You mean Aunt Esther, don't you ?
Posted on 08/04/2007 6:42:22 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Presidential candidates always make a big deal of the advice they get from their wives. Ronald Reagan told voters that Nancy was his closest adviser; Bill Clinton said Hillary was so crucial to his team that electing him would be a "two-for-one" deal. On the trail, John Edwards and Barack Obama showcase their smart, outspoken spouses. Politicians seem to think it humanizes them—and increases their appeal to women voters—to come off as just a little henpecked.
Fred Thompson has his own version of the shtick. Speaking at a fund-raiser last week, he introduced Jeri Kehn Thompson as "my campaign manager—oh, I mean my wife." The line got a laugh, but in Thompson's case, the powerful-spouse bit is no act. Within his still-unofficial campaign, Jeri has emerged as the would-be candidate's top political adviser and de facto campaign manager. She urged her husband to run in the first place. To prepare for the rigors of a campaign, she recruited staff, including a friend, longtime Republican PR hand Mark Corallo, to help as an unpaid spokesman.
As the run got underway, Jeri quietly assumed responsibility for many day-to-day details, say campaign advisers who didn't want to be named talking about internal matters. She oversees her husband's travel and fund-raising events, and has the power to hire and fire staff. She also grooms Thompson's public image. When lefty filmmaker Michael Moore challenged Thompson to a debate on health care last spring, Jeri persuaded him to film a tough-guy video response that became a YouTube hit. Apparently, Jeri has not been shy about using her authority. The campaign advisers say she's smart and tireless—but her spare-no-feelings management style doesn't always have the intended effect.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
Democrat wives, smart and savvy. Republican wives, scary and threatening.
There’s so much Fred can use against Hillary that it will be a walk in the park.
By itself proving Thompson has the best campaign manager of the pack.
The fact that Jeri is an accomplished Republican strategist in her own right means nothing to Newsisweak.
I must have missed Newsweak’s equally bitchy articles about Elizabeth Edwards and Michelle Obama...
Are you sure Mrs. Hussien Obama is black??
I’m not too sure of that one.
Newsweek Magazine is to Campaign coverage what Hustler Magazine is to Renaissance Art.
They have two children. That's a very important thing.
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/673663/video/
I never get tired of watching that video of Fred Thompson’s response to Michael Moore. Here’s the link in case you missed it.
She has a resemblance to Aunt Edna from Sanford&Son..
Two children born in wedlock. Surely something critical can be written of that.
I met Mrs. Thompson when she and Fred visited New Hampshire in June. Very friendly; shook hands with the folks who met them at the airport and posed for snapshots.
At the reception later that day, she did not seek the spotlight, get up on stage, or say a few words. Instead, as Fred moved around the room surrounded by crowds, she stayed on the edge of the flow, very observant and aware of people’s reactions and the impression he was making.
It was obvious to me then that she was involved in the workings of the campaign.
You mean Aunt Esther, don't you ?
Maybe the difference is that there is nothing about any of their wives to justify any kind of "hit piece."
I don't see anything all that negative about this article. She is taking a very active role in Mr. Thompson's campaign, but her taking an active role is not necessarily negative. Generally, people say that a candidate shouldn't try to manage his own campaign, and maybe there would be some conflict between the role of supporting wife and campaign manager. On the other hand, the Thompsons might be able to make the situation work.
The unknowns in her background are unusual, but they may be nothing more than lack of time to do better research. Her appearance may have allowed her to reach places that she otherwise wouldn't have reached, but the same is true of many people.
I can't see anyone deciding to vote against Fred Thompson because of this or similar articles.
Bill
Let’s not get into the habit of assuming that just because it’s from a liberal source, it’s false. I believe that Jeri Thompson is participating in the campaign as more than the candidate’s wife. The question then is: Is this cause to be uneasy?
At any rate, trophy wife to power lady is quite a transformation. It’s like going from a cream puff to Lady Macbeth. Americans don’t respect either much; the power ladies are worse. This the Clintons learned.
She also reported on 527 groups and broke news on Tom DeLay’s troubles.
Before coming to Newsweek, Bailey was an investigative reporter at the Center for Responsive Politics in Washington, D.C. from 1999-2002.
Bailey has also contributed articles to Slate.com, Salon.com, Entertainment Weekly and the Washington City Paper.
“The media and democrats fear of Fred Thompson is palpable. Wonder why that is? “
Because they know he can beat Hillary. And that terrifies them.
My first real *journalism* job was in 1995, when CNN hired a bunch of college kids to act as runners when they came to town after the Oklahoma City bombing. It was intense and amazing, but, in hindsight, also funny. They had us doing anything and everything. I constantly had at least $500 in my pocket just in case the bureau suddenly needed supplies. I was dispatched a few times to check out leads on militia protests or talk to people who supposedly saw "John Doe 2." But, and this is the story I tell everybody, I once had to drive Wolf Blitzer to the mall so he could do some shopping. How cool is that?
Back in 1997, I was an intern in the Chicago Tribune's Washington bureau when Bill Clinton fell down some stairs at a party at Greg Norman's house in Florida and tore ligaments in his knee. The regular White House reporter was out of the office, so they sent me to the Bethesda Naval Hospital to report on Clinton's surgery. I obviously thought this was the most amazing thing that had ever happened to me and was determined to make the Tribune proud. The story was a little controversial. The White House didn't tell the reporters traveling with Clinton about his accident until hours after it happened. Plus, everyone was suspicious. Clinton just randomly fell down some stairs? Mike McCurry was having a gaggle with reporters on the scene, and I asked what I thought was a totally legitimate question: Was Clinton intoxicated at the time of the accident? I'll never forget it. Every reporter within earshot turned around and looked at me as though I were a martian, while Mike McCurry gave me perhaps the dirtiest look I have ever received, before answering a very curt, "No." Slightly embarrassing, but I'm proud to say the Tribune was, I think, the only paper in the country to report that Clinton wasn't drunk. (And, she actually believed him?!!! Some 'reporter')
Holly Bailey covers the WH for Newsweek. She started at the mag as an intern in 1/03 before becoming a researcher and helping on the Campaign 2004 Election Project.
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