U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy attempted to rescue six men who had become trapped by high tide on a jetty off Hyannisport on Sunday.

The Massachusetts Democrat eventually left the rescue to Hyannis firefighters, The Cape Cod Times reported Monday.

Kennedy was walking his two dogs on the shore at 11:15 a.m. when he spotted the men cut off from shore by the rising waters. They had been fishing on a jetty that begins at the tip of the Kennedy compound.

Tides had risen over the patchy rocks, which made it difficult to walk back to shore.

Kennedy and a friend tried to rescue the men using a 13-foot boat but rough waters forced them back.

A crew from the Hyannis Fire Department picked them up. The men, in their 20s, were not identified. They were brought to Cape Cod Hospital with mild hypothermia.

While the AP headline and the story seem to conflict a bit, there are atleast 6 people in Massachusetts who can say they are glad Kennedy was around.

Other reactions:

GOP Bloggers, "The last time Ted Kennedy was involved in a water emergency, Mary Jo Kopechne paid with her life. Not so this time."

Please note, that in this instance, the AP highlighted his political party by calling him the "Massachusetts Democrat," however, two summers ago when Mitt Romney and his two sons actually rescued a New Jersey family from their sinking boat in Lake Winnipesaukee, his political party was not mentioned, for instance, as in this excerpt from a Newday.com piece (dead link).

Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and two of his sons helped rescue a New Jersey family from a sinking boat in Lake Winnipesaukee over the weekend, a New Hampshire official said.

But everyone knows he's a Republican, you might say. True, but everyone and their mother knows Ted Kennedy is a Democrat. Anyone who remembers the Romney rescue story will remember their was also an effort to belittle the Governor's role in the whole incident, making claims he ignored the cries from the helpless New Jersey family.

Bias in reporting.