Thursday, October 18, 2007
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The Jeri News Cycle
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Posted by:
Mary Katharine Ham at
12:05 PM
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Listen, Jeri is news. Of that there is no doubt.
The prevailing media stereotypes/media narrative about her are as follows:
A) Dim but beautiful trophy wife who landed a U.S. Senator based on a combo of looks, charm and determination, but finds herself operating outside of her depth when her social climber gene pushes her to push him into a presidential run.
B) Shrewd, single-minded, overbearing social climber who landed a U.S. Senator based on a combo of looks, silky charm, and sheer doggedness, who finds that her down-home manners aren't enough to overcome the fact that Washington circles, big donors, and the press don't take kindly to Pat Conroy's Machiavellian mother figure when her insatiable ambition leads her to push her man into a presidential campaign and then run every detail of it.
Wow, she's really not starting from a great place, here, and her hubby's only been in the race for a month or two. Both stereotypes are almost wholly negative-- the first prone to make women dislike her, the second prone to make men dislike her. The idea that she's a smart former lobbyist, loving mother of two, and a woman who happened to be cool enough for a legendary bachelor to settle down with is considered "fluff" and "spin," when that precise positive narrative is a given for every other would-be first lady.
We don't generally start off with such wholly formed bad-faith assumptions about the wives of candidates. Suspicions sometimes, yes, but the full-on reportage of Jeri's every move through the prism of these two stereotypes is not giving the wife of a candidate (who's not even the nominee yet) the courtesy she deserves.
These narratives had been formed long before Fred was even in the race. Now, one could argue that she's partly for blame for not introducing herself more quickly, but one could also argue that the wife of a man who's not even in the presidential race yet should not have cause to get out front in defending herself against character attacks.
Could it be that these narratives affect some of the intermittent negative reports we hear from Jeri's appearances, such as the ones Matt notes today? After all, "working the room" and demanding "ebullience" from the crowd both play into Stereotype B-- overbearing, smart, beautiful schemer-- the one more prone to make men dislike her. And, these reports came from, as Matt points out, only men. As for the idea that women are likely to be more catty toward her than men, I don't know. I'm not making any judgments about what the average man's opinion of her is, but I know that conservative women have been some of the loudest in defending Jeri against attacks. (And, for the record, I was more forgiving of Scarborough's "context defense" when he committed his Jeri gaffe than some other folks, but I thought he should act like an adult and treat her with more respect; I just didn't think he was actually calling her a stripper.)
I would bet I could easily find three or more folks who were in the room at the Club for Growth event who really enjoyed Jeri's company. If I may play into my own stereotype for a moment, it's hard for me to imagine a Southern-bred woman of her success forgetting her manners on too many occasions (Update: As mentioned in comments, Jeri spent her college years and 20s in Tennessee, but her hometown is in Illinois, so she's not a native Southerner. I corrected the post to reflect that. My bad.) I was at the Fred speech yesterday and found her totally unobtrusive. I was also at Fred's speech to Virginia Americans for Prosperity members two weeks ago, during which she happily chatted with little old ladies and took cards from every Tom, Dick, and Harry who approached her, looking very at-ease and willing to engage with folks from whom she'd have much less to gain than the average millionaire.
I know she's news, but let's give her a little benefit of the doubt sometimes. She's on our side; she's the wife of a candidate, not a candidate; she'll get plenty of picking from the Left without us helping out.
Does it mean we can't discuss her at all? No, but it does mean anonymous reports from a handful of people should be taken with some serious sodium supplements.
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PC writes: What I know about Jeri
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Should have stopped there. Why is it the more ugly the woman the more ugly the comments? |
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I dont know (or care) about Jeri but if spouses are fair game the spouse of the Democratic frontrunner should provide a hatfull of comments. Jeri would have to be photographed torturing children during a sex orgy in Darfur laying in a basket of Iranian cash to even come close to the charming and lovable Godfather of the Clinton Crime Family. The Chinese street gangs strongarming illegal alien dishwashers and prostitutes to donate to Her Thighness' campaign are the latest outrage, but who notices anymore? So lets play the media game, which is to try to exaggerate traits in normal people (the wives of every other candidate) with lawless lecher BJ. |
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I have no idea about you guys but if I can think that Mrs. Kucinich is a willowy beauty of great intelligence and wit and that Mr Kucinich is a very lucky man, then I can't see why Mrs Thompson has to be vilified either, left or right.
