OK, here’s more info about my weird life. When I was growing up, politicians and pundits were my celebrities. Hollywood had nothing on Washington, D.C. Political power was far more appealing than box office power.
When I moved to the nation’s capital in 1998, I was always on the lookout for people I used to see on talking head shows. I soon got my wish. I once saw Sam Donaldson walking down the street (he did a double-take when he saw me and I never knew why) and George Will standing near a Metro station.
I was beyond excited after landing a coveted job on Capitol Hill. We had small TVs on our desks and were paid to watch floor debates (which I loved; seems strange now) and monitor the cable news channels. I attended a weekly Bible study in Senator Jesse Helms’s office and used to see him rolling down the hall in his motorized cart. He always smiled, as did Robert Byrd. I’d see then-Senator John Ashcroft and Senator Orrin Hatch in the halls, but they never smiled. 
I grew up reading every book on the Kennedy family I could get my hands on. I was, I admit, fascinated with them. The first time I saw Ted “Chappaquiddick” Kennedy at the Capitol building, I talked about it for weeks, even though I didn’t like him. (Read about Teddy’s albatross) One day while I was trying to get into the Senate gallery to watch Bill Clinton’s impeachment trial, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, Ted’s sister (and Arnold Schwarzenegger’s mother-in-law), walked right past me.
I used to play a game called “Your Kennedy Story,” similar to Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon. I theorized that everyone has either met or seen a Kennedy in person, or knew someone who had.
While working on the Hill, I finally got a first-hand “Kennedy story” of my own (Eunice Kennedy didn’t count), and Congressman Patrick Kennedy’s recent mishap (wrecking his car on Capitol Hill last week while drunk and drug-addled) gives me an opportunity to share it. (Check Google News for details on the accident.)
For those who don’t know, Patrick is Ted “Chappaquiddick” Kennedy’s younger son.
I was late for work one day and the employee garage was full. I drove around the block several times hoping to find a parking space. Driving up to the same stop sign for the 10th time, I decided to pretend it was a yield sign. As I slowed down, ready to hit the gas again, I slammed on the brakes. Walking in front of the car, his view obscured by an armful of stuff, was Congressman Patrick Kennedy, the same guy currently in the spotlight for drinking, driving, and hitting security barriers. He must have sensed the car because he slowed and looked around his bundle, eyes wide. I gave a weak “Sorry about that” smile, and he continued on his way.
I almost ran over a Kennedy. 
Do you have a Kennedy story? If not, answer this question: Do you think the congressman should resign?
Other bloggers: Baldilocks blogs about differences between Rep. Cynthia McKinney’s treatment (for slugging a Capitol Hill cop) and Kennedy’s. A libertarian blogger compares Rush Limbaugh’s former drug problem with Kennedy’s current one.
Addendum: You know, alcoholism is a nasty thing. I don’t know whether it’s hereditary or not, but Patrick’s mother Joan and father Ted are both former drunks (although his mother’s probably still drinking). He’d better get some serious help before he kills someone, too.
Another Addendum: I forgot to mention something (probably on purpose). While having dinner at B. Smith’s with friends a few years ago, I met Bill Clinton. This was post-presidency. He and his entourage came into the restaurant and went to a banquet room. They must have been in a hurry because about 20 minutes later, they were leaving. For some reason, Clinton made a beeline to our table and shook everyone’s hand. I don’t recall anyone signaling him over. Since my mother taught me to be polite to folks, I shook his extended hand. 
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I’m just waiting for Cynthia McKinney to start raising some hell for real now. She complained about discrimination,well the left just handed her a clear case of one! I hope that police chief loses his job!
McKinney’s incident is not comparable. She HIT a cop. While the Kennedy’s have never been found to do such a thing. Kennedy’s know how to play it cool with the cops so they help in the cover-up
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I’m really baffled at why McKinney is even raised in the same breath as this latest Kennedy incident.
Black politicians in DC get away with dirt too. Heck, everybody knew Marion Berry was doing dope! (Not to mention cheating on his wife) It took years before he was actually busted.
