Tuesday
29Aug2006
Kennedy was planning to go public in '04 about alcoholism
Tuesday, August 29, 2006 at 1:54PM
Charlie Kennedy, who at the turn of the year was involved in an alcoholism scandal that cost him the Lib Dem leadership, is the subject of a new biography, which again highlights the politician’s long-term problems with the sauce.
Source: The Guardian.
In a forthcoming biography by the Times correspondent Greg Hurst, who has followed the Liberal Democrats for the past five years, new allegations of the Scottish MP's drinking emerge, not least the attempts by his inner circle to cover up for him.
The author claims they brushed off allegations that Mr Kennedy smelt of alcohol, saying it was aftershave, or alcohol-based mouthwash.
The book, entitled Charles Kennedy: A Tragic Flaw, also claims that, contrary to rumours, it was not whisky or champagne that was Mr Kennedy's preferred tipple, but wine and gin.
[...]
The book also alleges that, during the budget of March 2004, Mr Kennedy failed to turn up for work at the Commons. It claims a junior aide was dispatched to his flat in Kennington to rouse him, only to find him incapacitated.
Source: The Guardian.
Reader Comments (8)
Oh dear, the 'powers-that-be' at work again to discredit and undermine anyone who is deemed a threat.
These orchestrated 'character assassinations' are getting to sound desperate as well as boring, and seem to criss-cross between Old Labourites such as Prescott, and Lib Demos such as Kennedy and Ming.
The established old-school Master Puppeteers (eg Murdoch) are using the established old-school Media Puppets again (eg Times).
Who will be 'assassinated' by the established media tomorrow - well, I bet it won't be Bush (whose past problems, I believe, would make Charles Kennedy look like a teetotaller).
If the http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_nr_n_12/104-5990511-0897535?ie=UTF8&rh=n%3A1000%2Cn%3A53%2Cn%3A11079%2Cn%3A11107&page=1" rel="nofollow">bestsellers lists are anything to go by, I think there is a ‘character assassination’ of GWB published each week in the US.
Yet he remains in power...but the likes of Kennedy (Charles) and Clinton (Bill) lose power. Funny that.
Bush enjoys a Republican senate and house, so is protected from impeachment; however in November that may change. ;-)
And pigs might fly :)
One should remain an eternal optimist richard.
On a more reflective point, Kennedy did not become an alcoholic overnight, last January he annouced that it was sometime over a year, however the 1999 factor would be more likely. There are several phases an alcoholic will pass through before they attempt to become dry, and then, sometime more before they actually become dry.
It is sad that a man such as Kennedy, with such good public charm and likeability should have his reputation tarnished, but then again, it is Kennedy himself that is to blame.
Have I got news for you has never been the same.
Kennedy has a problem. Alcoholism is one of the problems a man(or a woman) may have to face, and if it is a question of a politician then the problem is enhanced to the nth power, because electors, even those who also are going through the same predicament, tend to distrust an alcoholic.
But it is not the sole and only problem a man(or a woman) has to face. Honesty is the most important problem in politics and in politicians, as it undoubtedly is in common life. From their behaviour there are characters in the body politic who should undergo a thorough scrutiny. Because the lack of honesty in informing their electors is a sin which should be dealt with in the media with more acerbity than the presumably temporal one of alcoholism.
Alcoholism can be beaten; honesty, or dishonesty, is an innate trait of the human being which I am afraid cannot be beaten. And there is a real danger in attacking publicly a person because of alcoholism: instead of helping them those attacks will worsen their morale. Which brings to my mind that the use of the media to do it is a sign of cowardice and evil. As is a sign of cowardice and evil if a dishonest politician is not harshly dealt with in the very same media.
Alcoholics can redeem themselves but it is very difficult, not to say impossible, that the lack of honesty be ever redressed.