What Happened to the Kennedys?

Now Ted-the-Tick is really annoying, but his son apparently is falling into lock step with his father.

Fresh from rehab, Rep. Patrick Kennedy said yesterday he wants to be treated like an African-American from Washington if and when he gets charged for crashing his car on Capitol Hill.

Denying that he was drunk and or that he asked the Capitol Police for preferential treatment, Kennedy, a Rhode Island congressman, said he's prepared "in terms of bookings, in terms of mug shots, fingerprints, whatever they might have me do."

"It's what anyone else would have done to them if they were an African-American in Anacostia," Kennedy said in a shaky voice, referring to the mostly minority neighborhood in southeastern Washington.

Later, Kennedy fretted that "there are probably people who want to throw the book at me a little more to prove that they're not treating me special."

It's still not clear whether Kennedy will be called to account for smashing his Ford Mustang into a barrier near the Capitol building at 2:45 a.m. on May 4. He was driving without headlights and nearly collided with a police cruiser.

I'm reading this as he's claiming he got privileges because he was white and not because he was a Kennedy waving the Debate clause of the constitution around like a get-free-out-of-jail card. I don't understand how he can be boosting race into the discussion at all.

And I want them to throw the book at him. Reason? Because he and his family ACT like they deserve special treatment. Who else can run off to a high price detox center to dry out after they have made an ass of themselves in public. Of course he also played the addiction card with the public as well. I'm sure that will get him at least a dozen more terms in office.

Do I sound pissed off? Yes I do. No where else do people get away with bringing race and addictions into public affairs as means to excuse or deflect personal responsibility. If he had been an honest person he would have shut his mouth and gone with the results of his actions. But since he's a Kennedy and a politician, well, he gets to throw about all kinds of horse-shit and end up being proclaimed a victim.