Newshoggers Comments
I find myself wondering how this plays with the conservative Christian base. Anyone seen anything on that?
Regards, C
I haven't seen any great outrage. I don't suppose we will. If they still love Newt after he dumped his wife right after she was diagnosed with cancer, it seems unlikely it will hurt him with the base.
The good old boys probably think it's cool that old Fred bagged himself such a sweet young thing. Not to mention it seems quite commonplace here in the south. One of the things I noticed first when I moved here is just how many ordinary couples you see with that kind of apparent age disparity.
Why do I think the White House chef interviews will include "what recipes can you make that include viagra" if Fred wins?
I thought the same until I read her resume. Check it out.
Hi Jacques,
I see your own very-rightwing blog has come out as very definitely pro-Thompson. I also see you're a supporter of "economical with the truth" Ken Timmerman and the like over at Regime Change Iran. Trolling the lefty blogs for support? Times must be hard.
You didn't give a link to the moppet's resume. But I did some Googling and it seems she's a GOP hack with a background in political media consultancy for a GOP-linked lawyer's firm.
There's a gushing tribute to her from (700 club) Christian Broadcasting Network's David Brody here. which got a large amount of attention from the wingnut right. I guess that answers my question about whether they care.
However, I will grant that Thompson was single, with a playboy reputation, between his two wives. He didn't throw the first out for the newer model.
Regards, C
Oh fun,
More googling revceals the name of the firm the moppet works for. Verner, Liipfert, Bernhard, and McPherson - the Number One firm of lobbyists in America.
Members of the same firm were in attendance at a shindig organised by Jim Ellis of Tom Delay's Texans for a Republican Majority and the DeLay/Blunt vehicle The Rely On Your Belief Fund. The event in Vegas was to thank contributors of over $50,000 to DeLay/Blunt convention activities.
(This is the same shindig where DeLay's daughter and campaign manager, Dani DeLay Ferro, said she had a lobbyist pour champagne over her while in a hot tub.)
Same old culture of corruption.
Regards, C
Another DeLay connection for the moppet's firm - Enron.
(Oh and don't forget Bob Dole's questionable activities while working for them.)
Will the American public ever learn?
Regards, C
But maybe it's just me. Maybe I just never got over being dumped for a trophy wife myself.
Or, maybe you have the personal experience to know how painful being dumped for a trophy wife is, and how shallow and callous the man who could do such a thing.
Actually, I'm not willing to concede the trophy wife point. I'll give him credit for not just jumping straight into the arms of matrimony with the first available beautiful babe -- it's less insulting to the wife that way -- but he still divorced her after 30 years of marriage during which she worked to put him through school and raise his kids. Interestingly, the year he divorced her is also the same year he made the big breakthrough with his first movie. A quick google search turns up gossip the marriage broke up over infidelity and the impregnation of a married woman.
That he catted around for 17 years before he let himself get caught by Jeri, doesn't really make her less of a trophy wife. He didn't need a wife. He had groupies.
I do have to correct the sex offender crack though. I misread her age and didn't realize until now she was almost 40. She sure looks good for her age.
cernig may remember me from a former blogging life...my ex was a former legislative assistant for Senator Thompson...omg, the stories she told me....
to be continued...
...but he still divorced her after 30 years of marriage during which she worked to put him through school and raise his kids
Yes, and unless there were genuine issues -- such as that the marriage had been empty and loveless for years -- it's a contemptible thing to do.
That he catted around for 17 years before he let himself get caught by Jeri, doesn't really make her less of a trophy wife.
Of course it doesn't. A trophy wife is not defined by whether the husband was married before, or whether he was single for a long time. She's a trophy wife because she's young (or at least much younger than he is) and glamorously beautiful, and it's understood her purpose is to make *him* look good.
Exactly Kathy. And it certainly doesn't hurt his ambitions that the new wife is so well politically connected. I also thought the time line on his relationship with her was interesting. He seems to have stopped making movies in 94. He started dating her in 96, if I read that correctly, and then two years after he married her, he started getting movie roles again.
I'm not sure what to make of that, if anything, but it is an odd coincidence.
John Pike - I await your anticipated gossip with bated breath.
