Fred Barnes insults Nancy Reagan.

[ConservativeMan55]

Ok. So I'm watching Special Report tonight and the panelists are Fred Barnes, Mort Kondracke, Katty Kay, and Tony Snow who is in for Brit Hume tonight.

Tony puts up a couple quotes on the screen from Teresa Heinz Kerry.

When asked in a recent magazine article if she would use the last name Kerry on the campaign trail, she replied:

"Now, politically it's going to be 'Teresa Heinz Kerry,' but I don't give a s—-."

On her marriage to the less wealthy Kerry:

"Everybody has a prenup. You have to have a prenup. You've got three kids with somebody else, you have to have a prenup."

Then the guests commented on the quotes.
First Katty Kay from the BBC mentions all the great things about Teresa Heinz Kerry, and ignores Tony's question about the quotes. Katty mentions all the charity work she does, humanitarian work, etc.
Katty says...
"Well at least we know she's not going to be sitting doe-eyed every time her husband makes a speech. We certainly don't need that."

Mort chimes in...

"Well first let me say that I agree with everything Katty just said. But I've heard reports that Mrs. Kerry has been known to chew John out in public and just rip him to shreds in front of people, and thats certainly not very polite or becoming of a first lady. I also agree that we don't need a first lady who will sit there all doe-eyed everytime her husband makes a speech."

Then Fred Barnes retorts...

"I'm not sure how she will play out politically in the midwest but she seems ok to me. She'll tell you the truth, and more importantly she will tell her husband the truth. She won't be a wallflower first lady, and we certainly don't need another first lady like Nancy Reagan who would sit there doe-eyed every time her husband made a speech."

[CobaltBlue]

Laura Bush handles herself just fine. So did Barbara Bush. But then, they are just ordinary people, not actresses.

[hellinahandcart]

I really see no difference in demeanor between the three, when it comes to how they comported themselves while their husbands were making a speech. In fact, no one looks more "adoringly" at her husband than Laura Bush, yet she's escaped your opprobium somehow.

But then, they are just ordinary people, not actresses.

Gee, I thought your problem with Nancy was that she was a mindless, adoring, cheerleading appendage. That's what you said at first. Now it's because she's an actress (or was "acting")?

Liberals had the same problem with her husband. Who had a heck of a lot more experience than Nancy in that profession, btw.

[CobaltBlue]

>> it would be better to have a first lady who didn't stare at her husband whenever he made an apperance or made a speech<<

I agree with Fred. Especially when they get that fixated, glassy-eyed, slack-jawed Stepford wives look. Gives me the willies.

[CobaltBlue]

You certainly seem to have a chip on your shoulder.

There is a wide range of possible things to do while listening to someone give a speech. Looking stupified, glassy-eyed and slack-jawed at the very sight of the man speaking is passe, in my opinion.

Smiling approvingly, with dignity, will do just fine.

[hellinahandcart]

You certainly seem to have a chip on your shoulder.

Pot, kettle.

I don't care if you like Nancy Reagan or not, but if "smiling approvingly, with dignity" is your standard, Nancy met it. That is essentially all she did. If her facial expressions simply bugged you, just say so, but admit it was her normal expression. She had the same demeanor speaking on her own.

[hellinahandcart]

In fact I remember her looking kind of doe-eyed and soft-focused while calling Raisa Gorbachev "a committed Marxist", and not meaning it in a good way. It's just her face.

[fourdeuce82d]

Could you be any more ignorant?

Oh sure- I could believe in astrology, and plan my husband's activites around it.

Points for supporting her husband, demerits for errant superstition, particularly when it influenced his activities.

[eleni121]

If the great Ronald Reagan loved and found comfort in his wife then she is all the more remarkably wonderful in my opinion.

The Reagan hating media played up the astrology thing - in the great scheme of his historic presidency Nancy's dabbling in it registers not even a bleep. Certainly a lot less troubling than let's say Hitlery communing with Eleanor...

[eleni121]

Teresa Heinz "54" is trash when compared to the class of a Nancy Davis Reagan. Period.

[Havisham]

I'm afraid Fred and Mort stammer because they are aging prematurely due to poor nutrition. I'm being perfectly serious.

[mombonn]

I don't think they want somebody who gazes at her husband the way Nancy Reagan did, and other first ladies have."

I saw the segment. If Fred had only phrased it slightly differently, it would have not created this controversy.

He should have said, "I don't think they want somebody who gazes at her husband the way Nancy Reagan, ano most other first ladies have", it would have more accurately conveyed the point he was trying to make.

He wasn't dissing Nancy, he was dissing the way most First Ladies have pretended to hang on every word - the evil witch of the west wing 42 included.

[gcruse]

Teresa Heinz "54" is trash when compared to the class of a Nancy Davis Reagan.

Probably.  But wasn't Martha Mitchell a breath of fresh air?

[DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet]

I'll tell the first two words that came to me: Hillary Clinton.

Precisely. She thought she was elected to something, apparently.

[Ann Archy]

Teresa HEINZ kerry is a classless woman. Nancy Reagan has more class in her little finger than sh*t-woman ever considered having!!

Nancy's "Just Say NO"! statement was stunning to the left...they DESPISE her for her clarity.....and for the love of her adoring husband!!

[conservative_2001]

Good for Fred! I'm one of the many who liked President Reagan and couldn't stand his wife. I'll never forgive her for bad-mouthing Oliver North days before the 1994 election. Both Nancy Reagan and Teresa Heinz can drop dead as far as I'm concerned.

[nutmeg]

FoxFan ping!

Please FReepmail me if you want on or off my infrequent FoxFan list.

[Ramius]

Some day, if I am a very very lucky man, some woman might look at me with "doe eyes" like that.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the heads up!

[scott7278]

Thanks for setting the record straight.

[gcruse]

TIVO comes in handy sometimes. :)