Like father, like son? At least he wasn't on a bridge. And why didn't he have to blow a sobriety test??? Those Kennedys don't like wind power of ANY kind! Link to story.

Here's the latest on Kid Kennedy. You gotta wonder what the voters of RI were thinking/drinking when they voted this bipolar drug abuser into office. Just the kind of clear thinker Congress needs! Take two before driving.

Where's all the posts? If this were a member of the Bush family the wolves would be out in force already.

You expect ANYONE to act suprised or outraged at a drunk Kennedy?

You do a lot of wishful thinking.

It's barely newsworthy.

R

Having been raised an Irish/Catholic in Massachusetts, we were taught to worship the Kennedy family. When I heard this on the news this morning, I thought "that's it, I've had it with the second generation of this family." At least Ted's accident you could chalk up to grief over the destruction of his family. The younger Kennedy's, like the younger Bush's (including Neil and W, of course) continue to demonstrate the destructive power of wealth and prestige. Both families also certainly show how drug and alcohol abuse move through the generations (of course, if the Bush twins are anything like Mama Laura, their boyfriends better watch out and not piss them off - never know when there will be another "accident" on the lonely roads of Texas).

That being said, I don't give a hell of a lot of credence to this Kennedy's explanation. However, if it does turn out to be a case of "sleep driving" caused by Ambien, we need to get the FDA to take a long, hard look at that drug, and see if it belongs on the market.

Oh, and gmginsfo, I happen to know two very well-controlled people with bipolar disorder - please don't denigrate the mentally ill, it only adds to the stigma they face.

Not only should the FDA look into this, but doesn't driving while impaired include more drugs than just alcohol? If someone is so out of it that they don't know it is 3 am and that they actually do not need to rush to work for a vote, then I am equally concerned about there ability to drive as I would be if the person was looped on some Miller Lite.

It's called the "Silence of the Lambs," Copper!

CPT, I agree with your post in every way, except that I was hardly denigrating the mentally ill - just saying that the voters of RI should have done better than to elect a guy because of his name instead of his background and record. I was raised in the same milieu you were and we practically worshipped JFK. Properly treated, bipolars, alcoholics and drug abusers are capable of functioning well, but that shouldn't mean I'd have to vote for one to represent me in government. Am I to be faulted for seeking the best? :confused:

It is definately true that driving while impaired can mean drugs, licit and illicit, as well as alcohol, but I believe it is a lesser offense. Depending on the jurisdiction, there are typically several levels of DUI - Driving under the Influence, Driving while Impaired, Reckless Driving - that sort of thing.

It is being reported that Kennedy is going into treatment for his addiction to prescription pain killers. Hmm...interesting.

Certianly seems to be more to the story than what is initially being played in the media. I wonder what would have happened to me if I was the one driving that car, versus what is happening/happened to Kennedy?

Ditto for voters in Texas... and look where they got us!

[ May 05, 2006, 12:55 PM: Message edited by: aquaman ]

He's only one Kennedy of that generation. The fact that his parents generation were popping them out like Pez, means that there are a lot of them.
And most of them are hard working decent people. In EVERY family there are embarrassments.

Right GMG? (I could say a lot more, but would be banned)

Well, I would not put bipolar disorder in the same class as alcoholism or drug abuse - one is a biochemical disorder that is more akin to diabetes or asthma than addiction issues. I would hate, in fact, to see this latest Kennedy embarassment make it harder for those with bipolar disorder or unipolar disorder (major depression) to seek public office. One of the biggest problems we have in this country is the misunderstanding that behavioral health disorders are character flaws, and not medical disorders.

Back to the topic at hand - given that Kennedy is now going BACK to rehab, it is highly unlikely that Ambien itself is the cause (although Ambien abuse is always a possibility), and I actually agree with gmginsfo on the wisdom of electing Patrick K on the basis of his name alone (he got the seat when he was barely old enough to serve in the house - and began in RI politics while at Brown as an undergrad) - certainly having two parents with substance abuse issues (Lord knows you are in trouble when Ted Kennedy is the parent with fewer alcohol issues) probably also factors into his problems.

