Sympathy For The Teddy

Some readers have complained on the Khaki blog or via Khaki email about my less than sympathetic treatment of Ted Kennedy's death. So to honor their heartfelt (and deeply empathetic) request, I vow from this day forward to treat Teddy's passing with all of the sympathy and respect that he treated Mary Jo Kopechne's untimely demise.

I will take my lead from this exchange on NPR's Diane Rehm Show between Newsweek’s Ed Klein and Katty Kay:

Kay: Ed Klein, that's what I'm hearing today, that people are sad at his passing, and yet celebrating this huge life and its huge long list of accomplishments.

Klein: I think he'd be the last person who would want us, those he's left behind, to, um, be, uh, morose and, and full of bathos. I think he, he --

Kay: He would come in with a big guffawing laugh and make us laugh too.

Klein: He would, yes. You're so right, he would. And he'd probably have a joke to tell as well.

Kay: At his own expense.

Klein: Well y'know, he, 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?" . . . I mean, that is just the most amazing thing. It's not that he didn't feel remorse about the death of Mary Jo Kopechne (background music begins building), but that he still always saw, um, the other side of everything and the ridiculous side of things, too.

Kay: Ed Klein, former foreign editor of Newsweek, and author of a new book on Ted Kennedy.

So our dearly departed Teddy got a kick throughout his life from hearing and telling joke about the women he left dead in his car. I suppose that explains why he didn't report it to the authorities, he need time to develop a killer punchline.

So Ted, if you're down there watching, this one is for you and you're gonna love it!