Patrick Kennedy should step down, but like his daddy he won’t. I mean heck, if his father didn’t step down after being involved in a woman’s death I guess the son figures he’s doing pretty good.
Patrick Kennedy should be charged with a DUI and the cops involved in the cover-up should be fired.
Of course McKinney should have left a long time ago.
Well I am a Kennedy and spend most of my time telling people we’re not related (Scot/protestant vs Irish/Catholic). does that count?
Second hand Kennedy story,
My father lived in Washington from 1940-1982. He ran with a politically in crowd (my uncle was in congress for a while). Anyway, my father brushed elbows with the Kennedy clan all the time.
The best story is this and happened before my dad was married. One evening in the 1950’s my dad and his crew were grabbing dinner and drinks at a hotel on 16th and K street (I think the Sheraton, don’t hold me to it). In come some of the Kennedy sisters. The fellas start chatting up the ladies and conversation continues into the night. Drinks were flowing but my dad is not a big drinker so he remained relatively sober. The Kennedy sisters were pretty polluted by the end of the evening and my dad had to put them in a cab. For his efforts, my dad got their phone numbers. He never called because he wasn’t attracted to women who got drunk.
Good one, mac.
Congressman Kennedy wouldn’t meet God’s standards to be an Elder in His Church. Still, if the electorate applied these standards well it might cause a bigger turnover in the House and Senate than term limits. That said, I’m left with two questions.
If he were a Republican would there be a hue and cry from Democratic talking heads howling for his hide and will he at least have to go through what every commenter on this site would have to go through if caught DUI?
Where is David Gregory’s outrage that a press conference was not held immediately?
I think the treatment of VP Chenney is a better analogy, so far as the media goes.
Back in the summer of 1957, I was standing on the platform part at the bottom of a column in the Caucus Room of what is now the Russell SOB, watching the Labor Rackets Committee. Bobby K was majority counsel. JFK was on the committee. A bright light flashed in my eye. It was a reflection off Ethel K’s diamond ring. Honest.
Long before Jackie labored to build a facade around the family she by then knew was trash, the French knew about “camelot”. In French, the word “camelot†means “tramp’ and camelote meant “trash, rubbish.†(McLaughlin, A New Pronouncing Dictionary of the French & English Language, Philadelphia, David McKay, 1909, p. 95). I’m sure that she knew what a tramp her husband was by the time they got to the White House. Maybe she “adopted” the Camelot theme as a way of sticking it to him. She was bright. She was of French heritage and had gone to school there before they were married.
Look too, at more recent dictionaries, e.g., HAPRER’S GIANT PAPERBACK French Dictionary (p. 77) define camelot as “merchandize of bad, evil, ill, wicked, ill-natured, mischievous, naughty” and LAROUSSE, Dictionnaire Compact (p.75) defines camelot [marchandise de mauvaise qualitie] as “rubbish”; and in Merriam-Webster’s French-English Dictionary, we learn camelot means “nm 1: street vendor; 2, paper boy; and camelotte, nf, trash, junk.” (p. 51).
It all fits, too well.
You almost hit a Kennedy with your car.
Now there’s some irony for ya.
Did Jesse Helms pass away? In the article you wrote the ‘late’ Jesse Helms….just wondering…
Oops! Now why did I think he was dead?
– Admin
I’m not a card-carrying member of the “in crowd”.
I’ve never met nor seen a Kennedy, and I don’t know anyone who has.
I don’t think he should be booted out, but hopefully his constituents will get a clue and vote in someone without eighteen steamer-trunks full of “baggage”.
Does anyone know if there are any Kennedys with a real job?
Actually, I think the Kennedys prove that the farther you go away from core Christian values,the more you will be held up as a shining example as the ‘best of humanity’. Rum-runners, adulterers, alcoholics, rapists, drug addicts…all excused, glossed over or trivialized because the Left honors the Kennedys for…protecting Abortion? Weakening our military? Legalizing “Illegal Aliens”? Being anti-war while we are at war? Is it any wonder the Left loves the Kennedys? The corrupt love their own, and hate the core Christian values exhibited (imperfectly)by George Bush, Condi Rice, Jerry Falwell, David Limbaugh, La Shawn Barber.
