The UnStepford Wives
Just as Hollywood is "preparing a new version of the 1975 feminist cult classic 'The Stepford Wives,'" Andrew Sullivan is preparing us for a new breed of political wife, the ragingly independent woman. John Kerry's wife, Teresa Heinz, and Howard Dean's wife, Dr. Judith Steinberg, are two who don't just break, but explode, the Stepford first lady mold:
She has always gone by Teresa Heinz, but for the purposes of the campaign, she recently agreed to be called Teresa Heinz Kerry. This was a stretch in itself, but when asked by Elle magazine how she felt about it, she didn't exactly smoothe it over: "Now, politically, it's going to be Teresa Heinz Kerry, but I don't give a shit, you know? There are other things to worry about." Not since Barbara Bush opined of vice-presidential nominee Geraldine Ferraro that she was something that rhymed with "rich," has a prominent political spouse been so forthcoming about her true feelings. The Washington Post clucked that Heinz-Kerry was "ungaggable." In the same interview, she remarked, in respect to Pat Nixon, that "Well, we know Richard Nixon wasn't too much in contact with how women should be." The New York Times subsequently tutted that she had managed the rare feat of "casually insulting a dead president and first lady." Heinz has also spoken openly of her enthusiasm for plastic surgery, her use of Botox and her firm belief that, in matters of marriage, "you've got to have a pre-nup." With half a billion at stake, you can see her point. But such insistence is not exactly designed to win over the lower-middle-class voters of, say, Oklahoma.Judith Steinberg represents another kind of Blue America: not the lefty plutocrats who now run the Democratic Party, but the earnest Northeastern career professionals who tend to vote for it. Steinberg is a doctor married to Howard Dean, and has kept her maiden name in her own practice, which she once shared with her husband. She has a starkly refreshing approach to the role of First Lady, which is to say, she would essentially abolish it. She has refused to go to almost any social functions with her husband as the wife of the governor of Vermont; and has said that if he won the presidency, she would simply move her medical practice to Washington and leave the White House alone. It doesn't seem to have dawned on her yet that the Secret Service detail required to vet and screen every patient would not exactly be conducive to a regular practice.
Not to worry, Dr. Steinberg. In the heartland, it's the glassy-eyed automatons who get their husbands elected.
"Not to worry, Dr. Steinberg. In the heartland, it's the glassy-eyed automatons who get their husbands elected." -- sad, but true, and if their husbands are glassy-eyed automotons, even better. when so few vote, we get what we deserve.
Bob at October 12, 2003 2:42 PM
But do they have nice figures? Remember what a babe Al Gore was back in '94? I was outraged that Tipper (as in "tipping the scale") managed to nab him. Why do all the big fat poorly dressed cows with untreated clinical depression get the cute guys?
Lena Cuisina at October 12, 2003 2:45 PM
Yeah but dig up some old pictures of Tipper and you'll see where Al's babe daughters got their looks.
During the 92 inauguration telecast we noted the Gore Girls on stage with their parents and the Clintons. Everybody had the same thought: So thats why he chose Gore for his VP.
Eric Pobirs at October 21, 2003 10:23 PM
You little people are such fools. That is why you refuse to bow when I speak. You will get yours, you idiots. John & I know what is best for you peasants even though you do not. We long so for the good days, the European days of elegance when royality was respected. Ants!!! Insects!!! Middle class riff-raff. You make fun of us because we do not pay taxes on my $3.2 billion in assets. You make fun of us because we pay the bare minimum of 0.983% in taxes on my $80M/yr income while I support a 30% tax on any family earning over $100,000. You ignorant scum. I suport the outsourcing of all the Heinz manufacturing plants and their thousands of jobs so that my income will grow even more while my husband tells you about all the bad outsourcing plotted by evil US corporations. Worship me and my waned beauty or I'll get you my pretty, and your little dog too!
Big mama T at September 28, 2004 10:11 AM