Stepping Right Up!: The Kennedy Saga.....

Yet, another chapter in the Kennedy saga is currently being written. This appears to be a typical Kennedy chapter, filled with drugs, alcohol, politics, a cover-up, media spin and chock full of lies.

Follow the story:

1. Early Thursday morning- Congressman Patrick Kennedy gets into a car accident. After the story broke, Kennedy's first statement to the media-

Mr. Kennedy's first statement, released by his press secretary:
''I was involved in a traffic incident last night at First and C Street SE near the US Capitol. I consumed no alcohol prior to the incident. I will fully cooperate with the Capitol Police in whatever investigation they choose to undertake.''

2. Police officers on the scene were making a different claim-
"The driver exited the vehicle and he was observed to be staggering," Officer Greg Baird, the acting head of the Capitol police union, wrote in a letter to his boss, according to the newspaper Roll Call.
Lou Cannon, president of the Washington chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police, said Kennedy looked intoxicated.
"It's my understanding that he had an odor of alcohol about him and he was unsteady on his feet," Cannon said.

3. Kennedy then proceeds with a new statement claiming it was prescription drugs that caused this. In this statement Kennedy gives a pretty detailed account on what happened that night. He is making the claim that he fully co-operated with the police officers, etc.... - http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Kennedy-Statements.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

''Last Tuesday, the Attending Physician of the United States Congress treated me for Gastroenteritis. The Attending Physician prescribed Phenergan, an anti-nausea medication, which in addition to treating Gastroenteritis, I now know can cause drowsiness and sedation.
Following the last series of votes on Wednesday evening, I returned to my home on Capitol Hill and took the prescribed amount of Phenergan and Ambien, which was also prescribed by the Attending Physician some time ago and I occasionally take to fall asleep. Some time around 2:45am, I drove the few blocks to the Capitol Complex believing I needed to vote. Apparently, I was disoriented from the medication. At that time, I was involved in a one-car incident in which my car hit the security barrier at the corner of 1st and C St., SE. At no time before the incident did I consume any alcohol.
At the time of the accident, I was instructed to park my car and was driven home by the United States Capitol Police. At no time did I ask for any special consideration, I simply complied with what the officers asked me to do.
I have the utmost respect for the United States Capitol Police and the job they do to keep Members of Congress and the Capitol Complex safe. I have contacted the Chief of Capitol Police and offered to meet with police representatives at their earliest convenience as I intend to cooperate fully with any investigation they choose to undertake.''

4. This is where Congressman Kennedy's story begins to really unravel. Some reporters started investigating the Kennedy/alcohol angle to the story. Apparently some of these reporters went to Kennedy's watering hole and this is what they discovered-

U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy insisted yesterday that he had consumed “no alcohol” before he slammed his Mustang convertible into a concrete barrier near his office, but a hostess at a popular Capitol Hill watering hole told the Herald she saw him drinking in the hours before the crash.
“He was drinking a little bit,” said the woman, who works at the Hawk & Dove and would not give her name.
Leaving his office late last night, Kennedy refused to say whether he’d been to the Hawk & Dove the night before.

5. Kennedy now realizes that he has been caught- so he proceeds with a new lie. Now Kennedy begins to claim that he remembers nothing at all.

Kennedy's first claim-

At the time of the accident, I was instructed to park my car and was driven home by the United States Capitol Police. At no time did I ask for any special consideration, I simply complied with what the officers asked me to do.

Kennedy's new claim-

But in all candor, the incident on Wednesday evening concerns me greatly. I simply do not remember getting out of bed, being pulled over by the police, or being cited for three driving infractions.

6. In typical liberal media style- the media are defending Congressman Kennedy-

The Washington Post is blaming the drugs, not Kennedy-

Setting aside for the moment his addiction problems, Kennedy doesn't seem all that different from a lot of almost-40 Washington wonks and wonkettes you might know.

The AP is blaming the hard life that Kennedy had to endure-

But although he is from one of the nation's most watched political families, Kennedy sometimes seems uncomfortable in the spotlight _ even as he has traded on his famous name to advance his causes and those of his political allies.

The Boston Herald's "everybody does it" excuse-

“It’s a major problem in this country, the abuse of prescription medication, and we are not recognizing it,” said Dr. Nora D. Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, part of the National Institutes of Health.