Wrong Wife Syndrome
Far be it from me to make judgments about the wives of other men.
However, it is impossible not to see the effects of wives on the political
careers
of their husbands when a wife is a bad political fit. For that matter, a
wife can
destroy her husband's cultural legacy just as well.
In defense of choice of wife regardless of career consequences, I can
report that
"there but for the grace of God go I" applies in my case. No problem to
think
of at least two or three women along the way who, had fate intervened
otherwise,
might have entered my life in some intimate way and thereafter led me
around
by the nose because of the size of their breasts or other such attractions
that,
I will admit, are more persuasive as arguments than the discussions in all
the
philosophy of Plato or Aristotle.
But what would have happened if Newt Gingrich had not married his most
recent wife? Not that Catholicism is a negative; it is not, and in some
parts
of the country you cannot get elected without it, or at least being
Catholic
really helps. But the deep South is not one of those places.
For most of his political career Newt could point to his Baptist faith for
his
southern bona fides. Now everyone who can think asks the question:
"How thoughtful and sincere was New's Baptist faith to begin with?"
True, he won SC and Georgia, but he lost all chance at the GOP
nomination in 2012 when he lost Alabama and Mississippi.
I cannot say for sure but it seems to me that, since both of those races
were close,
he lost to a "genuine Catholic" because Santorum was perceived as far less
an opportunist about religion, or not an opportunist at all. And what would
have happened had Newt still been a Baptist?
There is much more to it than these primary elections, an overall sense
that
Newt has sold his soul, has sold out, for the sake of an attractive woman,
but a plausible case can be made that his wife cost him the presidency.
Which is related to the fact that Newt would never have been so stupid
on his own as to have begun his campaign by taking a vacation in Greece,
something that makes sense for a Catholic culture maven but no sense at all
for an aspiring southern politician.
Now we get to the strange case of Eric Cantor and his stunning loss. A
friend
sent the following information about his wife to me:
Cantor met his wife, Diana Marcy Fine, on a _blind date_
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blind_date) ; they were married in 1989. They
have three
children: Evan, Jenna, and Michael. Diana Cantor is a lifelong, liberal
_Democrat_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Party_(US)) . Contrary to
her
husband's stated positions, she is _pro-choice_
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pro-choice) and supports _same-sex marriage_
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Same-sex_marriage) .Diana Cantor is a lawyer and
_certified public
accountant_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Certified_public_accountant) . She
founded, and from 1996 until 2008 was executive director of, the _Virginia
College Savings Plan_
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_College_Savings_Plan) (an agency of the
_Commonwealth of Virginia_
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonwealth_of_Virginia) ). She was also
_chairman of the board_
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chairman_of_the_board) of the _College Savings
Plans Network_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/College_Savings_Plans_Network) .
>From what I know, Eric Cantor's wife has never been a campaign issue for
him
in the past. She may not have been an issue for him in 2014. Let me assume
that this is the fact of the matter. But, as an hypothesis, I think you
could
reasonably argue that one reason why Cantor was blind-sided by a Tea Party
candidate this year was because of the influence of his wife. How strong
was
he about opposition to homosexuals? Not very? Maybe he was weak on the
issue all by himself, I do not know, but any influence in the Republican
Party
toward the direction taken by the dominant conservative wing would have
been nullified by the influence of his wife. And the same kind of
consideration
applies to the issues of abortion or immigration or other social issues.
That is, one reason Cantor lost was because of Wrong Wife Syndrome.
One reason. There was another and it may have been more important:
Republican stupidity. You know, the establishment mantra, "the only thing
that is really important in politics is money."
Which is downright stupid, no further comment should be necessary.
This is just as stupid as the opposite view, "if you have the right ideas
you don't need any money," which is usually spoken by someone
who has a lot of money said to someone who has little or none.
Hence hypocrisy in high relief.
Also, as far as I presently know, anti-Semitism played no role in Cantor's
defeat.
After all, he had won a string of impressive victories with essentially
the same electorate, year after year, until now. Regardless, this is very
bad
news for a party that is seeking to convince Jewish voters that they
ought to switch to the GOP. The Cantor loss may cause
other losses in November.
Speaking personally, I am glad that the GOP Establishment had its clock
cleaned
on this one. I'm sorry it had to be Cantor, but not in the least sorry that
the stuffed shirt class was knocked on its ass.
The Establishment is the enemy.
This is not some sort of permanent rule that is true for all time but it
sure in hell is true in our time.
As far as a wrong wife goes, I hope it never happens to me. And I can also
report that there have been a couple of occasions in the past when,
somehow, I got it together enough to say "no" despite a woman's
attractiveness.
Still, those were unusual cases and I have no way to know how vulnerable
I might be in other circumstances. So, the best thing I can do is to be as
objective as possible now, because I can, and to hell with the
consequences because there won't be any, there is no woman
to challenge my unparalleled wisdom on this or ANY issue.
So there, hot babes, I'm not interested in your stupid ideas
or your stupid sense of values, or how much your handbag cost
or anything else you may have to say. Nyahhh.
Billy
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