Posted on 11/12/2004 7:25:25 AM PST by Imnotalib
President Hillary? We’re not even ready for a First Lady who deviates from the script—or, heaven forfend, has a little bit of a mouth on her.
Yet in the main, Heinz Kerry’s remarks were only shocking in contrast to the overprocessed and infantilizing blah-blah that characterize most political speech.
And whatever you think of Kerry’s candidacy, his wife is someone who has undeniably devoted her considerable energies and resources to making this world a better place, using her foundation to fund important research on women’s health, the environment and early-childhood development. As everyone knows, her first husband, Sen. John Heinz, was heir to the Heinz ketchup fortune, and she could have spent her life shoe shopping. That we might have found patriotic.
By the end of the campaign, her approval ratings were in the range normally reserved for the defrocked and the deposed. And why is that? Does America really hate women that much?
I think so, yes. Not all of the criticism was partisan, after all.
We found it odd that she made no attempt to hide the fact that she had a life before John Kerry. (What really grated was not that she thinks “it’s all about her”—but that she doesn’t think it’s all about him.) Then, too, for all of our purported yearning for authenticity, we balked at her refusal to feign complete absorption in whatever phony political moment was at hand.
Perhaps most unforgivably, she is unself-consciously sexy at 66 and not unaware of her power as a woman.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
Since we are speaking of shoes, I'm sure we all know what would have happened if the shoe had been on the other foot and Laura Bush had made any of the same or similar comments, or behaved in such a rude manner.
No amount of Viagra would make me horny enough to believe she was sexy!
Precisely. Equating dislike of Mama T to some "hatred of women" exposes the intellectual laziness of the writer.
Her billion only funds leftist, America-hating, communist organizations.
How, pray tell, does this make the world a better place. No mention of the USA here.
OMG... that is a GEM!
Of course a liberal twit like Melinda would find that odd.
Heinz made no bones about it....she really loved her first husband and the Frankenstein creation she's no wedded to takes the back seat in the limo.
She is not hated. I do not hate women. She is simply a self-imposed object of derision. She brings it on herself. She oozes snobbery and a sense of priviledge the rest of us do not imput to ourselves. This is not meant as criticism.
Americans did not like TeRAYza because she is an out-of-touch, hyper-rich, self-obsessed, room-temperature IQ'd, power whore who approached her brush with American First Ladyship with no humility whatsoever.
I believe Kerry lost the election when she spoke at the Dem Convention in prime time. Not a word about this great country or her husband--just her droning on in that annoying voice with that accent of indeterminant origin about...HERSELF. Teresa--you're not that interesting.
This had nothing to do with "America's hatred of women." Henneberger should buy a frickin' clue.
What an airhead this Melinda is.
America doesn't "hate" women. They're expecting them to behave with a measure of decorum and civility and in a rational way, like any other adult.
If you don't like that we found Teresa fell short of this reasonable standard too bad.
This was in the Oregonian today:
My three minutes with Kerry
Friday, November 12, 2004
Paul Keller
IN MY OPINION Paul Keller
I realize that many of us -- especially here along our manifest-destined West Coast -- wish an amnesiac fog would simply wash away all memory of this country's recent presidential election.
And I know we're all sick and tired of this endless post-vote blabber about why John Kerry lost and how come George W. Bush won.
But, in the spirit of truth-seeking, universal enlightenment and full disclosure, please bear with me. I need to get this off my chest. You be the judge.
It's a sunny Sunday morning in the fall of 2001. I'm back in Washington, D.C., on business. A friend and I have walked to an upscale Georgetown grocery to buy a few treats.
With our hands full of this popular store's delectable bounty, we head for its two cashier stands. My friend gets in one line and I merge -- no more than five feet away -- into the other.
We've each got four or five people in front of us.
My friend -- from Boston, by the way -- sees him first. She quickly tips her head toward the unmistakable VIP.
No question about it. Tall and lanky, dapperly dressed beneath the familiar hair, Sen. John F. Kerry, D-Mass., stands just two people in front of her.
I have not seen this man since a spring night in Eugene circa 1971-72 when he spoke to a bunch of us at the University of Oregon. I remember listening to this young voice of reason -- someone who had survived that terrible Southeast Asian war as combat grunt and was not afraid to speak out, firsthand, about its tragic ramifications. He wove a sincere compassion and kindness into his pragmatic insights. I truly liked, even admired, his persona.
But this is all about to change.
As we inch our way toward the cashiers, an elderly woman standing between my friend and The Senator finally gathers her gumption. She is obviously honored to be in this gentleman's presence. She is showing him humility and respect. She -- very politely -- starts to introduce herself.
We all watch.
The man turns around and scowls at her.
Unbelievably, he shakes his head "NO" as if petulantly scolding a child. It is a mean-spirited slap that screams: "I am much too superior to be bothered by the likes of you."
The Senator fires this nonverbal volley, then abruptly turns his back on her.
This cruel -- totally unexplained -- dismissive retort humiliates the poor woman into an awkward, hurtful silence.
It shocks us all.
Moments later, I am paying as Kerry is exiting.
I am no longer in shock. I am furious. After all, he is an elected official, a public servant, a person who by his own choice has cast himself into the public marketplace -- figuratively, and this day, quite literally.
I want to ask him what has happened since that evening in Eugene. Where did his compassion go? Why did he just do that?
But by the time I reach the sidewalk -- just like in a movie -- he slides into a waiting shiny BMW convertible. The male driver hits the throttle. They roar off.
I am left in their exhaust.
And I am left to forever ponder this event.
I think about it the last several months every time I hear Kerry described as "wooden" or "aloof." Even now, I keep wondering how Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton or even George W. Bush might have responded to that woman.
But mostly I keep hearing, over and over, the late John Lennon's lyrics:
"Instant karma's gonna get you."
Rhododendron writer Paul Keller's essay "Army Men" on his father and World War II has been published in "Best Essays NW" by the University of Oregon Press.
That story about Gore and Tipper is actually not true, but she hid those facts deep in her reported article.
Why don't you tell us how you REALLY feel. LOL!
John Kerry showed similar insites to his personality throughout the campaign, but the best was when he fell skiing and blamed it on a Secret Service agent. Others present said the SS guy wasn't responsible, but what if he was? A REAL man's man would have blamed himself anyway, but Kerry acted like falling while skiing was beneath him, and absolutely could not happen.
I will bet you money I can outski Kerry, and I fall down occasionally, and I guarantee you my two kids will ski rings around him, and they laugh it off when they fall. Not Kerry, though, he's too good.
Surely there must be some photos showing what the late Senator Heinz saw in her. We've already some Bill and Hill swimsuit moments, so I think our already burned-out retinas could stand the shock.
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