The media pundit's pundit. Written by NYC insider Jeff Jarvis, BuzzMachine covers news, media, journalism, and politics.
The Missus
: Of course, the debate we’re missing is the First Ladies Debate. We all know who would win that one.
Mrs. Hyphenate Kerry is really bugging my wife. When we talk about our votes, she brings that up every time. I suspect that’s true of more women than we know. Anybody have a link to recent polls on her impact on the race.
Andrew Sullivan has a few choice quotes from the Hillary wannabe.
I think the “free four years of college” proposition is a BAD idea. Would college just become another arm of the public school system? Would a “college education” become about as meaningless as a high school diploma is now? What about “special needs” students? Will there be an “obligation” to “educate” a student no matter what the cost? Have I used enough “scare quotes”?
These “questions” need to be “answered”.
How else can you educate the kids in leftism unless you control education. That’s why Arab countries are so successful in educating the masses in America hatred–they brainwash them for free.
What point are you making by calling her Mrs. Hyphenate Kerry? What do you mean by that?
What really rankles me is talk of Laura Bush being a Stepford wife. She is not. She’s an intelligent class act and is true to herself. I think people say that because she’s not Hillary Clinton.
What point are you making by calling her Mrs. Hyphenate Kerry? What do you mean by that?
It’s simple, she has always been known as Teresa Heinz up until Kerry decided to run for the democratic nomination. The next day she decided to call herself Teresa Heinz-Kerry. A simple cheap political ploy to make them more likable as a couple I imagine. I believe it just made her look ridiculous, something she is quite good at.
I don’t get that ploy. How does that make them more likeable? Are Americans really hung up on wives giving up their last names – their identity – when they get married? Must be an old folks thing.
(For the record, my wife’s name always has been and always will be Allison Anderson.)
I doubt it’s an old folks thing. And if it wasn’t a ploy, why did she do it after Kerry announced he was running for the nomination, she had been known as Teresa Heinz since 1995? Everything Kerry has done has been according to polling and focus groups, obviously this was something that tested well.
Answer me this: If I am black, hispanic, muslim, jew or catholic (as examples), I look at a candidate and assess how he or she will act, be for my “people,” group. When pundits talk about “the women’s vote,” are they talking about a candidate’s concern with feminism or ladies? If not, then are we not saying that women vote for the charmer, the seducer, the guy they would love to love? and what does that say about women as voters?
Kat, is the first thing you do in the morning to look in the mirror and say “thank God I’m not an Arab”? its like we don’t even need to actually read your comments anymore. if its from Kat, its anti-Arab/Muslim. next.
The Hilary comparison is a cheap shot.
Folks who never have to make a decision about their surnames might be advised to check their assumoptions “at the door.”
Hilary retained her “maiden” name and changed it when her husband ran for governor.
Teresa is a widow; she did change her name when she married her first husband, John Heinz. She retained the name, as it became hers.
One does wonder why she only changed her usage after John Kerry announced his presidential candidacy (if that’s when she did); but the issue only comes up for women– and not just Democrats or liberals or loudmouths.
Noting the surname decisions of public women who annoy you because of *what* they say is not substantive.
Would you like next to suggest that John Kerry’s granparent’s decision to change their surbame when they emigrated to the US is also a cheap political ploy and risk alientating a genertion of immigrants who did the same?
If we ask substance of the candidates, Mr. Jarvis, surely we, too, should stick to the same.
Mike – Why do you doubt it’s an old folks thing? Are you saying that you think the majority of Americans under the age of, say, 40, think there is something wrong with a man if his spouse does not give up her surname, or that there is something wrong with a woman if she does not give up her surname when she gets married?
Because Joe, it has nothing to do with old folks, that’s why I don’t think it’s an old folks thing. I’m just highlighting that she did it when Kerry decided he was going to run. I think it was done because polling showed it would look better, otherwise why change her name after 7 years of just being known as Teresa Heinz. And this obviously wasn’t a problem for her when she married John Heinz.
In the rest of your comment you are simply trying to put words in my mouth and imply something I didn’t say. I could care less whether or not a woman gives up her last name or not (full disclosure, I am married, under 40 and my wife took my last name, she did so because we both feel it is better for a family to all have the same last name). But in this instance your argument doesn’t hold any water, it’s not what happened.
If she simply wanted to keep her own name , why did she keep the Heinz name which is her dead husband’s name and not hers? The old folks argument is about as stupid as they come in this case–she obviously thought the Heinz husband name was worth adopting while the Kerry husband name was not.
Come on, folks. We’re not electing a first lady, we’re electing a president. It doesn’t make much of a difference who Kerry’s wife is, or who Bush’s wife is.
I guess that I’m not making my point very well.
I think it is silly for the wife of a candidate to change her name in order to make the candidate more appealing to voters. I think we all agree on that. Correct?
The reasoning behind such a name change is to appeal to voters who think there is something wrong with a woman who does not take the name of her husband. Do we all agree on that?
My point is that I think the only voters who give a damn about whether or not the candidate’s spouse has the same name generally are voters of older generations, people at least older than 50. I also think this is a silly issue. Does this make more sense? Can we all agree on that?