Kopechne Day: A Solemn Tribute

"Mary Jo Kopechne wasn't a scion of one of American's wealthiest families; she was just a girl from an average, middle class family, whose idealism led her to Birmingham, Alabama, during the Civil Rights era . . . We'll never know, of course, what direction her life would have taken . . ."

UPDATE: Unfortunately, today's tributes to this courageous woman are in danger of being overlooked because some people are engaging in partisan politics:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office sent an email to reporters at around 2:30 a.m. today, just hours after his death, calling for the passage of health care overhaul. “Ted Kennedy’s dream of quality health care for all Americans will be made real this year because of his leadership and his inspiration,” the statement read.

(H/T: A Courageous Woman Who Believes in Racial Equality.)

UPDATE II: Time to acknowledge some of the many bloggers who have joined today's commemoration of Mary Jo Kopechne's life:

• Skepticrats
• The Daley Gator
• Daily Pundit
• No Sheeples Here
• Carolyn Tackett's Closet
• Jules Crittenden
• Bit's Blog
• The Western Experience
• A Conservative Shemale
• Gold Plated Witch on Wheels
• The Sundries Shack
• At the Point of a Gun
• Wyblog
• Reaganite Republican
• Underground Conservative
• Once Upon a Krischel
• Ed Driscoll
• Kuru Lounge

If you have posted a Mary Jo Kopechne tribute that I haven't linked, please link this post in your tribute post, and e-mail the URL to me. I'll try to update later.

UPDATE III: Obi's Sister tries very hard to conjure up sympathy for Ted Kennedy. Well, it's the thought that counts.

UPDATE IV: Welcome, Instapundit readers! Please be sure to visit The Sundries Shack, whose memorial to Mary Jo Kopechne inspired this post.

You may be surprised to learn that such remembrances are "an orchestrated movement" by "ghoulishly insensitive right-wingers." Which means that liberals consider it "sensitive" to forget Miss Kopechne and "ghoulish" to remember she died in an Oldsmobile that a drunk drove off a bridge. Well, I never understood liberal logic, but I do understand two things:

• Bill O'Reilly is an obnoxious douchebag; and
• Liberals are exploiting this occasion to try to push through legislation that would do for the American health care system what Senator Kennedy did for Mary Jo Kopechne.

Readers ask me, "Gee, Stacy, what can we do?" You can give generously to The McCain-Kennedy Kopechne Memorial Health Care Fund.

(ENTIRELY UNNECESSARY LEGAL DISCLAIMER: The McCain-Kennedy Kopechne Memorial Health Care Fund is neither non-profit, charitable nor tax-exempt. So far as anyone can determine, all proceeds go to help pay the bills of Robert Stacy McCain, his wife and six children who, as luck would have it, are among the umpteen kazillion uninsured Americans that liberals keep whining about. However, because Mr. McCain's children are neither illegal immigrants nor Democrats, liberals don't give a damn about them. Any resemblance between The McCain-Kennedy Kopechne Memorial Health Care Fund and a so-called "tip jar" PayPal account is probably coincidental. IYKWIMAITYD. Contributions to The McCain-Kennedy Kopechne Memorial Health Care Fund are not tax deductible, although it's possible you might get a little kickback by way of a free beer if you should ever catch me in a bar with cash in my pocket. And good luck with that. GIVE NOW -- it's for the children!