in the shallow tidal water.
Kennedy freed himself from the vehicle, leaving his passenger, 28-year-old Mary Jo Kopechne, to suffocate in an air pocket inside the overturned car. Nine hours later, after sobering up and conferring with political advisors and lawyers, Kennedy called authorities to report the incident. Kopechne’s body had already been discovered.
To produce the new film about that fateful night, the creative team of writers Taylor Allen and Andrew Logan, director John Curran, and Kennedy portrayer Jason Clarke leaned heavily on a 763-page inquest released the year following Kopechne’s death. This decision confines the narrative to the short time period between the night of the accident and Kennedy’s nationally televised mea culpa a few days later after he received nothing more than a suspended sentence from a local judge for leaving the scene of an accident.
So while critic Todd McCarthy of the Hollywood Reporter laments30 that Allen and Logan “have done their homework in organizing the material but haven’t brought an argument to the table that might have zapped the film to life,” others31 analyzing32 the film are relieved that the treatment of Kennedy wasn’t overly dramatic.
Director Curran contends that the perspective on the film will vary with one’s politics. “I realize that in this climate a viewer’s reaction to the film will be largely based on the political prism they watch it through. In that sense I endeavored to strike a very non-partisan, factual tone.” But that’s a bit of a cop-out, because the major facts of the story aren’t in dispute. As we have often said over the years, Kopechne’s life was snuffed out and Ted Kennedy spent the rest of his life trying to live down his decision to flee the scene. (As CNN put it to the derision33 of many Twitter followers, Chappaquiddick was “one of” Kennedy’s darkest hours.) We learned that the “Lion of the Senate” was cowardly when it most counted.
Because this incident was nearly a half-century ago and practically all of the major characters have passed away, it’s a wonder Chappaquiddick the movie was ever made at all. It did bring out the excuse to retell the Kopechne side by replaying a 1991 interview34 with a family member, but this morality tale reminds us of a bygone era where secrets could be kept secret.
As the reviewer McCarthy notes, “It’s impossible to watch this film without imagining how such an incident would be covered today; very likely, the young woman would not have died had there been cellphones, as she was apparently still alive in the submerged car for at least two hours, maybe three or four. But even more astounding was Ted Kennedy’s not reporting the incident for 10 hours, then the fact that a story that otherwise would have provided endless headlines became an afterthought when the first moon landing took place two days later.”
No one is expecting great things from this movie; in fact, it was bumped back from an original plan for a limited release late last year at a time when award-seeking movies are put out. But it is a reminder about how bad decisions can last a lifetime, even when you’re in a position where they can be covered up. While Ted Kennedy died in 2009 still in office as the senior senator from Massachusetts — having been re-elected seven times after the accident — the 1980 Democrat primary season was the closest he ever came to the presidential brass ring. Despite winning 12 states in the process, Kennedy was soundly beaten by Jimmy Carter at the Democrat convention, finally conceding the nomination there.
If Ted Kennedy were made of sterner stuff, maybe he would have freed Mary Jo Kopechne and the incident would have been soon forgotten, or even spun into an act of heroism guaranteeing a return to Camelot in the 1972 or 1976 presidential election. Whatever the results would have been for the nation, that’s surely a version of life’s movie Mary Jo’s grieving family would have preferred.
MORE ANALYSIS FROM THE PATRIOT POST
Breaking Up the Public School Monopoly37 — We all know the education system’s failings. The time for complaining is over. It’s time to do something about it.
VA’s Shulkin Wasn’t Up to the Task of Pivotal Reform38 — Our veterans are getting the short end of the stick, and the VA needs a colossal overhaul.
Ballooning Costs May Force USAF to Cut F-35 Orders39 — The estimated cost of maintaining the top-of-the-line fighter jet may preclude its usefulness.
Video: Second Amendment Repealed?40 — Former Justice John Paul Stevens says it’s time. But what does that mean for our supposedly free Republic?
Video: How to Tell if You’re Woke41 — The ever-desired state of Wokeness is only found by those willing to venture beyond their comfort zone.