Well I have the unenviable distinction of having been the Kennedy family’s state legislator, from 1985-1990, while Rose was still alive and most of them kept the Hyannisport address for voting purposes. Curiously, I never was invited to their annual “Kennedy Family Barbecue,” probably because I was a conservative Republican (heh heh, it must have killed them). During the summer months when Congress was in recess, Ted used to troll the bars pretty infamously. He’d bring his entourage into, say, The Ocean Club, they’d get a big booth, and Ted’s chief minion would go after the drinks and herd young women over for a “visit with the Senatah.” One such night, after several hours of hard core drinking, Ted got up (presumably headed to the bathroom), stumbled over to an out-of-the-way corner of the bar, and proceeded to urinate on the floor.
As God is my witness.
Well, there’s a HUGE difference between us drunks and those damned alcoholics…
Us drunks don’t go to meetings…
Kennedy’s go to the Mayo clinic and get to tell LIES and get away with it…
I don’t know about Ted being a “former drunk”. We still refer to him as Senator Chivas here in Massachusetts. I don’t remember him taking any vow of abstinence. This is the guy who woke Patrick up at midnight to go out drinking the night William Kennedy Smith had his “problem”.
As for Joan, she was found by passed out in a snowbank the winter before last by a pedestrian strolling by. She went into detox after that incident.
Personally, I think Sam Donaldson did a double-take because of your stunning good looks.
La Shawn:
Black Dems have NOTHING to complain about the “special” tretment of Patrick Kennedy; in fact, he is one of them.
Marion Barry is still treated like royalty; in fact, he was an honored guest for the ground breaking of the pork-laden stadium that will cost taxpayers hundreds of miliions. Shameful.
I am delighted that some White people have the courage to call Cynthia McKinney’d bluff. Parick Kennedy should be next.
“I’m sorry” is not enough for thest two – the same standard should be applied as is demanded for George W Bush and Don Rumsfeld – resignation.
For #11, he’s in real real bad shape these days….
poor guy…
I live in the UK, so no Kennedy story I’m afraid. But I wanted to chip in with my two cents anyway. I absolutely believe that alcoholism can be inherited – in her late teens, my best friend went the same way as her mother. Thankfully they’re currently both dry, but it’s been a long hard struggle for both of them. I’ve seen it happen a few more times with other friends, too, and in each case one or both parents had some kind of substance addiction. I think it’s terrible, and sad, that with all his money and power, and family history of substance abuse (you’d have thought they could learn from it!), Patrick Kennedy hasn’t gotten the help he needs. I think it’s entirely possible that nobody has tried to make him see he needs help. It often happens that way with rich people (especially from a dynasty like the Kennedy clan) – they are surrounded by yes-men who don’t have their best interests at heart.
I think Pat Kennedy would do well to resign, go into rehab for an extended period (not a two-week spell at the Priory, like all the other celebrity addicts!), and maybe run for re-election some other time. Is that possible? I don’t know the laws on that, but it would show integrity and strength of character if he dealt with his demons. He has a duty to those who elected him, and it is my opinion that a politician can’t fulfil that duty as long as he is abusing drugs.
(I think the most obvious question in this case is – why the hell was he driving himself?! He could have hired someone sober to do it for him: it’s not like he doesn’t have the cash to burn.)
