August 20, 2004
IS THERE A NO-DRIVE LIST?:
US senator Kennedy complains of falling on anti-terror no-fly list (AFP, 8/19/04)
He is among the most recognizable politicians in the United States, but liberal lawmaker Ted Kennedy said that even he has fallen victim to the tightened air security of the terror-conscious, post-9/11 era.
At a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday, the Massachusetts Democratic senator described having endured weeks of inconvenience after his name ended up on a watch list barring persons deemed to pose a threat to civil aviation or national security from air travel.Kennedy said that on several occasions last March, he was nearly denied permission to board a US Airways shuttle from Washington to Boston because his name landed on a no-fly list in error.
In each instance, he said, an airline supervisor was called and he was eventually allowed to board the flight.
Given his own and his family's track record with airplanes, would you want him on board? Posted by Orrin Judd at August 20, 2004 12:24 AM
I know John John augered his plane in to Long Island Sound, but apart from that what other Kennedy has had airplane mishaps? I don't think I'd want to ride in a car with Ted Ted at the wheel.
Posted by: Governor Breck at August 20, 2004 7:22 AMTeddy actually survived a private plane crash back in 1964 in Massachusetts, which killed the plane's pilot and Kennedy's admministrative aide (Sen. Birch Byah also survived the crash, which occured on the way to the state's Demoratic Party convention).
Back when Lt. Kerry was shpping all those CIA agents and Navy Seals into Cambodia and Teddy was being prepped in the wake of Nixon's 1969 election to run as the Democrats'standard-bearer in 1972, you couldn't get away from hearing about the pain Kennedy was in and his need for a back brace in the wake of that crash. All that changed after Chappaquiddick, when the connection between the words "Kennedy survives crash" and "staffer dies in same accident" took on a whole new meaning.
Posted by: John at August 20, 2004 8:08 AMWell, as long as the plane doesn't have to taxi over any bridges, I suppose it would be safe enough.
Posted by: Mike Morley at August 20, 2004 8:10 AMGov:
* August 12, 1944: Joseph Kennedy Jr. Killed in WWII Shot down in Europe during a bombing mission.
and Ted was nearly killed in a plane crash in '64.
Posted by: oj at August 20, 2004 8:15 AM"In the event of a water landing, the senior senator from Massachusetts will bear no liability for your subsequent death. Please sign the liability waiver form located in the seat pocket in front of you."
Posted by: Robert Duquette at August 20, 2004 11:27 AMBack in the late 1950s, my mom flew from Hyannisport to NY with Jack on one side of her and Bobby on the other. She said they were nice, but different.
I have often wondered if Teddy would have stayed in politics if either of them had been alive in 1969.
Posted by: jim hamlen at August 20, 2004 11:44 AMNone of them would have if Joe lived.
Posted by: oj at August 20, 2004 11:52 AM"I have often wondered if Teddy would have stayed in politics if either of them had been alive in 1969."
Teddy was always the Donald Nixon, Billy Carter or Roger Clinton kind of guy. But at least nobody felt the need to elect any of them to the Senate.
Raoul:
Had Jimmy been a little more relaxed, Billy would have won any election he wanted in GA.
Posted by: jim hamlen at August 20, 2004 1:39 PMTeddy's sister Kathleen was killed in a plane crash in France in 1948. She was 28 years old.
She'd married the Marquess of Hartington in 1944, but he was killed in action a few months later.
He was bad enough driving a Lincoln.
Posted by: Brooks at August 20, 2004 10:05 PM