I do wonder at one thing, though. On a liberal blog, someone noted that the media was so quick to pick up on this story (and the Kennedy name undoubtedly had something to do with it), but not on the Downing Street Memo story when that broke. Now, I don't believe that the media has it out for Dem Congresspeople, as the poster I am referencing did, but I do think it is sad that our news are so filled with personality scandals (Brittney Spears hires a baby sitter for her husband! Angelina and Brad are in Namibia to hide from the paparrazzi! Ed Schrock called gay sex phone lines!) and not with real news. What is more important to the future of our country - one Congressman getting special help from the police (and this one sounds an awful lot like when Sen. Byrd got out of a ticket by claiming his Senatorial privilege - on the way out of DC! - he later had to pay up) or the crisis in Darfur?

edited to add:

Yes, but even that generation has more than its share of problem children - William Kennedy Smith, Joseph Kennedy II (he paralyzed a neighbor in a car accident as a teenager), David Kennedy (drug abuse killed him, although there are also rumors he was gay and the family couldn't take it), Michael Kennedy (killed horsing around on a ski slope, after being swept up in the baby sitter sex scandal), JFK Jr (risky flight led to his and his relative's deaths - rumor is they left so late so his wife could meet up with her coke dealer) and so on

On the other hand, the ones who are good citizens, like Kathleen Kennedy Townsend in Maryland, sometimes are so boring they can't even hold onto elective office.

[ May 05, 2006, 01:15 PM: Message edited by: CPT_Doom ]

Kinda right, LKS; many, but not all, families have their black sheep, but most don't seek public office. Query if most of this generation of Kennedys are "hard-working, decent people." I'd have to do a tally of their numbers and then see if "50% plus one" of them are as you describe them. That one down in FL (WKSmith?) who got in trouble a few years ago comes to mind, and I think there are one or two more who got into some sort of scrape, but I won't commit until I know the numbers and the facts. That, and a little self-control, are what keep me from getting "banned." wink

I knew him in college. He went to Providence College, not Brown. He was a lot cuter then. frown

He was the keynote speaker at the HRC dinner in Philly two years ago. The overriding sense I had of the guy is that he was just so sad. Gave a decent speech but I kept thinking that the comparisons to his Cousins and Uncles must weigh heavily on the man.

I wish him well.

I've met him, and he really is a sad figure. His mother is an alcoholic and was found incomprehensible and roaming the streets of Beacon Hill within the past year. She's had multiple problems with substance abuse. His father is one of the towering figures in Congress, and a well-known alcoholic who is fortunately now sober. Patrick was struggling with substance abuse at the age of 15, and has had repeated problems, with cocaine and alcohol over the years. Despite these problems, the voters of Rhode Island have decided more than once to put their faith in him and elect him to office, and he been a strong ally of workers, of gays and lesbians, of women, of people involved in civil rights, of immigrants, and so on. He needs help and it appears he's getting it. I don't buy the Ambien excuse either, but I hope this is a wakeup call to him that he not end up like his mother, who is an utterly tragic figure.

Speaking of out of control Congresspeople, any news about Watergate-Hookergate, which may snare more than a few Rethugs, including the just resigned incompetent head of the CIA, and former Congressman Porter Goss?

It seems the Kennedys are becoming a metaphor for what is wrong with the Democratic Party and by extension the progressive movement.

If so then perhaps they are the key to how to fix that problem: a kind of rehab for a lot that have become so despondent about political success in the US and progress in the world that they have resorted to a kind of gradual chemical suicide. They indeed need a fix but not a dodge.

The Kennedys have no more or less access to stimulants than others in their "class". Yet they seem almost genetically vulnerable to dysfunctional behavior under the influence of these substances. What such people need is not mass involuntary incarceration but voluntary institutionalization, for their own good and the good of others.

It seems to me like an arguement for the legalization of drugs with controls and penalties that make users responsible for the consequences of any harm they do to others under the influence - as is the case with alcohol.

wow -- talk about making a stretch just to get in a dig at the other side. So, I suppose Noelle Bush's substance abuse problems, the "Boys Gone Wild" issue with Jeb's son, the Neil Bush "I don't remember whether I got any free hookers in Hong Kong but I somehow caught syphillis while on a business trip", W's sweetheart stadium deal, Prescott Bush's smarmy dealings with the Nazis, Bar's ridiculous comments about Katrina refugees, Laura's driving accident, and W's own substance abuse problems say nothing about the state of the GOP...?