John Pike...You're alive! Damn, it's good to hear from one of the saner conservatives again. Do tell...
Regards, C
Hey, cernig...it's been a tough couple of years for an Atheist, Conservative, Bush-backer like me...
Anywho, I would have bet the house that Thompson would never run because of all of his sexual peccadilloes...getting caught kinda in flagrante delecto in his Senate office on numerous occasions...a couple of loud and open catfights between Jeri and women on his staff in the office, etc... Either he feels the bar has been lowered enough by Clinton or there's no "there" there...(ie, no blue dresses)... My ex still works for the Bush Administration, and she wouldn't vote for Thompson---unless the alternative was a Democrat, of course.
oh, cernig...i haven't been on your site in a few months, but did so as soon as I heard that Steve Gilliard had died. Shame. he used to pepper me with the longest posts! Always smart, sometime right.
It has been a long time since anyone lusted after the First Lady. But hey,.....this is America! Fred will collect some votes because of his wife. Clinton certainly used his wife to get elected, and the Dems didn't complain then.
Clinton certainly used his wife to get elected, and the Dems didn't complain then.
Clinton used his wife's intelligence to get elected. Fred Thompson is using his wife's looks and political connections to get elected.
There is a difference.
>>...forty. God bless her. She looks much younger than that.
With the kind of money to be made at a DC lobbying firm, I can't help but suspect God may have had a little help from someone in the AMA. That's not intended as catty -- who could blame her? It's all the rage, and science explains why. Recent studies show that better-looking people of both sexes command higher salaries. Studies also show that, from as young as 12 months, both sexes are more drawn to beautifully symmetrical faces -- but only males have an emotional reaction to beauty.
Libby: 'Not to mention it seems quite commonplace here in the south.'
I grew up in Mississippi - at a time when a fair percentage of married couples sincerely celebrated their 50th, and even 60th, wedding anniversaries, as did my maternal grandparents, my parents, and my aunt and uncle. Being from the south, of course I'm now wondering what state you live in. If you'd rather not disclose that on the net, just ask Cernig for my *main* email address - and point out that this post includes permission for him to give it to you. (He knows I'm a real stickler about email privacy.)
Kat
I find myself wondering how this plays with the conservative Christian base.
Are you serious?
Because he's divorced and remarried, or because he's got a younger wife?
Apparently being divorced isn't as shocking to the religious right as it is the left. LOL!
Are you desperate or something?
Fred's face just screams "Get off my lawn."
Larry - I'm not complaining and I'm not dissing Jeri. I made clear I have no problem with the marriage. I'm genuinely curious how this will impact his campaign. But by the way - LOL Mr. Warmth. Cute joke.
Good point Kathy.
Kat - It's no secret that I live in the northern south. I moved to North Carolina a couple of years ago after living in New England most of my life. I do also see beautiful elderly couples that have clearly been together for years but I've noticed a lot of May-Dec type couples as well. A lot more than I ever saw up north.
LV - Apparently, it's not shocking since as I noted they gave Newt a free pass and he was really an obvious cad. It does sort of make their whole "sanctity of marriage" pretensions look pretty hypocritical when they start bashing gay couples though.
Nolo - LOL. I was also noticing that he's not as photogenic when he's off the screen, large or small. I've seen some really awful pictures of him.
So much for not judging on appearences. So very enlightened, yes it is.
Eric, man you guys are surely oversensitive. How is that at all judgmental? It's not like we're saying don't vote for the guy because he takes a bad photo. Hell, I commisserate. I'm the world's most UNphotogenic person. It's just a surprise being that he's an actor. You would expect him to look better in candid shots.
Holy Crap. Pike's around!
LOL M. Not only is Pike around, he has gossip!
Regards, C
Libby: I'm sorry you're still bitter about your experience, but the Thompson trophy wife argument does not seem to make sense:
--He married his first wife at 17, and stayed married for 26 years. Per his wiki bio, she enjoyed the life of being married to a lawyer for 18 years, more than twice as long as she supported his schooling.
--If anything, it looks like they stuck it out for the kids (don't know how old the kids were when they divorced, but looks like they were at least into college). Plus, marriages before age 25 are notoriously short-lived...you just don't understand anything (with rare counterexamples)
--He was single for 17 years. If he was really "catting around", why would he have gotten remarried? How long does a person have to be unmarried before they are clean enough to remarry without stigma?