BEST OF RIGHT OPINION
Hans von Spakovsky: Another Reason to Remember the Easter and Passover Weekend42
Tony Perkins: The Controversy of the Cross43
Kathryn Jean Lopez: Inspiration and Invitation in New Film44
Ken Blackwell: The Democrats’ Plan to Transform America45
Burt Prelutsky: Marxism: The Cancer That Never Quits46
For more of today’s columns, visit Right Opinion47.
OPINION IN BRIEF
Burt Prelutsky: “The oddest thing of all is that people who have seen Marxism destroy entire populations continue to embrace it. When the results of the contagion are pointed out to them, and they are shown the harm it has done to people in such police states as the Soviet Union, China, Nazi Germany, Cambodia, Vietnam, Cuba, Venezuela and North Korea, saddling them with famines, disease, starvation, government-sanctioned brutality and the loss of free speech and their religious rights, the true believers scoff and either deny the facts or declare: ‘Marxism is perfect. The fault merely lies in the way that it’s been practiced.’ The appeal of the evil doctrine is that it promises that the riches of the society will be equally divided amongst the population. As someone once observed, when you rob Peter to pay Paul, don’t expect Paul to object. Of course, as history keeps showing, once the revolutionaries take power, it’s not Paul who profits, it’s a bunch of stiffs named Josef, Mao, Adolf, Pol Pot, Fidel, Che and Kim, along with their cronies. Today, the latest nation to be hit with tyranny posing as agrarian reform is South Africa. It’s not getting a lot of attention, but the blacks are driving the white farmers off their land. Those who aren’t fleeing to Australia are being murdered. But, as with black violence in America and Muslim violence in Britain and Europe, political correctness by the Marxist media is keeping a lid on it.”
SHORT CUTS
The Gipper: “We will always remember. We will always be proud. We will always be prepared, so we may always be free.”
For the record: “As a factual matter, a shoddy cover-up of an extramarital tryst with a porn star a decade before Donald Trump became president would be a trifle compared to the oft-repeated but never established claim of Trump collusion with Russia. As a legal matter, though, when highly aggressive prosecutors are circling, any kind of something is always more perilous than nothing.” —Andrew McCarthy
The BIG Lie: “I favor changing the Second Amendment. Yeah, repeal it. … You know who started the Second Amendment? It was southern senators so they could ward off slave uprisings.” —Larry King
Non Compos Mentis: “My armed guards aren’t killing children and don’t have semi automatic weapons.” —"comedian" Chelsea Handler
Victimitis: “I was really struck by how people said that to me — you know, mostly people in the press, for whatever reason — like, ‘Oh, you know, go away, go away.’ … They never said that to any man who was not elected. I was kind of struck by that.” —Hillary Clinton
Braying Jenny: “As I watched the first two episodes of the ‘Roseanne’ reboot48, I thought again about accountability. I laughed, yes, and enjoyed seeing the Conner family back on my screen. My first reaction was that the show was excellent. But I could not set aside what I know of Roseanne Barr and how toxic and dangerous her current public persona is. … This fictional family, and the show’s very real creator, are further normalizing Trump and his warped, harmful political ideologies.” —New York Times’ Roxane Gay
And last… “[Laura] Ingraham’s original tweet was so incredibly innocuous6 that I don’t believe any single human in the country was actually hurt or offended by it. This is all a charade. A game. We shouldn’t play it. I disagree with Ingraham’s comments, I think they were dumb and unnecessary, but if you claim the response is AT ALL proportional to the offense, that only shows you are a disingenuous opportunist.” —Matt Walsh
Join us in daily prayer for our Patriots in uniform — Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen — standing in harm’s way in defense of Liberty, and for their families. We also humbly ask prayer for your Patriot team, that our mission would seed and encourage the spirit of Liberty in the hearts and minds of our countrymen.
Semper Vigilans Fortis Paratus et Fidelis
Nate Jackson, Managing Editor
Mark Alexander, Publisher |
