Pinkerton: What If Media Had Given Chappaquiddick The Condit Treatment?

August 30th, 2009 2:35 PM

It was just one line at the end of a segment. 

But it spoke volumes about the way a media willing to look the other way saved Ted Kennedy's political career at the time of Chappaquiddick.

Jim Pinkerton made the observation on yesterday's Fox News Watch at the very end of the segment on the media's treatment of Kennedy's death.

JIM PINKERTON: I got to say that if the media had been more alert to Kennedy after Chappaquiddick, he would have ended up like Gary Condit.

Can anyone doubt the truth of what Pinkerton posited?  Condit was a conservative Dem who voted against Pres. Clinton more than any member of his party. After the murder of Chandra Levy, Condit, under a barrage of negative coverage, was unable to hold onto his congressional sseat.  

The irony is that Condit was ultimately exonerated in the death of Levy, whereas Kennedy, who lived to become the proverbial liberal Lion of the Senate, was undeniably liable for the death of Mary Jo Kopechne.