Remember Chappaquiddick...

In light of the esteemed Massachusetts Senator's truly appalling behavior in the questioning of Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito's character with regard to his alleged membership in the controversial organization the Concerned Alumni of Princeton, I just wanted to remind every one that people in glass houses should not throw stones.

The below text (pulled from Wikipedia) describes what happened at Chappaquiddick in as impartial a way as I could find....

On July 18, 1969, after a party on Chappaquiddick Island near the island of Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, Kennedy drove away with Mary Jo Kopechne as a passenger in his 1967 Oldsmobile Delmont 88. According to Kennedy, he made a wrong turn onto an unlit road that led to Dike Bridge (also spelled Dyke Bridge), a wooden bridge that was angled obliquely to the road, and drove over its side, which had no guardrail. The car plunged into tide-swept Poucha Pond (at that location a channel) and landed upside down under the water. Kopechne died. According to the medical examiner, she had drowned. Kennedy claims he tried several times to swim down to reach her, then rested on the bank for several minutes before returning on foot to the Lawrence Cottage, where the party attended by Kopechne and other "boiler room girls" had occurred.

Joseph Gargan (Kennedy's cousin) and party co-host Paul Markham then returned to the pond with Kennedy to try to rescue Kopechne. Though there was a telephone at the Lawrence Cottage, nobody called for help. When their efforts to rescue Kopechne failed, Kennedy decided to return to his hotel on the mainland. As the ferry had shut down for the night, Kennedy swam the short distance back to Edgartown.

Some people question his description of his escape from the car, because of his reported back troubles caused by a 1964 airplane accident, and his claim to have been injured when the car went off the bridge.

Kennedy discussed the accident with several people, including his lawyer, before he was contacted by the police.

The next morning (July 19, 1969), a science teacher and a 15 year-old boy discovered Kennedy's car. Police Chief Dominick Arena called Kennedy from the house nearest the bridge. Kennedy was given the news that his mother's car had been involved in a fatal accident. Kopechne's body was discovered by diver John Farrar, who observed that a large amount of air was released from the car when it was righted in the water, and that the trunk, when opened, was remarkably dry. These observations and others have led some to believe that Kopechne had not drowned, but suffocated in an air pocket within the car.

The incident quickly blossomed into a scandal. Kennedy was criticized for driving drunk, for failing to come to Kopechne's aid, for failing to summon help, for contacting not the police but his lawyer first, and for failing to report the accident to the authorities. Because of a lack of evidence other than Kennedy's own word, allegations persist that he did not try to save Kopechne, and that he intentionally turned onto the road crossing the bridge going to the beach in order to have sex with her.

Kennedy entered a plea of guilty to a charge of leaving the scene of an accident after causing injury. He received a sentence of two months in jail, which was suspended. An Edgartown grand jury later reopened the investigation but did not return an indictment.

Kennedy's critics and political opponents question whether justice was served in this case. Rumors periodically surface of a conspiracy by Kennedy and his family to alter his driving record to obviate charges of negligent homicide, and to influence the Edgartown grand jury.