They say a lot about the GOP but not much about solving the problem of substance abuse.

The Kennedys just happen to be the subject of this thread which is why my "stretch" only spoke of their family.

In a thread about a common problem within another political family I would seem Democratic.

You and I both would have been sharing a cell with Bubba in a heartbeat.

Face it, families like the Kennedy's and the Bush's have pull.

yes, like some of RFK's kids and drugs, or Laura and the little stop sign episode, or Jeb's kids and probation for using crack, or W's kids and underage drinking.

I'm sure somewhere out there, someone is making a detailed comparison between the Cynthia McKinney incident and the Patrick Kennedy incident. Kennedy got--or, in a sense, almost got--special treatment from the Capitol Police while McKinney didn't. Whatever the merits of this comparison, the outrage on the subject is surprisingly muted. This no doubt has to do with a lot of specific details and the speed of Kennedy's apology and admission. But one detail that can't be left out is that Kennedy is a Democrat and a Kennedy. Does anyone doubt that if this had been a Republican under similar circumstances that the Congressional Black Caucus and the liberal bloggers would be denouncing the racist double standard being applied to a white Republican while McKinney was given no slack?

Patrick Kennedy, like many members of his family, has a longstanding addiction problem. This is well known to those outside his district as well as within it. They still elect the man, just as millions twice cast ballots for George Bush and Dick Cheney, both of whom have DUIs (Cheney has two).

Comparing Kennedy's situatioon with Cynthia McKinney's run-in is ridiculous. She has previously had problems being recognized as a Congresswoman (even when she had wore her highly distinctive braids, hair bow and gold sneakers) on Capitol Hill and unlike Kennedy, she was not toxocologically or pharmacologically impaired.

Were a Republican to have been involved in a situation similar to either, it'd have been swept under the rug by the media and by con-servatives. I mean, you've got several of the worst Republican financial corruption scandals in recent history raging in Washington and in states like Ohio (which involvings money laundering for the Bush-Cheney campaign and a GOP Congressman), and the media do everything they can NOT to talk about them. Duke Cunningham has been convicted, as have Jack Abramoff, David Safavian, Bob Taft, and others, and you'd almost think that the GOP was still the self-proclaimed party of "family values" and "integrity." Yeah, Mafia family values and the integrity of thieves. Hell, the President keeps a treasonous aid ON STAFF, despite having said he'd fire him two years ago.

At least Kennedy is getting help for his addiction problem, and the voters will be able to decide in November if they want to send him back to Washington. We have no option with the occupant of the White House, who keeps doing a "heck of a job"!

[ May 08, 2006, 09:32 AM: Message edited by: fantomas ]

The media is hardly hushed about the GOP scandals, whether in DC or OH, and rightly so. They're discussed on FNC's panel shows regularly, and dwelled on at length elsewhere. To suggest otherwise is nonsense.

If your tone were so muted and forgiving for ALL politicians who've had such "problems," FT, perhaps your message would have more credibility.

So yes, let the voters of RI elect whom they will, even if their choices are limited more than somewhat by the prospect of campaigning against Kennebuck$!

Haha, I hope that's not a decry of politicians with a lot of financial backing gmg. I think we should go take a look at the books to see how much corporate America pours into the GOP.

Any chance he is FAMILY?

Yes... there is that distinct possibility.

[ May 09, 2006, 05:54 AM: Message edited by: aquaman ]

Maybe Rush has some doctor shopping tips for him.

Actually, I've no problem reading my post that way, or examining campaign contribution records, for that matter. The problem - left, right or center - is how to give candidates a fair chance to run on their merits, without limiting contributors' free speech, or developing dynasties or solidifying sinecures based on money alone.

Well, that's not a strictly Kennedy phenomenon as your post was suggesting. Our current president didn't exactly run on merit alone.

FNC is hardly the media in its totality, and hardly even a journalistic organ. It's a televisual PRAVDA for the right wing, so if it's what you're basing any arguments on, you're even more far gone than anyone thought.

