John Kerry's journey from left to right was remarkable. And financially driven.
Posted on 10/31/2004 1:59:36 AM PST by conservative in nyc
Teresa Heinz Kerry, the wife of Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, has had a remarkable life even if it does not end up in the White House.
Her name alone -- Teresa Thierstein Simoes-Ferreira Heinz Kerry -- suggests the unusual path followed by the woman born to Portuguese parents in the then-Portuguese colony of Mozambique in 1938.
After studying in South Africa and Switzerland, the young Teresa Simoes-Ferreira moved to the United States to put her fluency in five languages to work at the United Nations.
She married John Heinz, scion of the Pittsburgh-based Heinz food condiment company, in 1966. A Republican senator from Pennsylvania, Heinz died in a plane crash in 1991.
Heinz Kerry inherited a fortune worth hundreds of millions of dollars upon his death and turned down offers to run for his Senate seat to concentrate on raising their three sons and her philanthropic activities.
A registered Democrat since only last year, Heinz Kerry got to know Massachusetts Senator John Kerry when they attended the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. They married in 1995.
If her husband does win the presidency on November 2, Heinz Kerry would be the oldest and just the second foreign-born First Lady of the United States.
The first non-American born First Lady was Louisa Adams, whose husband John Quincy Adams served as president from 1825-1829. Louisa Adams was born in England, the daughter of a British mother and an American father.
In a nod to her cosmopolitan upbringing, Heinz Kerry describes herself as "a little bit of everything."
Heinz Kerry usually appears in public in jacket and tailored pants with a shawl around her shoulders. With her chestnut hair often covering her eyes, she affects a natural look which belies her wealthy background.
"I can only be me," she said in an interview with the US television personality Barbara Walters. "Americans want real people. I am a real person. I may not be what everybody would like to see, but it's real."
Blunt-spoken, Heinz Kerry's frankness has landed her in trouble, such as the time she told a journalist to "shove it."
She was forced to apologize recently to Laura Bush after saying that the First Lady had never held a "real job." Laura Bush was a schoolteacher and librarian before her marriage.
In the popularity stakes, only 38 percent of Americans in a recent Gallup poll said they have a favorable view of Heinz Kerry while 40 percent said they did not. Laura Bush, on the other hand, was viewed favorably by 73 percent of those polled.
Conservative commentator Gary Bauer said Laura Bush "reminds Americans of themselves, someone they can talk to between the back fence or at a cookout."
Heinz Kerry, however, is seen as a "senator's wife with a great fortune, a tough, opinionated lady too old to be bossed around," he said.
On the campaign trail, Heinz Kerry does appeal to immigrants who may share her life story of adopting the United States as their new home. With women, she discusses the difficulties of balancing motherhood and a career or the importance of education.
Since John Heinz's death, Heinz Kerry has headed the Heinz family's charitable foundations -- the Howard Heinz Endowment and the Heinz Family Philanthropies.
She has channelled millions of dollars into the defense of the environment and women's rights, including abortion -- topics central to the presidential campaign.
Kerry has described his wife as "saucy, sexy and brilliant."
Some have said the marriage has helped Kerry financially.
But Heinz Kerry says that since they married in 1995 the couple have kept their personal accounts separate. Kerry even had to mortgage his half of the Boston family home at one low point to finance his campaign for the Democratic nomination.
10/31/2004 02:38 GMT - AFP
Saucy homes
Sexy money
Brilliant tax avoidance strategies
...And Kerry's daughters have refer to their step mother as step money.
Hmm. Make that Teresa Thorazeen Simoniz-Purina Heinz. Now that's more like it.
Teraysu is a pompous liberal (alleged) educated fool with a PHD from the university of Club-Med. I can sum it up as the liberal mind-set of being a phoney in all aspects of life like skerry. A war hero? Hell No!! just another commie anti-american (zero) with a less than desirable discharge from the service. Jimuh carter helped this POS upgrade that which should have never been upgraded to run for political office. The problem makers of the world, kennedy, lbj,carter, klintoon and scary kerry with all their lefty supporters. Let's put those demo-commie klowns in the Iron Maiden Of Defeat, on Nov 2, 2004. Vote for President Bush/Cheney or die under the auspices of skerry's global testing(UN).
Good riddance to the potty-mouthed, left-wing wacko b!tch.
John Kerry's journey from left to right was remarkable. And financially driven.
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