The Sins Of The Father

My first reaction when hearing about Rep. Patrick Kennedy's early morning car crash, with intimations of possible drunk driving and a cover-up, was one of sadness. How much tragedy should one family be required to endure? But, apart from the fact that no one died, one can't help but marvel at the similarity between this car accident and aftermath and Patrick's daddy's Chappaquiddick car accident and its aftermath:

Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy crashed his car into a security barrier near the Capitol early yesterday, and officers at the scene suspected that he might have been intoxicated, a police union official said.

Kennedy (D-R.I.) issued a statement late last night -- his second in several hours -- saying he had been disoriented after taking prescription drugs: Phenergan for gastroenteritis, an inflammation of the stomach and intestines, and Ambien, a sleeping medication.

"Following the last series of votes on Wednesday evening, I returned to my home on Capitol Hill and took the prescribed amount" of the two medications, the 38-year-old congressman said.

"Sometime around 2:45 a.m., I drove the few blocks to the Capitol Complex believing I needed to vote," the statement continued. "Apparently, I was disoriented from the medication. . . . At no time before the incident did I consume any alcohol."

This may well be true. But it would have been so much more believable if (a) it were someone other than Teddy Kennedy's son and (b) the cops at the scene had been allowed to conduct the sorts of tests they would have insisted on if you or I had been driving. As it stands, though, skepticism is rampant:

Lou Cannon, president of the D.C. Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 1, expressed skepticism.

"The timeliness of the statement says everything," he said. "It took up to 10 o'clock," or 19 hours after the 2:50 a.m. incident, to offer the expanded explanation.

. . .

Earlier yesterday, Cannon said officers at the scene thought Kennedy was staggering and might have been intoxicated. They called for supervisors over the radio, and the supervisors drove Kennedy home, he said.

Cannon said officers were upset that supervisors prevented them from conducting a more thorough investigation, which might have included sobriety tests. "The officers just want to be able to do their jobs," he said.

He said if officers had administered a breath test for alcohol, "that certainly would have showed he wasn't on anything, wouldn't it?"

Police sources said officers noticed Kennedy's Mustang shortly before the crash because he nearly drove head-on into a Capitol Police car. The Mustang's lights were off, the sources said. The officer turned his patrol car around to pursue Kennedy, whose car then crashed into the barrier, the sources said.

When police approached, the sources said, Kennedy got out of his car and said he was late for a vote. The House had not been in session for hours.

Here, if you are interested is Ted Kennedy's statement regarding the death of Mary Jo Kopechne.

Update: I hate it when I find that James Taranto agrees with me. But this is funny: Tasteless, but funny: