May 5, 2006

The Lush Life: At Least Nobody Died This Time

If you pop an Ambien and then hop in your car and go driving, and are stopped by the police, you can be charged with driving while impaired. If convicted, typically, you will lose your license for a year, pay a hefty fine, and spend some time in jail - that's the law in Tennessee and most states have similar laws.

But if your last name is Kennedy and you are the son of U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Chappaquiddick, well, then things are different. You are given a ride home courtesy of the cops, who are told by their superiors to not give you a field sobriety test, and then you issue a statement denying that you received special treatment.

UPDATE: Kennedy's assertion that he had not been drinking may not be true, according to the Boston Herald, which reports today that "a hostess at a popular Capitol Hill watering hole told the Herald she saw him drinking in the hours before the crash."

And, ahem, according to CNN in the last hour (around 9:30 a.m.), the police report says Rep. Kennedy appeared to have been drinking.

Michelle Malkin is all over it - and another Patrick Kennedy car crash just three weeks ago.