Well, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, and when it does, it makes quite a noise.Of course, there's no way that Taranto would have come up with that phrase except by reading our earlier posting. The comparison is entirely original with us. If we were litigious, we'd sue.
Taranto, who gets paid to do this stuff full-time and so manages both quantity and quality, goes on to elaborate in a way that will clarify for gentle readers without a stomach for public criticism of public figures what is at stake in remaining quiet, posturing mercy and understanding, after such events:
PJK is 38, a year older than his father was when he drove Mary Jo Kopechne to her grave. Since then, Massachusetts voters have returned the elder Kennedy to the Senate six times. If the weird hypnotic power the Kennedys wield against Massachusetts voters extends south to Rhode Island, Patrick Kennedy may have a long political career ahead of him.
Still, you have to wonder why these people don't just hire a driver. Surely they can afford it.
Unless someone says what is obvious to everyone except the voters of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, our republic will continue to contend with the Kennedy legacy.
By the way, if today's extensive reports on this subject are to be believed, it would appear that the younger Kennedy probably before driving did drink some alcohol, not "to excess," but while on two prescription medications which, per standard warnings, should not be mixed with alcohol. Hence, he may not have "had a lot to drink," but he drank in a way that was explicitly not "responsible." And the effect of that is drunkenness.
That doesn't make us less inclined to see him as culpable or to be dissatisfied with his dissembling explanations of the whole affair.
We're just glad that he crashed into a barricade and not off a bridge with a companion.
2 comments:
SWNID:
There is a huge difference between public criticism and personal gloating.
There's a huge difference from laying out the extensive theological case against homosexuality, for example, and calling a gay person a "fairy."
One is legitimate critism. The second crosses a line (even with a public figure such as the former governor of New Jersey).
My stomach is just fine.
Anon:
We're at a loss to see the precise similarity between our little political discussions and name-calling.
We're ready to be enlightened. Split that hair for us, if you have the time. It's too fine for us to manage on our own.
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