I might be mistaken, but I don’t think Ace is terribly sympathetic to Andrew Sullivan’s plight. (Or, for that matter, that of Gren Gleenwald, whose hatred and vitriolic excesses I think make Sullivan look kind and reasonable.) I should probably…

Ed Morrisey at Captain’s Quarters and Joe Gandleman at The Moderate Voice had similarly derisive reactions to the NYT’s July 8th story on former Sen. Fred Thompson’s wife, Jeri Kehn Thompson — the alleged trophy wife about whom I’ve already blogg…

Joe Gandelman has a few pointed words at the NY Times for a piece about Fred Thompson’s wife. “The lead of this story about her being a 40-year old “trophy wife” is filled with such an insulting assumption that you…

Should we sink to the lowest common denominator and respond with equall trifling things?

Yes, it’s a leading question.

The only time a candidates spouse should come up as an issue is if that candidate is supporting certain principles and their marriage runs counter to those principles.

I couldn’t have said it any better myself.

“Live and let live,” I say. Let people marry whoever they want (provided that the marriage is consensual. It might not be my cup of tea, but I see no reason to inject someone’s marriage into a political debate.

The ONE exception to that is in the case Ashen Shard lists above–hypocrisy. If a politician makes a career as being a moralist campaigning on “family values” and then ends up divorcing his wife (or her husband), then I think bring the divorce up is fair game because it demonstrates what a hypocrite that politician is.

But otherwise, why not just leave family members out of politics.

The “trophy wife” comment in the New York Times was a low blow.

Also, I’m left completely unconvinced by Libby’s comment above:

I also think it’s a legitimate question politically, in terms of the impact on a campaign. In an age where we’ve seen elections rise and fall on such “issues” as sweaters, haircuts and false allegations about claims of inventing the internet, it’s likely to have an effect.

Libby,

That fact that such trifling things as sweaters, haircuts, and claims about inventing the internet have played a large role in campaigns is a BAD thing, right? We should we sink to the lowest common denominator and respond with equally trifling things?

Let’s see, my daughter is 19. Nineteen minus four is…uh oh.

And were you aware of what John Edwards paid for a couple of his haircuts? I’m sure Chris Matthews will be back on that one tomorrow night. It’s a hell of a story.

After all, she is no size 2, and that is just not allowed in certain circles of the press.

Why bother? The level of discourse at all levels these days is abysmal. Why take any of it seriously?

To me age doesn’t matter. If people decide they want to get hitched, that is their decision and they shouldn’t be condemned or questioned for it. I’ve heard that she married him for money (etc.), and that should be the only reason she should be criticized, but I haven’t seen any proof for that position, so until I do, no reason to ridicule or question her.

On the other hand if this is his third marriage and he does try to toe the conservative Christian moral values line, then that is something that is open to debate, he should be questioned on and criticized for his blatant hypocrisy. But remember, it is his blatant hypocrisy, not hers. Also, may I mention that marrying someone younger is not against conservative values, and in fact is likely the embodiment of them if one considers the history of arranged marriages in this country between the wealthy.

Mrs. Thompson looks more than 25 years younger than Fred, and that is bound to raise a few eyebrows in DC circles.

“All the News That’s Fit To Print”

Now:

“All the News That Fits*, We Print”

* Fits the NYT’s political/ideological biases.

That said, the NY Times story is dumb. I think a reasonable case can, and is, being made that Thompson is fake and has been for a long time. From his ambivalent involvement with the Watergate Hearings to his Lobbying for whoever had the money to his rented pick-up truck, he is an example of someone who creates himself as he goes along.

That hardly make him unique, alas, but it hardly makes him a fresh breeze from Outside the Beltway, either. Hollywood and K Street are not shy corners from which reluctant heroes are coaxed into public life.

P. S. Thank God for Moderate Voice and other places where people who don’t bleed either red or blue can recover some sanity.