Headline of the Day
Is America ready for a trophy wife as First Lady. My guess is no, actually. America has exacting and bizarre sociosexual requirements in a President’s wife - socio-asexual, I’d be inclined to say. In particular, if it’s Hillary versus Thompson you’ll see the gender gap of all gender gaps in the exit polls, with women going overwhelmingly for Clinton and men not breaking enough for Thompson to overcome it.
Even if another Democrat gets the nod, I think Mrs. T. ends up suppressing the rank&file evangelical vote and getting married vaginal-Americans to vote Dem in droves.
Comment by Mona —
June 3, 2007 @ 5:41 pm
My 28-year-old son is married three years now to a woman 9 years older than he is. She is one hot-looking gal. But more to the point, she has made him happy and is a super step-mom to the two children he has full custody of, whom I dote on endlessly — the biological mother is a complete loser and they so needed a real mommy which I was for almost two years. I love my daughter-in-law to pieces.
But how often does it go that way, the guy going for a relatively older woman? It usually is the trophy wife syndrome.
Comment by Thoreau —
June 3, 2007 @ 5:57 pm
I’m a bit older than Mona’s son and married to a woman who’s, well, I’m not going to give her precise age. The difference isn’t as big as it is between Mona’s son and his wife, but it’s significant. I think the reason it worked for us is that she had gone back to school and I was in grad school. So we were in similar situations, despite the age difference.
But as far as Thompson, does anybody really think that the Republican Party will nominate a divorced and remarried actor for President?
Oh, wait.
Comment by tc —
June 3, 2007 @ 7:52 pm
But have you seen Mrs. Dennis Kucinich?
Comment by Mona —
June 3, 2007 @ 9:46 pm
I just liked that and wanted to see it again.
tc: your link is no good.
Comment by tc —
June 4, 2007 @ 12:18 am
Hmm, try this.
Comment by Shawn Levasseur —
June 4, 2007 @ 9:29 am
I wouldn’t call Nancy Reagan a “trophy wife”. At least she didn’t have that image by the time Ron was running for president.
By the same token I haven’t seen or heard anything of the current Mrs. Thompson until just now. Would she really become an issue?
I doubt it. To my ears it’d sound like a sex scandal, where one is being accused of having sex with their own wife.
Comment by lemuel pitkin —
June 4, 2007 @ 11:14 am
To my ears it’d sound like a sex scandal, where one is being accused of having sex with their own wife.
Hey, that’s brouguht down Republicans before.
The woman was even named Jeri in that one too.
Comment by Jamie —
June 4, 2007 @ 4:42 pm
tc,
Please, don’t refer to a woman as the female version of her husband. Her name is Elizabeth Kucinich if I remember correctly, not the Mrs. in Mrs. Dennis Kucinich. Would a man ever be referred to as Mr. Jane Smith? Even if he changed his last name to his wife’s last name? No.
Comment by Jim Henley —
June 4, 2007 @ 4:46 pm
Actually, people do do that - refer to Mr. [Wife’s Name] for effect sometimes, e.g. if the relation to the wife is the point. I know I have.
Comment by Eric the .5b —
June 4, 2007 @ 6:02 pm
She’s attractive, but I have real trouble with the idea that a woman in her forties, married seventeen years after the divorce, counts as a “trophy wife”. What becomes the definition, then? Any second wife that the commenter wouldn’t mind sleeping with?
I don’t claim to be a big supporter of divorce and I’m no fan of Thompson (aside from kinda liking him in that bit he did in Outbreak). However, that rant stinks of having an agenda against divorce itself.
I don’t know Libby Spencer - is that genuine Red hostility to other people having divorces, or covert Blue hostility to the same thing with a “What? I’m only saying gotcha” retort readied?
Comment by Nan —
June 4, 2007 @ 7:21 pm
I agree. I am a woman and find it icky seeing men in their 60s with trophy wives.
I would not vote for a man with a trophy wife. It offends my sense of decency.
BTW how would you feel about a female candidate with a Boy Toy husband?
Not gonna happen.
Comment by Alan K. Henderson —
June 4, 2007 @ 7:35 pm
How does one jump to the conclusion that the “trophy wife” will depress the evangelical vote? If he married her when she was twelve, that would be one thing. But he was about 60 and she about 35. I think most people, including religious folks, are more interested in the *quality* of the marriage.
Comment by Boinkie —
June 4, 2007 @ 8:33 pm
Excuse me, but I am 24 years younger than my husband. Trophy wife? I don’t think so. I was 40 and he was 64.
On the other hand, no one has mentioned Thompson is…sexy.
Better that he schtump his wife than an intern in the oval office.
Comment by K T Cat —
June 8, 2007 @ 12:22 pm
So a 40 year old woman isn’t smart or experienced enough to be trusted to make good choices? So she’s a trophy wife?
Right.