Special Treatment, Different Reactions

The rich and the powerful get different treatment. It's infuriating and it's wrong, but we all know it. From Kennedy's Chappaquiddick to Laura Bush's fatal crash in High School, from Dick Cheney shooting a friend in the face and not being tested for alcohol or even interrogated by police until the next morning to this week's crash by Rep. Patrick Kennedy and not being given a sobriety test, it unfortunately happens all the time. When there are questions of alcohol being involved (to my knowledge there was no such allegation in the future Laura Bush's case), by the time the story becomes public and public outcry can demand an investigation, the body of the person is question has had time to dispose of any incriminating evidence (alcohol) and so the person gets off scot free while the investigation centers on WHY no test was done.

All of this infuriates me (and for the record, I don't buy the whole "Ambien, I don't recall any of this" story from Rep. Kennedy. Sure, Ambien has had reports of people engaging in activities while under its influence, but it seems too convenient an answer).

But one thing that's infuriating me all the more is reading the various reactions to the case. Kennedy is (as will surprise no one) a Democrat. Cheney is a Republican. And the number of partisan people who can't see past the partisan politics of it all to recognize the similarity is making me angry.

Initially, I noticed the Republican apologists, the same ones who made light of the Cheney incident (such as Bill O'Reilly, who said the Cheney shooting story "affected no one", and Sean Hannity, who tried to portray the story as a partisan attack by Democrats which was really no big deal), turning around and getting all in a huff because this was another Kennedy Democrat thinking he was above the law and getting away with it.

On the other hand, I've noticed some people who were all over the Cheney incident trying to give Kennedy a pass. Granted, no one was injured by Kennedy in this case, but they might have been if he was driving under the influence. No one died as a result of Cheney's mishap, but they might have.

In both cases, the men in question may have been engaging in illegal activity involving the use of alcohol. Is there any proof? No, and that's why people on BOTH sides of the aisle should be outraged about BOTH stories. If you or I, Joe Average citizen were to accidentally shoot someone in the face, or be pulled over for driving erratically and crashing into a barrier, you'd better believe there'd be a sobriety test administered before we even had time to ponder what we'd just done. We'd be questioned by police immediately and probably taken to the police station for questioning.

It's annoying, but as I say, it happens all the time. If one is going to comment on each case, and is to have even a shred of credibility, one simple can not let party affiliation affect your reaction and your outrage and what are essentially two very similar cases.

Liam.

(Note, for those who will inevitably say I'm engaging in partisan behavior for only providing a link to the Laura Bush story, it's because the rest have gotten national attention. Few will dispute that they occurred, while I've had people tell me the story of the then Laura Welch is apocryphal. So I have presented a link to the Snopes.com page on the story, just for reference.)