PrintAugust 28, 2009
NY Times Magazine Editor: Kennedy Joked about Chappaquiddick
Barack Obama recently called Ted Kennedy “the greatest Senator of our time.” Time Magazine has recently begun a campaign to highlight Kennedy’s “quiet Catholic faith.”
One can only wonder however about a man who was able to entertain the lighter side of a tragedy. In a recent interview on the Diane Rehm Show, New York Times Magazine editor Ed Klein had this to say about one of Kennedy’s “favorite topics of humor:”
“I don't know if you know this or not, but one of his favorite topics of humor was indeed Chappaquiddick itself. And he would ask people, ‘have you heard any new jokes about Chappaquiddick?’ That is just the most amazing thing. It's not that he didn't feel remorse about the death of Mary Jo Kopechne, but that he still always saw the other side of everything and the ridiculous side of things, too.”
Is it possible to feel remorse and see the “ridiculous” side of a young woman’s desperate struggle to escape the watery, frigid tomb at Chappaquiddick?
The trouble with seeing the other side of everything is that we often forget we’re on the human side.
Hat tip: M. Hemingway
