I watched the Chappaquiddick film three times.....twice today.....and read the book that it was based on.....and a couple dozen other books on the Kennedys over the years. As a elementary school student at Our Lady Help of Christians in Cheektowaga, New York I saw JFK in person as his motorcade passed by.......and RFK was my idol. I volunteered for Ted Kennedy's 1980 campaign for the Democrat nomination. I made a pilgrimage to Harvard in 1973. My new bride and I honeymooned on Cape Cod in 1976....and I've been there other times....as recently as 2017. We saw the Dike Bridge. On our first trip to Martha's Vineyard.....as we bicycled into Edgartown....we thought were on the wrong island for there were signs for the Amity police department and the Amity library......they were filming Jaws there at the time.
Senator Kennedy's nomination was doomed on the night of the infamous Roger Mudd interview.....November 4th, 1979.....I didn't see it because my father died on that day.....and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery not all that far from all three Kennedy brothers. Iranian students took the American hostages on that day also. Actually Ted Kennedy's chances to become president were doomed on that July evening in 1969. Jimmy Carter's reelection was doomed on November 4, 1979. I did not investigate the Chappaquiddick incident for many years because I choose to accept the ongoing campaign's official defence version of that night. I cringe today at my inveterate ignorance.
I reviewed the film when it first came out. Jason Clarke's performance as Ted was spellbinding to someone with my history with the Kennedys. As I watched the DVD today I focused on the corps of legal and political help that the Kennedy patriarch brought together to develop a story line and make sure that it got out into the public. My mind at times came back to today's politics. Nothing has changed....no matter what president is in office. I've mentioned before that in my early years as a Christian in the early 1980s that I focused on the threat of the so-called 'Christian cults'.....sects that claimed to be Christian but denied the very foundational truths of the faith. Being able to spot the fake by first making sure that the genuine was totally understood became ingrained in me.....and it transferred over to politics.
We need to take the time to research various claims by politicians. We need to be familiar with tactics that are used to obfuscate and cloud issues. We need to know what a personality cult is. We must never burn bridges until we are absolutely sure that we won't have to retreat over them some day. We need wisdom and discernment. In order to get that we first need to see our own capacity to fall for error....and we need to admit our own culpability in the collapse of America that we see all around us. We need to humble ourselves before God who formed this nation for a purpose....sustained it as we dallied and rebelled....in order for that purpose to be fulfilled.....and realize that that purpose may have been fulfilled....as the world was kept in one piece....and the gospel was disseminated throughout it....because of God's protective hand upon us....that protective hand being withdrawn today because we now choose to rely on our own strength.
Senator Kennedy's nomination was doomed on the night of the infamous Roger Mudd interview.....November 4th, 1979.....I didn't see it because my father died on that day.....and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery not all that far from all three Kennedy brothers. Iranian students took the American hostages on that day also. Actually Ted Kennedy's chances to become president were doomed on that July evening in 1969. Jimmy Carter's reelection was doomed on November 4, 1979. I did not investigate the Chappaquiddick incident for many years because I choose to accept the ongoing campaign's official defence version of that night. I cringe today at my inveterate ignorance.
I reviewed the film when it first came out. Jason Clarke's performance as Ted was spellbinding to someone with my history with the Kennedys. As I watched the DVD today I focused on the corps of legal and political help that the Kennedy patriarch brought together to develop a story line and make sure that it got out into the public. My mind at times came back to today's politics. Nothing has changed....no matter what president is in office. I've mentioned before that in my early years as a Christian in the early 1980s that I focused on the threat of the so-called 'Christian cults'.....sects that claimed to be Christian but denied the very foundational truths of the faith. Being able to spot the fake by first making sure that the genuine was totally understood became ingrained in me.....and it transferred over to politics.
We need to take the time to research various claims by politicians. We need to be familiar with tactics that are used to obfuscate and cloud issues. We need to know what a personality cult is. We must never burn bridges until we are absolutely sure that we won't have to retreat over them some day. We need wisdom and discernment. In order to get that we first need to see our own capacity to fall for error....and we need to admit our own culpability in the collapse of America that we see all around us. We need to humble ourselves before God who formed this nation for a purpose....sustained it as we dallied and rebelled....in order for that purpose to be fulfilled.....and realize that that purpose may have been fulfilled....as the world was kept in one piece....and the gospel was disseminated throughout it....because of God's protective hand upon us....that protective hand being withdrawn today because we now choose to rely on our own strength.