--Looking at Jeri's bio, it would appear that she brought plenty of contacts etc. to the table. How is that different from the Clintons marrying each other for the contacts that could be made, or, for that matter, the way professors frequently marry others in the academy, or military officers, or tycoons?
--A 40-year old can be actually pretty close to a 64-year old's maturity level, I'd guess. When I interact with my older co-workers, the difference between me (35) and them (65) is less than the difference between me (35, married with two kids) and some of the other 32-year old, unmarried no kids folks.
Cernig: claiming that Republican women are prettier than Democrat women
I'm sure you meant to say 'Democratic women'.
Either that, or you accidentally left off the quotation marks to show you were imitating wingertalk: claiming that "Republican women are prettier than Democrat women"
Don't strain both your brain cells worrying about what other people think. It will make no difference whatsoever - of course the exercise of twisting yourself into knots of hypocrisy will probably help your posture.
Wow Captain Ed! Surely the biggest K Street lobbying firms would NEVER stoop so low as to hire some eye candy to distract the principals and staffers while the other guys (heck, even a gal or two) are telling 'em which way to vote! NO, it can't happen here!!
She is frigging hot, though.
See a tongue-in-cheek list of the top ten reasons GOP voters prefer Fred Thompson be their nominee...here:
www.thoughttheater.com
He waited 17 years before he started seeing her. I notice you failed to mention that.
Way late, but part of the definition of "Trophy Wife" is its one you trade in for. Getting divorced and meeting the next girl 9 years later and marrying her 6 years after that isn't quite a trade-in/trade-up. It's a new buying cycle, straight off the lot. Even if she was 28 when you met her.
Overall a good post. The assumption that Fred divorced his first wife is rather than it being a mutual agreement is not very flattering to either party. On Fox News, Fred seemed amused by the pole-ish joke
One thing that stood out for me in your text was:
"... the slightly lecherous look in his eyes."
That seemed to me that you were interpreting a photograph through your own very personal experiences and asserting what must have been in that man's mind at that moment. The interpretation you offered also happened to fit your theme.
One other point you might want to keep in mind concerns this statement of yours:
"... his beautiful young wife, who is actually four years younger than his real daughter."
This seems to me to be a tad insensitive, since "his real daughter" died in 2003:
"Thompson had been re-elected to the Senate in 1996 and briefly considered a presidential bid before the 2000 race. In 2002, however, devastated when his 38-year-old daughter, Elizabeth Panici, died of an accidental prescription-drug overdose, he decided not to run for another Senate term."
http://tennessean.com/apps/pbcs....WS0206/
70530009
All in all, I suggest that your piece may not be one to be proud of.
Maybe all Libby saw was the blond hair. I'd say Jeri is above average looking, certain way too chubby to be considered a trophy wife.
Trophy wives are old hat in the White House. What do you think Jackie Kennedy was? Or Julia Gardiner Tyler, the second wife of John Tyler? Definitely the trophy wife of her day.
Man, what a bunch of uptight tards hang out here. She's 40 fucking years old, guys, and she's NOT that good looking. Jeez...
Why is this even being talked about? It doesn't matter and shouldn't matter.
Now wait a minute. Did he divorce her or did she divorce him? You say "He divorced her after 30 years of marriage ... the marriage broke up over infidelity." So his wife was playing around and he divorced her (not a problem with the electorate) or he was playing around and she divorced him (then you can't say he dumped her after 30 years -- more like she dumped him after 30 years)?
Trophy wives are old hat in the White House. What do you think Jackie Kennedy was? Or Julia Gardiner Tyler, the second wife of John Tyler? Definitely the trophy wife of her day.
Or the first one -- Dolley Madison -- 17 years younger than James Madison.
Don't forget Frances Folsom Cleveland, who was 27 years younger than President Grover Cleveland.
Or, maybe you have the personal experience to know how painful being dumped for a trophy wife is, and how shallow and callous the man who could do such a thing.
Now did he dump her, or did she dump him?
I knew her when she was brunette, and thin. As far as she is concerned Fred is her trophy.
Commenting by HaloScan
