Media election/appearance obsession turns ugly

June 4, 2007

Last week, I had an item detailing the bizarre interest in some media circles with the presidential candidates’ (and their spouses’) appearance. Apparently, the craziest example hadn’t come yet.

Consider this exchange on MSNBC this morning, between Joe Scarborough and CQ’s Craig Crawford.

SCARBOROUGH: Have you seen Fred Thompson’s wife?

CRAWFORD: Oh, yeah.

SCARBOROUGH: You think she thinks she works the pole?

CRAWFORD: That’s what a Hollywood career will do for you, I guess.

SCARBOROUGH: What do you mean?

CRAWFORD: You get wives like that.

I’m not even sure where to start with something like this. This level of misogyny is uncommon among major national media figures, especially on the air.

I can vaguely understand joking about Thompson marrying a much-younger woman. This seems like standard fare for those looking for a cheap laugh related to the presidential race. At the time of their marriage, Thompson was 60; his wife was 35. It’s entirely irrelevant, but if someone’s looking for something to tease him about, this is going to get some attention.

But even this joke is about the candidate, not his spouse, who has nothing to do with politics at all.

Ed Morrissey’s take mirrored my own.

Anyone who has watched Scarborough for any length of time knows that Scarborough can be an ass. What we didn’t know was that he could also be tacky enough to attack someone’s wife in the most personal of terms. Thompson’s wife is beautiful, but that doesn’t make her a whore or a stripper. Perhaps it speaks to Scarborough’s view of women that he immediately associates one with the other. […]

This is nothing more than character assassination, and especially egregious as it targets someone who isn’t even a political player. Scarborough should be ashamed of himself.

Indeed.

i can’t imagine any context at all that the above remarks would be appropriate.

  • I wonder if Fred might lose a substantial number of female Republican voters who might not savor the idea of having to support a president who divorced his first wife and after a long return to batchelorhood married a gal younger than his daughter.

    Somehow I think the average GOP mom might not be too crazy about that idea.

    Heh.

  • Looks like Scarborough is expressing some repressed sexual frustration there. Someone get him a big box o’ porn before Fred runs him over with his red pickup truck.

  • I’m not sure I am seeing much difference between this and what Imus said. If “nappy headed hos” gets you canned, “do you think she works the pole” – with its astounding double entendre – sure ought to do it as well if there is any consistency in the world. The only positive thing I can say is if the non-liberal media and Republican officials and candidates want to have a cage match with each other, well, i gots plenty of popcorn.

  • I had to think about “works the pole” before I realized that they were merely being disgusting sexist pigs, not incredibly filthy sexist pigs.

    But I can’t say I’m surprised. It’s still more than fair to judge and mock women based on their looks. Too pretty = Whore. Not pretty enough = Dog. And of course if she is “too outspoken” she must be a lesbian.

    Those old Virginia Slims ads were full of shit.

  • Racerx (#2) is actually dead-on right with this. What a lot of folks may not realize is that there is an incredible amount of ill-will that can be generated toward a guy who does this (what Thompson did). It is mostly fueled by an unspoken jealousy that he can do it and get away with it, on the part of other men, while – for women – it is the ultimate “nightmare come true” as Racerx pointed out. Trust me, even in Hollywood, where the “trophy wife” is common, there is a lot of behind-one’s-back backstabbing and ill will toward the guy who does it. Yes, it’s ugly, yes, it never has anything to do with “the real issues,” but it’s there. Having seen Thompson’s wife “in the flesh”, I am only surprised it’s taken this long for this to surface.

    For all those on the right who comment about how “Presidential” Thompson is, the sight of him with her is going to have an effect, and it’s going to be largely negative on a very visceral level.

  • This will probably all get swept under a rug because there aren’t many outspoken advocates for trophy wives and they tend not to be figures who evoke a lot of sympathy in general. The irony is that Scarboro is such a frat house loudmouth, so lacking in any sort of redeeming social graces, he probably meant it as a compliment of sorts.

  • Since Reagan was president, leading Republican politicians that haven’t been divorced are few and far between. Did St. Ronnie open the door to this?

  • I meant:

    Since Reagan was president, leading Republican politicians that haven’t been divorced are few and far between. Did St. Ronnie open the floodgates to this?