Although I have a lot of admiration for Jackie Kennedy her french (frogs) heritage as far as whoredom goes is just as bad as her husbands.her father and grandfather, and in later years after her hubby’s death,she began stepping out too. It is amazing of the hypocrisy of the left, always have some sort of lame excuses for bad behavior. JFK jr. is the only one of the younger set of his counsins that didn’t leave a paper trail of scandal like his cousins did, some of you probably didn’t know that he also criticized his cousins for their bad behavior. Alcoholism is genetic and Lashawn you remember about that scripture in the Bible that says that the sins of the father are passed down through the males not females. but, I do fault the Kennedy women for not teaching those kids in decency especially Ethel and Bobby’s kids. Rose Kennedy was pretty much MIA during her children’s formative years, but, they actually were no different than the other wealthy families. If you guys were to Read some of the things that the Rockefellers, Carnegie-Mellon, and Ford families they have skeleton’s in their closet as well. Independent Conservative I agree but that sense of entitlement has affected our people too. That cop forgot that we the people of this nation are the ones who pay his salary not Patrick Kennedy.
La Shawn–
My first memory has to do with a Kennedy.
I was a toddler when JFK was running for President. He stopped in my hometown of Crestwood, MO (home of the nation’s first true mall, Crestwood Plaza) and gave a speech in the mall parking lot on the back of a flatbed truck. After the speech, he did his Irish baby-kissing routine and my parents held me up to him. I vaguely remember the smell of his aftershave or cologne and his beaming smile.
I have had nothing bad to say about JFK on my blog, and not just because I was kissed by a Kennedy. JFK and Bobby were OK by me. Everything that came after them? Never mind…
I have a great Ted Kennedy story, but no one will ever print it. I was a bouncer in a private club in NYC called Au Bar in 1991. Remember the Kennedy-smith rape in Fla?, same club. Kennedy came in one night in a black limo. That limo left and came back in twenty minutes with three “escorts”. By the time Teddy left at the end of the night, he was so boxed, he didn’t care who saw him. So he stumbled out with his arms around the hookers and they all got in the limo and left. It was weird because NYPD Intelligence had to check the club out before he arrived. I always wondered…did they screen the hookers too?
La Shawn, I don’t think this counts as a Kennedy story, but here goes anyway:
I have several leftist relatives who are the most virulent anti-black racists you could ever encountered (their rhetoric would make the KKK blush). They also think the sun rises and sets on Ted Kennedy. Go figure.
Never met a Kennedy. Don’t know anyone who met a Kennedy. And I like it that way.
Someone should develop a Vaccine against the Kennedy’s. It would be a great service to mankind.
That picture of Teddy in the neck brace would be hilarious, if it wasn’t so sad for MaryJo
clinton probably rushed to your table because u are black, he is the first black president you know
I shoveled snow for the folks who live in one of JFK’s childhood homes. They gave me some hot chocolate, and it was good.
#22, Lizzie, I agree that alcoholism can be inherited, for example there are people that lack the enzyme in the liver that processes the booze to give one a pleasurable feeling; they feel sick with their first drink. I don’t think switching to drugs is the answer for the heavy tipplers; they are as likely to gobble pills as to chug vodka.
I live in Ashcroft’s hometown. Every time I see him he’s smiling. But then again, maybe hometown churches and universities are a little more relaxing than DC.
Well done!
Reminds me of a bit that Howie Carr does on his radio broadcast (WRKO 680AM Boston, 3-7pm) every few weeks about encounters with the connected and powerful in and around New England. It always features heavy doses of encounters with Kennedy’s… and they are always entertaining (in an eye-rolling kind of way).
I’m pretty sure Howie would love to have you on some time to compare notes… I encourage you to call him.
The Kennedy’s connection to booze goes back to Papa Joe, who was a notorious bootlegger and had strong ties to the underworld. sins of the father, any one?
I wonder, why does it seem that no one in the big media is hunting down the Officer who ordered the Patrolmen to skip the sobriety test?
That is the person who should be canned.
Of course if Kennedy had been a Republican, by now we all would have known the Officer’s name, political affiliation(s), political donations, etc. etc. etc.
