Former CNN host Piers Morgan tweeted on Tuesday that he had just watched the Chappaquiddick movie, which he described as “excellent” and “tough” on the late Ted Kennedy, but he also tried to diminish what the former U.S. Senator did during the events of July 18, 1969.
The host of the ITV program Good Morning Britain posted that the film was “[t]ough, perhaps deservedly so” on the Massachusetts Democrat, who “did a terrible thing but became a great public servant.”
Morgan also noted that actor Jason Clarke gave a “[b]rilliant portrayal” of Kennedy before asking: “Who knows what effect his brothers’ deaths had on him?”
Of course, the liberal activist was referring to the assassination of older brother John F. Kennedy, who was serving as the 35th president when he was shot and killed in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963.
Then on June 6, 1968, another brother -- Robert F. Kennedy, who had been the nation’s attorney general and then a U.S. senator from New York state -- was a leading candidate for the Democratic nomination for the presidency when he was mortally wounded by Sirhan Sirhan, a Palestinian who disagreed with his support for Israel.
However, David Martosko -- U.S. political editor for the Dally Mail newspaper in London -- quickly responded to Morgan by noting: “That ‘terrible thing’ would have disqualified anyone else from elected office in the first place, no?“
Morgan’s reply was brief and to the point: “In today’s social media era, yes.”
“Even in 1969.” Martosko also noted, “Kennedy got special treatment and a bespoke cover-up because he was a Kennedy.”
At that point, Katie Pavlich joined the discussion. The editor for the Townhall.com website and contributor to the Fox News Channel stated:
He left a woman (who was extremely loyal to his cause) to die in his car and didn’t call authorities to save his own behind.
That isn’t “perhaps deservedly so,” it’s absolutely deserved. The consequences for his actions should have been far greater.
Morgan then tweeted: “I concur with your conclusion.”
As NewsBusters previously reported, this isn’t the first time Morgan gave preferential treatment to someone in the Kennedy family.
On June 29, 2012, after the Supreme Court upheld the law that introduced the ObamaCare system of health care, Morgan used that day’s edition of his eponymous CNN program to introduce Patrick Kennedy, a liberal activist and Ted Kennedy’s son.
Keeping in mind that the guest’s father died on August 25, 2009, the host asked: “Patrick, how do you think your father would have felt today?"
“I think he would have been thrilled that not just members of Congress have guaranteed health care anymore, but that all the constituents that elected them now have access” to the system, the guest replied.
“My father saw it as simply a matter of hypocrisy that these people who are criticizing health care take government funded health care themselves,” he continued.
Judging from his post on Tuesday, Morgan still considers the Kennedy family to be “American royalty” and is willing to go the extra mile when defending them against even the most egregious of charges.
