Otherwise, You Couldn't Get Him To Shut Up

"Ted Kennedy has never stopped feeling guilty over the death of Mary Jo Kopechne.

In 'Ted Kennedy: The Dream That Never Died' - out today - author Edward Klein reveals that Ted visited with Mary Jo's parents twice following her death, but could never find the words to confess how the 28-year-old died.

'Ted had us come to his house in McLean [Va.], saying he wanted to talk,' Mary Jo's now-deceased mother, Gwen, told Klein. 'But [the visit] was uncomfortable - for all of us. Ted led us to believe he was going to explain what really happened. But when the time came, after plenty of small talk, he said he just couldn't talk about it. It was very puzzling. Twice we drove all the way down there [from Pennsylvania], and twice he couldn't talk about how our daughter died.'

Mary Jo Kopechne was killed on July 18, 1969, when Kennedy accidentally drove his car off a bridge on Martha's Vineyard's Chappaquiddick Island. Although the senator swam to safety, his passenger, Mary Jo, drowned in the car. Kennedy left the scene and didn't contact authorities until the following day. He eventually pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident and was given a suspended sentence of two months in jail."

-- Laura Schreffler and Sean Evans with Amanda Sidman, on one of the Democrats' most celebrated crimes - covering for this drunken and portraying him as a saint - in The New York Daily News.