  • slip kid,
    Repugs don’t get divorced, they cheat. (see Gingrich, DeLay, Sherwood (beat up his girlfriend and still got a 100% Christian Coalition rating))

  • I’m not even sure where to start with something like this.

    Hopefully Scarborough knows where to start: A direct, sincere expression of apology, contrition, and remorse to Fred Thompson’s wife, and women in general. MSNBC should weigh in as well, and Scarborough should have to read and acknowledge a public smack-down by his employer.

    The apparent Republican crush on Fred Thompson seems foolish, but it is inexcusable for Scarborough to make such an outrageous comment about his wife. There are enough legitimate questions to ask about Thompson and his proto-candidacy; Scarborough should stick to those – or step away.

  • Why do people watch this creep? One time was enough for me. There are few real basic personality assholes in the world that are as obvious as Scarborough, and he thinks he is so cute and important. He’s not worth the attention you give him.

  • SCARBOROUGH: You think she thinks she works the pole?

    Wow. Now that’s civility!

    CRAWFORD: That’s what a Hollywood career will do for you, I guess.
    For his sake, I’d be hoping he’s not married. But for my own amusement, I’m hoping he is.

  • There are so many levels on which the comments are wrong that it is hard to know where to begin.

    Forget for the moment the circumstances that led to Thompson marrying a woman 25 years younger than he is, and then having young children; there may be issues there, but let’s put them aside for now.

    This is about looks, and I suppose in the twisted minds of those who think looks are a substantive issue in deciding how to vote, talking about Mrs. Thompson’s good looks goes hand-in-hand with discussing Fred’s “presidential” demeanor. He looks like a president and she looks like…a stripper? A pole dancer? Is the underlying question – as it is with Kucinich – how did a guy who looks like that get a woman who looks like that? What is the next step – taking a look at the previous wife and seeing how they compare? And drawing what inference? That if the first Mrs. Thompson was not as attractive, somehow we can all “understand” why Fred is now married to the stunning wife #2?

    It is far more likely that Fred’s comments about his single days will – and should – come under more scrutiny, given that he wants to represent a party that preaches abstinence outside of marriage, that is always accusing Democrats of having loose morals. Fred thinks that his promiscuity while single is of higher moral value than cheating on someone while married, but I’m not sure that’s an accurate calculation on his part.

    When all is said and done, this obsession with what people look like, and what their looks mean, or what it says about them, is insulting. This isn’t a new episode of The Bachelor, or So You Think You can Dance or American Idol – it’s about electing someone who can lead the nation. If we’re going to make it about this superficial garbage, we’re going to end up with another president whose intellect and morality is barely skin deep, and once again, millions of Americans will ask themselves, “how did this happen?”

  • Second wives often get bashed, and unfortunately, that seems to go with marrying an older man. They often get blamed for the original divorce, so I imagine the new Mrs. Thompson already has pretty thick skin, and can probably take care of herself.

    I guess the question is whether or not Fred Thompson’s beautiful young wife will help or hurt him politically, and I am guessing that she may be of great help to him if she is as smart as she is beautiful.

    As someone who has been married to the same person for nearly four decades, I think it is wonderful when a marriage works out. The shared memories and the grandchildren are treasures I would never exchange for a younger mate, but not all marriages work out. That Thompson is able to find happiness with a younger person is something I would not hold against him and I doubt that many will. It may offend some extremely religious people, but I am not irreligious and it does not offend me.

    Scarborough does offend me though. His words are shallow and very telling. I for one would like to see all of the over privileged fraternity brats of his ilk go home, and take some time, and think of how to apologize to Mrs. Thompson.

  • All that being said, I do not think Americans will vote for a man who is married to a woman who is close to that man’s own daughter in age.

    Sure, it’s a non-issue–I agree. But can you see her as First Lady?

  • Aside from the basic mysogeny of the statement, I gotta wonder, we are to vote for someone who looks Presidential and we are also to take in to consideration whether or not their wives look Presidentialy wifely enough? I remember how people used to talk about Babs Bush and how grandmotherly she looked with her white hair and pearls, and how comforting it was to have such a woman acting as nation’s hostess. Those matronly qualities sure belied a dark,dark, selfish, priveleged heart.

