As I just posted to Facebook...

[palsgraf_polka]

RIP Ted Kennedy. Your legacy in the Senate in many ways outshines that of your two more famous brothers. Thank you for being a liberal champion these last few decades. I appreciate your service to this country.

Comments

[palsgraf-polka.livejournal.com]

No, I agree with you on that point that being drunk is not an excuse. Drunk driving is awful and should be punished.

I guess more what I'm saying is that he was drunk, and he was from a rich family, and he did instinctively what rich people do, which is turn to their group for help to try to fix bad situations. I think he panicked, went and got his friends, who "handled" him and told him to go back to the hotel. He did.

It's not an excuse, per se, but his whole life was politics and appearances and he was bullied and browbeaten by Big Joe from childhood onward and I think it warped his view on the world when it comes to scandal and matters of public scrutiny. I see his drunkenness and his upbringing as being sort of a mitigating circumstance to his actions that night.

I believe, however, that he atoned for that lack of good judgment in Chappaquiddick with all of the good he has done in the Senate since that tragic night.