What if it was your daughter?

It is always sad to see the death of an American icon. If you've read any of my posts, you'd probably realize that I was no fan of Sen. Ted Kennedy. He certainly served his country for 40 years and, while I don't agree with most of his positions I do admire that. Of course it can also be said that he never had a "real" job. A family fortune gives one that liberty.

Now I would never begrudge anyone the benefits of the family fortune. The rich are not the enemy; they are the builders of this country and have an obligation to only give back where and when they can. And that's what Ted tried to do.

But I was totally surprised this morning when the first article I stumbled upon was entitled "Chappaquiddick: No Profile in Kennedy Courage" This story unveiled a couple surprises.

First of all that this story was posted on ABCNews .com. You can find it here: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=8212665 . What surprised me was that it shook my belief that ABC is a left leaning "news" organization. I would never have dreamed they would let this story get published, especially so soon after his death. However, the majority of comments posted about the article reaffirmed my belief about ABC or at least the people who read/watch it. The vast majority blasted it.

Second, the true story of Chappaquiddick. I am a little too young to remember it when it happened and I never really took the time to learn what took place. This article showed me what a tragic mistake Kennedy made. No one knows if he could have saved 28 -year-old Mary Jo Kopechne's life but he clearly left her to die worrying only about himself and his future.

So Ted Kennedy carried his guilt around all these years and devoted his life to service. Again that is admirable. But does that absolve him of Mary Jo's death? Obviously his fame and fortune let him get away with it. That was his cross to bear (along with the Kopechne family) and all will find their just rewards so I do not intend to judge here.

But as people relive Sen Kennedy's life, his accomplishments, and his legacy they need to ask themselves one simple question:

What if that was my daughter in the car on that fateful night in 1969?