What a man finds to love in his wife is not something we should comment about. His ability to govern, however... now that's where I'd place Mr Thompson over Mr Kucinich any day. |
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There is a common practice rule of thumb about age differences in marriages:
A bride should not be younger than half the groom's age plus seven. Any woman younger than that raises eyebrows.
When they married in 2002, Fred was 60 and Jeri was 36.
60/2 + 7 = 37
So Jeri violated the rule. According to the rule, she was too young for him.
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"I just find it sad the some conservative males are acting just as catty. Get over it boys. Would you respect her more if she were dumb and ugly? "
And many are going on and on with comments such as "She's hawt", etc. Sounds like some high school freshmen.
How about focusing on the issues (not direct question to shells) and not on the cleavage or pantsuit. |
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She isn't running for office; Fred is. They love each, isn't that enough for a marriage? Where she is from and what her qualifications are can only be irrelevant.
As a voter, this topic isn't important. Now as a genealogist, I find these topics interesting.
Happy Dae.
http://www.ShoeStringGenealogy.com/ssg1.htm
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M-Kat,
I've always thought it was fair to criticize wives of candidates if they enter into a public debate about policy.
For example, John Kerry's wife was commenting on policy to no end during the '04 election, and it is fair for us to criticize for those public positions.
But Jeri Thompson wasn't commenting on policy.
It's so ironic that just yesterday, Matt Lewis was blogging about the '11th Amendment' which frowns on ad hominem attacks against fellow Republicans, yet Matt turns around and merely attacks a candidate's wife for not going out of her way to shake the hand of Thurston Howell III !
Of course, Matt's earned a reputation for this kind of snarky blogging.
In the recent past, he's linked to attacks on Rudy's wife, and he's made numerous attacks on Mitt Romney's...personal grooming.
Matt wrote a post a couple months ago which was nothing more than an attack on Mitt's suits and hair, which he titled, "How To Mess Up A Mormon."
The only wife of a candidate whom Matt doesn't attack is that of his favored candidate, John McCain.
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The first time TH put a picture of Fred's wife on an article, before he even ran but we were swimming in the Run Fred Run world---I knew she would cause a lot of problems.
Not that she's problematic--but if you're good looking, smart, you dress to impress, and you happen to be married to a guy who looks like Death without his black robe on, I knew the libs would talk and hoo haa over it.
I just find it sad the some conservative males are acting just as catty. Get over it boys. Would you respect her more if she were dumb and ugly? |
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... portlandmom/pam with yet another new name?
(I can't say I'd be surprised after the comments ya got the other day) |
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... spells her name- Geri. |
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Oh you mean that really important NEWS item from Matt Lewis that she - OH MY GAWD- talked during Rudy's speech(in the back of the room, no less).
Or that other earth-shaking NEWS story from Matt that she didn't shake the hand of a -wait for it- MILLIONAIRE because her hands were full!
OH MY GAWD- WHERE does it end??!! This behavior is definitely NEWS! I can't wait for the next Jeri News Cycle! I SWEAR I'm on pins and needles! |
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She's not a lawyer, but the campaign has allowed the myth to continue. She became a "politcal operative" when she got involved with Fred, and not before. She has a tendancy to dress inappropriately. She has a less than conservative life story - living with a boyfriend for many years. She was controlling the campaign in the begining, and poorly.
These are the facts. She may be a very decent person, but you can't credibly deny that there are some negatives with her, and that they will affect Fred's candidacy.
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Good, fair comments, but you had one factual error. Jeri Thompson is not a native Southerner. She grew up in suburban Chicago (Naperville, IL to be exact) where her family still lives. |
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