Tuesday, August 03, 2004

Too Outspoken, My Ass

Teresa Heinz-Kerry is getting berated by the media for referring to a Bush victory in November as "four more years of hell." Click here for details. (Fortunately, the Post does a decent job chronicling the event, but CNN's television coverage gave it an unabashedly negative spin.)

It seems to me that this is no different from Ted Kennedy's "the only thing we have to fear is four more years of George Bush" from the convention. When Ted Kennedy says it, it's politics. When Teresa Heinz-Kerry says it, it's "too outspoken." Maybe it's time to quit trying to project the Nancy Reagan image onto potential first ladies and recognize that they, too, are real human beings with actual opinions on things. Just a thought.

5 comments:

Jeff said...

Furthermore, I don't think there's anyone out there in politics who hasn't wanted to tell a reporter to shove it. She just has the balls to actually say it. (Although I still love the fact that Hillary Clinton used the phrase "you go, girl!" afterwards.)

Mike said...

Just a thought indeed, Jeff. It still amuses me that the public even gives a flying crap about the first lady. Unless they're afraid of her influencing policy or something, which is ludicrous. Otherwise Laura Bush, as an educator, would probably have had a thing or two to say to her husband about his education policy.

But anyway, you're right. Some first ladies are Nancy Reagans. Some on the other hand are Hillary Clintons, with their own political aspirations. I would argue that most are simply caring wives and mothers who try to support their husbands the best they can. See the final speech in "The American President" for an excellent point about how full of shit the press can be sometimes. Can we, just maybe, focus on the candidates themselves? Yeesh.

Anonymous said...

> "Too Outspoken, My Ass"
Do you have a breathmint? :)

- Pierce

Anonymous said...

If we're going to approach things equally regardless of gender, I have to say that I think Heinz-Kerry's "shove it" is no different from Dick Cheney's "fuck off."

Presence of actual profanity aside, either one was either perfectly acceptable steam-blowing-off or was rude and immature and unprofessional. One can't be ok and the other not.

- Ben

Jeff said...

Ben - to me, both are proof that people involved in politics are actually human. The difference lies in the profanity - just think of the absolute stink the right wing would be making if Teresa Heinz-Kerry had dropped the F-bomb! It'd be further proof that liberals want to destroy the American family! It's the hypocrisy of the right that gets me, not the acts themselves. To their credit, though, they didn't go off on THK any worse than the left went off on Cheney.