La Shawn,
I agree with Kathleen (#19)regarding Sam Donaldson
I don’t have a Kennedy story, but since you mentioned him, I do have a second hand Clinton story. When my son was in the Coast Guard’s Honor Guard detachment in DC he was on the platform with Clinton during a ceremony at the tomb of the unknown soldier. After setting the wreath and giving his speech, Clinton started to work the crowd. One of the things he did was shake hands with the various Military honor guard people close to him. He began shaking my son’s hand and just at that moment was distracted by someone he knew, standing at the crowd control ropes. He began conversing while still absent-mindedly shaking my son’s hand. After what seemed like forever to my son, the President finally realized what he was doing and said “Sorry son” and let go. I asked what he was thinking during the whole time and my son’s reply was “All I could think was ‘Get off me, dude!’, but I didn’t dare say it.”
Your last paragraph about shaking Bill Clinton’s hand because you are polite reminded me of my wife’s Kennedy story:
She was seated on a flight out of DC over ten years ago. When the Senator and his entourage arrived arrived he went down each row shaking everybody’s hand. When he put his hand in front of her she told him “Remove it, quickly, or I’ll tear it off for you.”
She is not always polite. I know, I’m married to her.
I once saw Sam Donaldson walking down the street (he did a double-take when he saw me and I never knew why)
Isn’t it obvious, La Shawn? It’s because you’re such a babe!
Sorry ’bout that — someone beat me to that comment. Sorry I missed it. But it’s still an accurate assessment!
LB,
After a polite pause, I hope you washed that hand before finishing dinner. Because we have a pretty good idea of where it has been…
I have a Patrick Kennedy story — While living on Capitol Hill in the late-1990s, I was walking on 2nd Street NW, just across from the Senate Office Building, and lo and behold there was Patrick Kennedy pedaling up 2nd Street on his bike. He gave me kind of a flirty little smile, but not being a Kennedy fan I gave a polite smile in return and kept on walking. I told my dad about the incident later on and he, also most definitely not a Kennedy fan, was decidedly unimpressed that a rich American scion had given me the eye. Ah well, my one brush with the Kennedy’s was, at least, memorable.
Follow up to my #42 comment –
Just thinking about it now, maybe I should just be grateful that he didn’t run over me with his bike?
I have a couple Kennedy stories. Having attended Georgetown, you cant help it.
1. My mom is the spitting image of Jackie, and I am the same age as John, when my mother would take me and my sister as kids out in DC, sometimes hordes of tourist would follow us.
2. I saw Patrick Kennedy at GU for a stint there– he got mad at a girl, acted like a prima donna, and jumped in his convertible and sped off. That was his single week at GU as a freshman. Interestingly, his convertible then was nicer than the one he wreaked recently.
3. There are Shriver stories, but I am not going to share. Many others who were at GU know them too.
4. The Best: one of my fraternity brothers was dating one of the Robert Kennedy daughters. My very conservative friend and I joined them, and her cousin (one of the Smiths) for drinks at the Tombs bar, and when she introduced herself, my friends joked “you are not one of those stinking liberal Kennedys from Massachusetts, are you ?”. She got up, excused herself to go to the restroom, and never came back. Her cousin then turned to my friend and said “you have to excuse her– but family loyalty means a lot to her”, and then she left too.
Do you look like the late JKR Jr? Send me a photo of yourself post-haste!
– Admin
I don’t have a Kennedy story other than growing up I remember the comedy record album parity of their family. It was really funny.
However, I too have a Clinton story. I’m on a school board and during the time of the impeachment trial, I was in DC for a National School Board conference. Clinton (oh, I just remember, Teddy spoke there too) came to speak to us and I stood up out of respect for the “position”, but I was throroughly disgusted by the overwhelming welcome this organization gave to these flaming, immoral liberals. The officers of the NSBA were giving Clinton hugs and I heard one of them afterwards saying, “I can’t believe I got to touch him.” It sickened me. Where was the concern for our nation’s children? If a superintendent had done what Clinton did with Monica, with a student teacher, he’d have been fired.
I believe Palestinian Sirhan-Sirhan shot down the last Kennedy worthy of the name.
I would not be too quick to say he was drunk; Ambien is known for making people do freaky things they do not remember.