    Maybe instead of electing Presidents we can have a beauty contest between Presidential spouses. Of course it would be purely a scholarship pageant, but they could show their intelligence in evening gowns and swimsuits, but please let’s give BillyC a pass on that part of the program. Clinton, however, from the little I do know of other Presidential aspirants spouses would prolly win the talent portion. I’d vote for Elizabeth Edwards as Miss Congeniality. Come on people, Joe Scarborough is on to something here. Nothing like a beauty pageant of spouses to show us who would best represent America to the world as Mrs Presidential America, or Mr., also, I don’t want to be accused of being a sexist.

  • Scarborough has done Fred Thompson a favor by bringing up a subject that could be a sticking point for some in an un-mannerly way.

    At some point there will be complaints that Thompson “robbed the cradle” in spite of the fact that his wife is 40 years old now and that “she is younger than his daughter” which is correct. What they won’t tell you is that Thomson married his first wife after she became pregnant and he was a junior or senior in high school. After that occurred he and his wife went on to get college degrees at (then) Florence State college and he went on to Vanderbilt Law School.

    Jeri Thompson is hardly a home wrecker (the other reflex that might occur) since Thomson was divorced for many years before he met his lawyer wife in Washington, DC (not Hollywood) and had dated around for years.

    With the exception of the the gauche behavior of Scarborough, this is a non-story that will only help Fred Thompson.

  • “Thompson’s wife is beautiful, but that doesn’t make her a whore or a stripper.”

    This particular complaint, though, just reinforces the premise that strippers and whores are, necessarily, to be despised.

    I am not sure I would want to endorse Morrissey’s view, just because of the premise. The disrespect shown strippers and whores is far more destructive, on the whole, than the disrespect shown Republican political candidates and their wives.

    Since both the Right and the MSM seem to feel that the sex lives of the Clintons are fair game, then I think Thompson’s sex life is fair game. You play by the rules, as they are, not as you would wish them to be. Given Thompson’s record and positions on things like the Clinton impeachment, I’m just fine with dragging his (presumably) gold-digging tart of a wife through the mud to humiliate him.

  • And one of the reasons that Kerry lost is that his wife wasn’t born in America????? Or maybe because she spoke her mind – with an accent???

    I guess having a trophy wife could only work for you if your “base” is WASP men.

    If only NCLB would work so that Americans can grow up to be real people focused on real issues…

  • i can’t imagine any context at all that the above remarks would be appropriate.

    Comment by just bill — 6/4/2007 @ 3:23 pm

    Using Al Franken’s rule for correct context, it would be correct if he preceded the “works the pole” statement with:

    “I would be a complete asshole if I wondered aloud if she . . .”

  • his spouse, who has nothing to do with politics at all

    Not true. She is a long-time, well-connected Repub, having worked for the RNC and Senate Republican Committee. Also a giant K Street lobbying firm.

  • This is new? Seems to me that whoever’s pulling Scarborough’s strings has it in for Thompson (not that he doesn’t deserve it) and is using the time honored repub tradition of smearing the candidate’s wife. See Hillary Clinton and Teresa Heinz. It’s how they do things over there.

  • […] I gotta wonder, we are to vote for someone who looks Presidential and we are also to take in to consideration whether or not their wives look Presidentialy wifely enough? — Dee Loralei, @19

    Sometime in October of ’04, I had a heated discussion with my neighbour on the merits of our respective candidates (as evidenced by the yard signs). I’m usually slow to anger, so I guess it was out of sheer surprise that he kept backing off and conceding my points one by one but, obviously, he didn’t like caving in to “an import” and a female one at that. When I ran out of arguments (and breath), he — triumphantly — brought upthe one he was sure I couldn’t dispute: But, whom you’d rather have decorating the White House: Teresa Heinz or Laura Bush?

  • I’m sorry, but if Mrs. Thompson doesn’t want to be treated as a trophy wife then maybe she shouldn’t dress like one. A lot less cleavage would be nice. So would sleeves. Perhaps a jacket. For goodness sake, she’s forty years old and the mother of small children and the wife of a politician. I realize she’s attractive, but if she wants to be treated like a respectable politicians wife and mother, then stop dressing like a Hollywood starlet who caught an actor twice her age. If she wants to continue being treated like another hot lobbyist, then don’t complain about sexism.

  • oh please spare us the faux I respect women more than that.

    There is not a man alive that didn’t look at that picture and say damn how much money and fame do you have to have to buy that……and buy that he did, like it or not that the world we live in.

    At least it showed that Joe is actually male and not just an emasculated right wing gossip hack.

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