Once again Washington is abuzz with talk of a Kennedy. And, once again, it's not for the best of reasons. A car crash, a member of the famous clan behind the wheel, claims of preferential treatment, and the unmistakable sound of the truth being bent like an old jalopy's fender.
Last night, as controversy over the incident swirled around the city, the famous driver entered rehab for the problems that may have caused the crash. But this weekend he is finding out again that they can give therapy to you for being a drug addict, but not for being a Kennedy.
The details of what happened early on Thursday morning when Congressman Patrick Kennedy crashed his green Ford Mustang near the Capitol building in Washington are still, to everyone agog with it in this city, a little hazy. But to the main player they are not merely clouded, they're entirely absent.
In a press conference on Friday, the son of Senator Edward Kennedy (late of Chappaquiddick) said he could not recall the accident. "I simply do not remember getting out of bed, being pulled over by the police, or being cited for three driving infractions," he said. As Mr Kennedy, 38, left the lectern, he was asked if he might resign. He shook his head.
According to the police, Patrick Kennedy drove his 1997 convertible into a security barrier near the Capitol. The officer listed alcohol influence as a contributing factor in the crash and noted that Mr Kennedy was "ability impaired", with red, watery eyes, slurred speech and unsteady balance. Mr Kennedy insisted that he had taken a sleeping pill and another drug that can cause drowsiness before the accident, but had not been drinking alcohol. He was cited for failure to keep in the proper lane, travelling at "unreasonable speed" and failing to "give full time and attention" to operating his vehicle.
The Congressman is now in the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, being treated for addiction to "prescription pain medication", his second visit to the establishment in less than five months. He went there over Christmas and said he returned to Congress "reinvigorated and healthy".
As a high school senior, Mr Kennedy was treated at a drug rehabilitation clinic. And as a legislator, he has said he wants to end the stigma of mental health - he has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder - and has been praised by mental health professionals for being open about his struggles. That medical history, however, is not what the controversy is about. There is the allegation that, in not being given a test by officers at the scene for driving under the influence, Patrick Kennedy received preferential treatment. Louis P Cannon, the president of the Washington chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police, who was not on the scene, said the officers were instructed by an official "above the rank of patrolman" to take Mr Kennedy home.
Last night, there were reports that Capitol Police have taken disciplinary action over the incident. The acting Capitol police chief, Christopher McGaffin, was reported as saying that a sobriety test should have been administered.
But no matter what explanations the police or the Congressman provide for their behaviour, some will simply see it as the latest instalment of the Kennedy family curse. A drug or drink-related fender bender by a troubled man still in his thirties may not be in the same league as the assassinations, the plane crashes, and his father's troubles at Chappaquiddick (where a car with himself and a young female staffer went off the road and he swam to safety but she did not), but the conspiracists will not mind. Give them the name Kennedy, and they will build a legend out of anything.
THE CURSE OF THE KENNEDYS
1944 Joseph P Kennedy Jnr, John F's elder brother, dies during Second World War.
1963 President John F Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas, Texas.
1968 Robert F Kennedy (right) is assassinated in Los Angeles following his victory in a presidential primary.
1969 In so-called Chappaquiddick Incident, Mary Jo Kopechne, Ted Kennedy's aide, drowns. He lives.
1999 John F Kennedy Jnr's plane crashes into Atlantic, killing him, his wife and sister-in-law.
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