From Fox’s Gretawire:
Greta,
I was prescribed Ambien for insomnia. One night I got up from bed, went out into the hallway and pulled down my undies and went pee on my hallway steps. My husband was freaking out. He tried like crazy to get me to wake up and get me either to the bathroom or back to bed. No doing until I finished peeing on the steps. The next morning I woke up and DIDN’T REMEMBER A THING. When I found the steps wet I was ready to really get after my dogs for going to the bathroom in the house. I called my husband on his cell phone to ask why he hadn’t let them out that morning and to tell him what they had done. You cannot even begin to imagine my surprise when I found out I WAS THE GUILTY PARTY. OMG, I was so embarrassed.
Greta, it says right on the warning label that Ambien causes amnesia and disorientation. I have gotten up in the morning and found food I ate during the night in the kitchen, have made phone calls I have no memory of. I even talked to one ex-good friend and confirmed her husband was cheating while under the influence of Ambien. That never, ever would have happened if I had not taken Ambien. It is an extremely powerful drug.
Name withheld due to embarrassing story
E-mail No. 5
Am sorry this won’t be “short”, but, it is extremely important. While I am a dedicated Republican, I can’t stand by while Patrick Kennedy is raked across the coals. This is my story. I will keep as short as I can:
In 1998, my doctor prescribed Ambien as a sleep aide. We discussed the side effects and was told by my doctor as well as my pharmacist this such a safe medication. I looked it up on the Internet and found no adverse reactions. I took this medication for most of 1998. One night, in early 1999, I woke up driving back from an ice cream store with a banana split. I can only say that God was actually driving. I contacted my doctor the next day and we began “weaning” me off of the Ambien. In March of that year, I entered the hospital for major back surgery. The last thing I remember for the next seven weeks was being taken to operating room. I had to be admitted three times during that seven weeks to a mental hospital. No one would accept the role Ambien played in my memory loss. I was misdiagnosed and placed on anti-psychotic drugs. When I finally came out of this “trance,” I began contacting the makers of Ambien, the CDC, the Federal Drug Administration, my congressman and did more research on the Internet. I was unable to get anyone to believe me or to seem to care. It is important that know, I am a very intelligent person. After being off the medication for a couple of years, I had two more episodes of memory loss and had to be treated by a mental health professional.
I am so thankful that no one was injured while Mr. Kennedy was driving, but maybe now the medical professionals and maybe the government will start listening to “innocent” people when they tell them a medication is bad. The public needs to be warned about these medications. I still suffer from insomnia, but I will never again take medication like Ambien, Halcion and Lunestra.
Please feel free to contact me or use my story if deem it important
Rohypnol was a sleep aid but banned for doing the same things, only to be used as a rape drug. I predict Ambien may meet the same fate based on what happened to Kennedy and these two people…
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
A team of surgeons from the Mayo Clinic have announced their plans to attempt to surgically separate Rep. Patrick Kennedy from a bottle Chivas Regal, to which he has been joined since birth. “The procedure is complicated and poses risks to both Mr. Kennedy and the Chivas,” said a Clinic spokesman, who went on to say that “Such a procedure has so far never been successfully performed on a Kennedy family member.” %^)
I don’t have a Kennedy story, but back in October 2000 I was in Washington, DC preparing for a race. I was staying at a local hotel on Dupont Circle, just blocks north of the White House. Each day for a week leading up to the Sunday race I would start me daily training run by going right by the White House, over the the Washington Monument then down the mall to the US Capitol Building.
On the Saturday before the race I was walking back on Pennsylvania Ave. from the Capitol Building towards the White House and who do I see strolling along… Senator Patrick Moynihan from New York. I said to him, “I know you, I see you on C-Span all the time.” The senator was quite surprised by that and we ended up talking for about ten minutes as we were standing in front of the FBI building. After meeting Sen. Moynihan in person it was easy to understand why he was such an admired individual. He was one of a dying breed of REAL Democrats who served our country so well.
One other note, after staying near the White House for a few days it became ‘ordinary’ to have it so close to my temporary ‘home’ for a week. It was so amazing to walk out of the hotel, look a few blocks south and there is the White House.
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