Why Didn’t DL Tell Me They Made a Chappaquiddick Movie?

There seems to be a recent concerted media effort to trash Democratic politicians regarding women (e.g., Gary Hart). Is this to normalize or diminish Trump's depredations?

Mary Jo’s story needs to be told.

I don't view this as a political smear story, I view this as a scumbag who left a young woman to drown in order to save himself and his career.

My mom will be lining up for this...

R2, Be careful what you wish for. She and her small group of political worker bees knew their companions would be married male politicians.

R3, I'm speaking of the timing. Chappaquiddick was in 1969 (same week in July as Moon landing), so not an "anniversary" year.

[quote]Mary Jo’s story needs to be told.

Did someone mention me?

The Kennedy's must not have the power they use to have anymore. I thought they would have shut a movie like this down before I could even be made. Or even a press release being issued announcing the upcoming production of it. Because the Hearst family definitely shut down a feature film that was going to be made about patty.

Does anyone care?

The GOP has been using this against the Kennedys for years yet when a Republican kills someone (I'm looking at you, Laura Bush) kills someone, it's never mentioned.

I care because it’s an interesting story and it looks like a good movie with good actors. Not everything is about Democrats and Republicans.

Every time she came up for air, he dunked her down again.

For real, in college I had a goldfish named Mary Jo Kopechne.

My 23 year old daughter has never heard of the story. But now she does..

I guess republicans want to inform millennials. Personally i am.sick of this tale being used to insult democrats.

Who is the audience for this supposed to be???

Asshole repugs who already hate the Democrats anyway??

Who would pay money to see this? Who made this??

I’d be interested in who made this as well...

The only photo of Mary Jo I’ve ever seen is the graduation picture/studio headshot above. Finally, here’s another: a two shot of her shaking hands with Bobby Kennedy in the People magazine article linked by R11.

People tend to forget she was a liberal for the cause. But for the sake of poor Teddy’s reputation, we’re supposed to just pretend she never existed.

Whoa boy, steady r15.

I'm surprised to see this is a movie rather than a tv movie, so yes there is a certain political stink. Nevertheless, people as a whole and politicians in particular are a posturing, lying lot.

Is Ted complicit in the death of MJK? Maybe, and maybe very well not. Does that negate the entirety of his life's work? Hell no. The man is a liberal legend for good reason.

I don't have a problem with Chappaquidick inquiries, and I would hope you could think past the black/white areas to see the grey. We can have heroes who also were audacious clods from time to time. Name one who wasn't. You can't. Even Lincoln had his troubles.

So who cares about this movie as regards future voters. His record stands. His liberal base stands for him, and those that want to use it to hurt the Kennedy myth are a good one or two generations too late.

Chappaquidick happened. We can deal with this.

Cowardly murderer.

It did cost him the presidency. Those Oliphant cartoons during his 1980 presidential runs were classic. I have to start the argument _ would he have beaten Reagan? Without Chappaquidick?

Ted Kennedy left a girl in a submerged car, went back to his hotel, went to bed, sobered up, had breakfast and then called the authorities.

MJK was still alive. She suffocated and didn't drown. She was trapped in an air bubble and could have been rescued.

Murder. Poor Joan.

Oh ffs, r20, nobody got murdered. This is a story of someone who either:

A. Covered up his involvement in an accident that resulted in drowning of a woman who he may have been having an affair.

B. Covered up his non-involvement in an accident that resulted in drowning, but would nevertheless lead to destructive speculation of an affair outside of marriage.

Your reluctance to read or educate yourself is stinking up my planet. Would you please leave?

*with whom

In college I had a pet rock named Karen Ann Quinlan, r13.

The Kennedys are a dreadful family of a bygone era and need to be forgotten. They are grifters.

The Kennedys are one of America's greatest political families from the Golden Era of America, when average people had a voice, could make a decent living, and live the American Dream. Sadly, the radical right in America saw the threat posed by an accomplished, honored family, and systematically killed two brothers, and politically hobbled the third through cheap innuendo and gossip.

The movie premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in 2017, and has a Rotten Tomatoes score of 64.

[quote]Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter called the film methodical but lacking passion, writing: "It's doubtful that many Americans under the age of 40 or so even know what the name Chappaquiddick refers to, which might in itself provide solid justification for making a film about it. But the drama of the tragic July 18, 1969, accident...needed more energetic and incisive treatment than it receives in this sober, somewhat slack telling."

She didn't drown. She suffocated in an air pocket when the oxygen ran out. The police diver who pulled her body from the car insisted he could have saved her if anyone had notified the police.

Quit chappin' my dick

R29, your mistake AGAIN is in assuming: assuming that Kennedy was in the car with her.

The idea floats that Kennedy left her company after probable sex. Not wanting to be witnessed in her company, Ted said goodbye at their rendezvous point and she drove off and away. He received a phone call the next morning reporting her death. By witness accounts he went from a normal demeanor to a vexed one in an instant. It could very well have been news to him. The point is, you don't know. The fact that you pretend to know is unbearably tedious.

