I guess being a teacher is not a real job to Teresa Heinz Kerry. Maybe someone should tell her about how teachers and school librarians work and how much good they do.
http://usatoday.printthis.clickability.com/pt/cpt?action=cpt&title=USATODAY.com+-+The+real+running+mates&expire=&urlID=12008716&fb=Y&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.usatoday.com%2Fnews%2Fpoliticselections%2F2004-10-19-teresa_x.htm&partnerID=1660
Kel, she said “I don’t know.” I doubt she actually knows what jobs Laura Bush has had. If you think the comment is dumb, just say so instead of pretending she said something she obviously didn’t.
I think it’s pretty clear that Theresa Kerry just didn’t know that Laura Bush had been a teacher. Of course, it renders the rest of her statement meaningless, but I don’t see anything that suggests Kerry was dismissing teaching as a non-job.
Actuall what she says is she doesn’t know if Mrs. Bush has had a real job. If she is indeed asserting that librarian and teacher are not real jobs my opinion of her is diminished.
Do you really think it is possible that she doesn’t know the most basic elements of Laura Bush’s history? Everybody knows she was a teacher.
I’m not going to vote for Kerry – but I would hardly base my vote on the opinions of a prospective First Lady in any event. This is a non-story.
I didn’t.
She might currently be giving other things more thought.
I don’t think the quotation is particularly useful for the Kerry folks, but this isn’t quite her saying “Laura Bush was a teacher, sure, but has she ever had a real job?” It’s possible (though I don’t necessarily agree with the interpretation) that she just has no specific idea what Laura Bush has done. It’s also possible that at the time she couldn’t recall.
Maybe Kerry’s definition of “grown-up” indicates after she started her family.
I find it quite plausible that she had not been aware of Laura Bush either having a teaching credential, or having held a teaching job in a school. I was not aware of her having been a teacher, either. I did know that she was a librarian, although I know no specifics of her employment history.
I’m with kaylasdad99. Now that I think about it, I may’ve heard that Laura Bush was a teacher, but I forgot about that and only remembered the librarian part. I’ve certainly heard that more often. I’ve got other things on my mind, and I’m willing to bet Teresa Kerry does too.
I didn’t. I thought she had been a librarian.
That’s exactly how I read it. Although that makes it an extremly patronising statement, rather than an offensive or ignorant one.
Whiiiiich I now see was addressed in the little biographical blurb above. Never mind.
Either way it doesn’t come across well. It’s been publicized many times that Laura Bush was a teacher, especially when all of the ‘No Child Left Behind’ stuff started. Of course, the way that it also sounds like being a ‘grown up’ only happens when you get married and have a family might make this one something that feminist supporters of Kerry have a problem with.
Me either. I mean, it’s not important. I don’t vote for president by the behaviors/characters/job history of their spouses.
Sam
I didn’t.
This post is disingenuous and represents all that is wrong with the SDMB.
Even if she had said what you claim (which she didn’t), who cares? How does this in any way reflect on John Kerry’s ability to be the President? If a roundabout smear of her husband was not your intent then what was your point? As Bricker said, this is a non-story.
Kel, keep it up and you will have a great future in talk radio.
Haj