Cape: Teddy Sure Knows How to Fly (At Your Expense)

Apparently Ted Kennedy knows how to avoid all that nasty summer Cape Cod traffic. Why sit in the bridge backups inside your airconditioned limo when you can fly Air Chappaquidock instead?

To the rest of us, this story is especially funny, as it's comical to imagine flying between New Bedford and Hyannisport. It's not a long trip, no islands involved, either. Yes, it backs up in the summer at certain times of the day, but locals have that figured out.

Former oddball Acting (Republican) Governor Jane Swift got in a lot of hot water for similar actions. At least Swift had the excuse of living hours from Beacon Hill in a remote corner of the Bay State.

Will the press (beyond the fair and honest Boston Herald) choose to downplay or ignore this incident? Let's watch, if they do after raking Swift over the coals for the same thing, they will truly reveal their partisanship.

Beyond that, I'm trying to put myself in their shoes (liberals, Democrats) for a second just to figure out why they are still defending Ted Kennedy. Why bother? Isn't it time to jettison this crazy character for some new blood?

It's as though the party's entire future rests on Sen. Osama (or whatever Teddy is calling him today). I would love to discover what benefit Kennedy brings to the Democrats now.

Like Jim McDermott, Nancy Pelosi, Howard Dean and others, Ted Kennedy primarily serves as an effective fundraising tool for the GOP.


(Boston Herald)

WASHINGTON - Sen. Edward M. Kennedy [related, bio] - stirring memories of ex-Gov. Jane M. Swift's state police chopper boondoggle - ordered up a taxpayer-funded $2,490 helicopter ride home to Hyannisport last May after attending events in New Bedford, records show.
The 48-mile flight to Cape Cod cost U.S. taxpayers $51.87 per mile.
The senator's chopper ride home on May 21 to his family's famed compound allowed him to avoid the late Friday afternoon traffic congestion that clogs roadways and bridges to Cape Cod during the spring and summer weekends.
``Driving - or for that matter commercial air travel - at that time of day would have taken several hours,'' said Stephanie Cutter, a senior Kennedy adviser.
The drive between New Bedford and Hyannisport is about 48 miles and takes 57 minutes without traffic, according to Mapquest, the travel Web site.
Kennedy's decision to tap his $2.4 million annual Senate office budget for nearly $2,500 for such a short flight home raised eyebrows among his colleagues.
``It's pretty much unheard of to do something like that,'' one Bay State congressman said. ``Someone was asleep at the switch over there.''



Notice the congressman (they are all Dems in the Mass. delegation) wouldn't allow himself to be named? They are that afraid of standing up to Teddy's corruption that hurts their party so much?