Let’s face it ... Kennedy’s reputation sank like a stone at Chappaquiddick

The most remarkable thing about Chappaquiddick is that Kennedy was 37 years old at the time. This was not some youthful shenanigans gone wrong. Everything about the story — the drinking, philandering, poor judgment and lies — were the man. It was entirely in character

TED KENNEDY said of his slain sibling Bobby in 1968: “My brother need not be idealised, or enlarged in death beyond what he was in life,” More than four decadeslater, one wonders why the late senator’s admirers aren’t heeding such advice.

Was there any need for quite so much media coverage, admittedly during a slow news month? Did this senator — only the brother of a president — deserve quite such fawning tributes? And, above all, was it entirely necessary for the Taoiseach to tag along to the cortege?