Media Airbrush Did Kennedy No Favors: Hitchens

Classified memo describes decadent partying in Chile

(NEWSER) - While John F Kennedy sat in the most powerful office on Earth, little brother Ted was off renting out an entire Chilean brothel during a 1961 tour of Latin America, reports the Boston Globe . A previously redacted FBI memo, which Judicial Watch says it obtained despite a battle from the Obama administration and the FBI, says Kennedy, then a 29-year-old assistant DA, even invited an embassy chauffeur to partake in the festivities. More»

And the first installment is a whopping 3K pages

(NEWSER) - The Kennedy clan will have the chance to pore through what the Boston Globe calls Ted Kennedy's "exhaustive and secret" FBI file before it's released to the public. But never fear, gossipers: While the family has the right to block anything that would violate the privacy of living Kennedys, "the reason [for objecting] can’t simply be that it is embarrassing" to the late senator, notes an FBI spokesman. The first installment of the file, which clocks in at some 3,000 pages, has nearly completed bureau review. More»

(NEWSER) - Thousands more well-wishers flocked to the Kennedy Library in Boston today to pay their respects to Ted Kennedy, the Globe reports. Mourners stood in an eight-wide line that snaked back and forth throughout the parking lot. Among the mourners were several state lawmakers, a group from the Democratic Republic of Congo, and noted Republican activist Polly Logan. More»

43rd president will represent family at service

(NEWSER) - George H.W. Bush and Barbara Bush won't attend Ted Kennedy's funeral tomorrow, the AP reports. All of the living presidents had been expected at the senator's service in Boston, but the 85-year-old Bush changed his mind after learning his son would be among the mourners, a rep says. Bush 41 will "amply and well represent" the family, the spokesman says. More»

(NEWSER) - Thousands of constituents and admirers turned out this afternoon to honor Ted Kennedy as a motorcade bearing the senator's body from his Cape Cod home to his brother's presidential library wound through the streets of Boston. Some wept, some applauded as both locals and out-of-towners flooded to say goodbye. "We’re his family,” one Bostonian told the Globe. “We loved him so much, and we’ll miss him so much." More»