There is so much GOP corruption that's hardly being discussed it's ridiculous. The extent and intricacy of Abramoff's and Kidan's crimes, let alone those of DeLay, Cunningham and Wilkes, or Noe and Ney in Ohio, or the phone-jamming in New Hampshire, or the cronyism in Kentucky, are NOT being examined anywhere near as rabidly as the manufactured fervency when Clinton was in office. How many more stories about the graft, theft and corruption, involving the CPA and contractors in Iraq since W's war began will it take before the media and true believers like you wake up?

I am forgiving of ANYONE who is going through a difficult personal struggle and succumbs to drugs, but I have little truck with hypocritical scumbags who arrogantly and cruelly attack people who use drugs, for whatever reason, even though they are doing the very same thing, i.e., that bloated, blowhard, right-wing drug addict Rush Limbaugh, who has repeatedly attacked poor and working-class people with drug problems, all while gorging on illegal prescription drugs himself. He really should have gotten a bit of his own medicine, pun intended.

I couldn't give a hair in a rat's ass whether you believe any emotion I express on this board is credible or not; save your credibility issues for your beloved party, which is planning to kick devoted gays like yourself in the ass yet again in order to gin up votes, and for your failed president and his inept, corrupt administration, which you voted for twice, wasn't it?

[ May 10, 2006, 08:37 AM: Message edited by: fantomas ]

LOL! Wednesday is Prince Fantomas Day, when he emerges boiling from the pot and slithering around the discussion table!

A day to play dumb, too. You know that I hardly rely on FNC for all my news, although I generally don't reach for the latest Belgian or Brazilian broadside. Et ego in vulpes; I cited FNC to note that even there you'll find reports of the GOP scandals. Conversely, you needn't look too hard to find reports of this Louisiana Democrat, whose act is so rotten even Pelousy is calling for him to be disciplined. And Clinton was last in office back in early 2000, more than six years ago, so any comparison of then to now is inapposite.

My wake-up call comes naturally every dawn; I don't heed any cock's crow. And however I vote - ours remains a secret ballot - I sleep soundly every night, knowing that "after all, tomorrow IS another day!"

Hey! It could be worse. If they shut the doors to the P&R section, you'd NEVER see fantomas again. He'd have to learn to post in the very few sports sections here.

The GOP's hopes now seem to lie in classic republicanism: dividing and conquering.

They have to hope that the voters will split sufficiently and seek their own selfish interest rather than the greater good which is their true self-interest. An informed public would not.

A disparate and diverse lot have to individually realize that splitting apart will allow them to be played against each other. The Dems may lose.

Here's a piece that addresses some of the thoughts expressed by others here, within the framework of the topic at hand. Link to op-ed.

It's interesting to see the right wing nut cases response to all of this.

PK enters rehab for addiction to prescription pain medication at age 38 and is ripped to pieces by the right wingers.

George Bush staggers around in a drunken haze until age 40 and somehow he is to be applauded for addressing his addictions.

Hypocritcal much?

Since this is about the third time you've made this creepy, stalking-style allegation and shown your obsession with me, let me remind you that I was posting in multiple SPORTS sections before you even came up with any of your multiple identities on here, or your "judicial" tales....

Yes, more Republican-as-victim blather from the Blonde Gorgon.

Incredible Lightness of Sentencing - Link to story.

Any bets on whether he claims his "fines" as charitable deductions?

C'mon - don't you think you would be treated the same way if you were traveling at a high rate of speed without your headlights after Midnight and crashed into a barrier at the Capitol?

How cynical gmg...

Hope springs - or should I say smashes - eternal, md. How about the disconnect between pleading to a DUI for drugs but getting a sentence for AA? What's that about tailoring the sentence to fit the crime? :confused:

[ June 13, 2006, 05:03 PM: Message edited by: gmginsfo ]

Rich people buy their way out of punishment...the world keeps turning.

He pulled some favors and got off with a smack on the wrist. (More like a kiss on the wrist.) Thank God we still have Republicans who will bravely take whatever punishment is meted out to them. Except when the crime is some minor thing blown all out of proportion by the liberal media, and the punishment is handed down by activist judges.

LXN