"I don't know either, but at least I'll say so."

An air bubble? An air bubble points to Ted Kennedy's guilt? Was it initialed? Was his sad face imprinted with copious amounts of hair?

To my memory, as a child in those days, the adults were more concerned that Ted Kennedy may have had had an adulterous affair than anything else. My family was Catholic, same as the Kennedys'. In those days, that was enough to sideline your career of any sort. Catholics didn't mess around back then, if you had an affair you were DONE.

Just tacky.

Air pockets{?!

In the war on women Teddy is still the only politician with a confirmed kill.

Y’sure about that?

This thread is a horror. Miss Schuster, send in the bees.

There was a theory/story a while back that she passed out on the back floorboard and he drunkenly didn’t realize she was there.

r31, you said the idea floats. I cant believe you said the idea floats.

I still remember her last words....

"Splash"

Yes, it was awful what Ted did. He was a spoiled rich kid.

However, as a Senator, he was one of the most effective legislators for civil rights ever.

Overall, I forgive him.

Well, it stars Jason Clarke so right there means no one will be watching it. Whenever I see his name attached to film it’s a red flag.

The real life characters are all pretty much dead.

R31

Hey dipshit, you are aware that Turd admitted his culpability, that he was driving and went off the bridge ?

Something tells me there was no air pocket, I don't think it works that way.

r46 That never happened, you are a sad and lonely liar. Russia again?

R46 is on block. We're really swimming in filth tonight. Ooo the stank.

This thread is crawling with trolls. R46 is one among many.

Good Lord, what morons

R46, Why mess up a good DL "blame the right story" with facts. I know, even a cursory internet search will provide facts that Teddy admitted he left her there and didn't report it for something like 10 hours. Yeah, a real smear campaign against a poor innocent boy.

After the accident, he ran to his cousin's house, his cousin the lawyer.

His cousin later accompanied him to the police station.

Ted's cousin and partner in crime, Joseph Gargan, died in December at age 87.

RIP - Cousin Joe

R47, There were scratch marks on the upholstery indicating that Mary Jo was desperate to get out of that Oldsmobile, which was registered in Rose's name, by the way.

I can't breathe.

I thought she was at the party, had too much to drink - got into the backseat to pass out and Teddy didn't know she was there

R58, Umm, then where was Ted headed all alone?

r27, there was no bigger homophobe than Robert Kennedy, who led the notorious lavender scare. He didn't believe gays should hold positions in government.

R60, Yet, he was seen making out with Rudolf Nureyev in a nightclub phone booth one evening.

LOL. R19. Sorry.

I just really wondered who would think this was still relevant!

Whatever happened that day was unfortunate and it did cost Teddy the presidency.

Maybe they're trying to hurt young Joe III.

The producer of the movie is 1980's comic Byron Allen. Last week, he also purchased The Weather Channel for $300 million. How does a semi-successful comedian acquire that much $$$?

This is definitely political. Things have not been this divided in the US in our lifetimes. And who knows how accurate it will be from a historical perspective, but it will inform the opinion of all the viewers who weren't alive when it happened.

But does anybody think high schoolers and twenty-somethings will pay money to see this??

Nobody. Cares. Anymore. Or ever did.

I doubt any of you fuckers have ever been to Chappaquiddick and looked at the actual site.

When I was thirteen my folks took me with them to MV. We went to the site and I will never forget my parent's reaction. They both agreed that there was no way the Teddy could have pulled her out. There was a massive tidal pull at the site and it was pretty deep.

If Teddy could get out then Mary Jo, if she was conscious, should have been able to have gotten herself out the same way he got out, through the open driver's side window. The interior of the car was not affected by the tidal pull.

There were no streetlights and the bridge was angled off the road. It was a weird setup that bridge not being straight off the road. Accident waiiting to happen if there was too much speed and booze and darkness.

It was an accident.

Do the latest kennedys have money? The Connor Kennedy generation? Does rfk Jr. have money, or did his father breed them all into the poorhouse?

[quote]The Kennedys are one of America's greatest political families from the Golden Era of America, when average people had a voice, could make a decent living, and live the American Dream.

Were "average people" also bootleggers, like Joe?

Interesting read

R67, Still doesn't explain why Ted returned to his motel room, showered and shaved, made a point to speak to the desk clerk to create an alibi, made phone calls and even napped before reporting the "accident".

No one gives a shit about the Kennedys. The Baby Boomers need to stop trying to make them happen again.

Has everyone in the Kennedy family killed or driven someone to suicide? Seems that way.

Still thought the Clintons have a higher body count.

Is there any evidence of an "air pocket" outside of fevered republican imaginations?

Scratch marks on the car's interior made by Mary Jo, showing she tried to save herself.

What the fuck does an air pocket matter? The fat, entitled drunk left her to die

Kate Mara is better in the funeral scene than her sister is ever.

Review and discussion with Ben Mankiewicz, whose father was press secretary for Kennedy's presidential campaign.

Sounds like a solid character study but that's about it.

I watched this today. It was ok. The writing could have been better.