Sen Kennedy Attempts a Water Rescue -- 36 Years Too Late

From our Political Irony Department: Sen Ted Kennedy (D-MA), long haunted by Chappaquiddick and the drowning death of Mary Jo Kopechne, tried to save a half dozen fishermen trapped on a breakwater.

The Senator noticed the men trapped on the water by a rising tide. He called the Hyannis Fire Department and raced to the stranded fishermen in his whaler.

His brother John once said, "A rising tide lifts all boats," but in the Senator's case -- it threatened to smash his boat into the rocks and stranded fishermen. The Senator fought five foot waves and 35 mile per hour wind gusts But couldn't get close enough to the fishermen to save them. He told them the fire department was on the way.

Firefighters had to make three trips to the breakwater, rescuing the fishermen two at a time. (Boston Herald)