Fighting Foley With Chappie

I'm not a big fan of Christopher Shays, a pretty liberal Republican from Connecticut, but I like the way he handled criticism from Teddy *hiccup* Kennedy:

Frustrated by Democratic attacks over the Foley scandal, a Republican congressman hit back with a pointed reference to Sen. Edward Kennedy's 1969 incident at Chappaquiddick in which a young campaign worker died after the Massachusetts Democrat's car plunged off a bridge.

Connecticut Rep. Christopher Shays made the remark when Kennedy came to his state to campaign for opponent Diane Farrell, who called on House Speaker Dennis Hastert to resign, the Hartford Courant reported.

"I know the speaker didn't go over a bridge and leave a young person in the water, and then have a press conference the next day," said Shays.

"Dennis Hastert didn't kill anybody," he added...

Farrell said her "jaw dropped" when she heard Shay's comments, arguing Chappaquiddick had nothing to do with Hastert's current situation.

Hey, she's lucky. She survived her encounter with Teddy. Mary Jo Kopechne could not be reached for comment.