# John and Theresa Kerry= Juan and Evita Peron? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [August 3, 2004, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-and-theresa-kerry-juan-and-evita-peron/258124 "2004-08-03T12:48:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![jshore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b5e925/32.png) [@jshore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jshore)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2004, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-and-theresa-kerry-juan-and-evita-peron/258124/21 "2004-08-04T21:49:02Z")
I guess if I had Bush’s record to run on, I might be resorting to this sort of nonsense in order to distract people from my record and make them even more fearful of change. …But, hopefully not. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2004, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-and-theresa-kerry-juan-and-evita-peron/258124/22 "2004-08-04T22:23:51Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > Are you at all familiar with the ancient proverb, “Behind every successful man is a woman”? “Behind” him, often, because his wife just walked in and she has to hide! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2004, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-and-theresa-kerry-juan-and-evita-peron/258124/23 "2004-08-04T22:29:13Z")
From “Transforming Teresa,” an article in _Mother Jones_ magazine, July/August 2004 ([http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2004/07/07\_400.html](http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2004/07/07_400.html)): > [@](#): > > Teresa Heinz Kerry was dreading the presidential campaign. She hates the notion of being “handled” – “I’m too old to be bossed around,” she may say, sharply, to an aide shepherding her around backstage. She misses her work, her grandchild, time alone with her husband. She balks at surrendering her name – “Mrs. Heinz,” as she is known and respected in a professional identity she forged from tragedy late in life. Mrs. Heinz Kerry, as she now tries to remember to call herself, has real concern about her husband winning the White House. She worries, a senior adviser admits, that she will “lose herself.” > > That thought comes to mind, watching Heinz Kerry as she is dragged onstage and positioned behind the candidate, like a prop. She tosses her long freestyle hair and rakes her fingers through it, shifts her weight in her Chanel boots, and adjusts her scarf while he spouts the campaign slogans she has heard countless times. Yes, she has been a good soldier; John Kerry’s campaign manager has called her the “unsung heroine” of the primaries, for working New Hampshire while he went for broke in Iowa. She will go wherever his schedulers tell her to go, usually at the last minute. > > Yet there is something held back about her, something uncomfortable, an I’d-rather-be-almost-anywhere-else disdain for the moneygrubbing, ass-kissing, bromide-mouthing ritual that American presidential candidates must endure. She will stand awkwardly on a riser behind her orating husband, fussing with her buttons, twisting her rings, sometimes “looking dour,” as her son Chris admits. ---
**Author:** ![Spavined\_Gelding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@Spavined\_Gelding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spavined_Gelding)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2004, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-and-theresa-kerry-juan-and-evita-peron/258124/24 "2004-08-04T22:42:38Z")
I will concede that this election might well be decided by a half dozen widowed grade school teachers in Sandusky, Ohio, but have we really gotten to the point that this sort of ignorant (and I use that word advisedly) balderdash is the meat of political thought and comment. Mrs. Kerry will start a ministry of propaganda? Better we have an election about whether 19 year old over hormoned males would rather pork the Bush Sisters or the Kerry Girls. This is just too stupid to endure. The only thing I can think of that is even close is the hysterical rantings my father use to have over Eleanor Roosevelt. Balderdash! Stupidity! Ignorance! Mendacity! Get a life, **Ralph** , for Christ’s sake. ---
**Author:** ![Governor\_Quinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2004, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-and-theresa-kerry-juan-and-evita-peron/258124/25 "2004-08-04T22:46:08Z")
**Ralph124c** , if you’re going to make the Kerrys into the Perons, can’t you make me Alfredo Stroessner? Please? Pretty Please? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2004, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-and-theresa-kerry-juan-and-evita-peron/258124/26 "2004-08-04T22:56:43Z")
> [@Spavined Gelding](#): > > The only thing I can think of that is even close is the hysterical rantings my father use to have over Eleanor Roosevelt. 😕 Pardon me . . . it was before my time . . . what, exactly, did anybody find to dislike about Eleanor Roosevelt? (I mean, considering that her lesbianism didn’t come out until years after her death, and even now is not conclusively proven.) ---
**Author:** ![Governor\_Quinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2004, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-and-theresa-kerry-juan-and-evita-peron/258124/27 "2004-08-04T23:02:44Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > 😕 Pardon me . . . it was before my time . . . what, exactly, did anybody find to dislike about Eleanor Roosevelt? Before my time too, but, as far as I can understand it: A large segment of the population resented the New Deal, and everyone that was in some way responsible for it. Eleanor, due to her public exposure, was a favorite target of these people. ---
**Author:** ![GLWasteful](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f05b48/32.png) [@GLWasteful](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GLWasteful)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2004, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-and-theresa-kerry-juan-and-evita-peron/258124/28 "2004-08-04T23:05:52Z")
> [@Governor Quinn](#): > > A large segment of the population resented the New Deal, and everyone that was in some way responsible for it. Eleanor, due to her public exposure, was a favorite target of these people. And she had the audacity to meet with labor, blacks and pretty much anyone else that the abovementioned large segment of the population didn’t care for. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2004, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-and-theresa-kerry-juan-and-evita-peron/258124/29 "2004-08-04T23:08:49Z")
You also have to remember that this _was_ the 30s and 40s. Good women did not DO the kind of things Eleanor Roosevelt did. She was entirely too opinionated, outspoken, active and independent for her time. Kind of like Hillary. ---
**Author:** ![Spavined\_Gelding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@Spavined\_Gelding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spavined_Gelding)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2004, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-and-theresa-kerry-juan-and-evita-peron/258124/30 "2004-08-05T02:44:49Z")
> [@](#): > > Pardon me . . . it was before my time . . . what, exactly, did anybody find to dislike about Eleanor Roosevelt? The Old Man fancied himself an Edwardian Gentleman. He liked his women quiet and complacent. He feared Communism and hated unions and had only contempt for Negroes (except Ezzard Charles). He hated FDR (“that man”) and Eleanor scared the willies out of him. The same effect Mrs. Kerry seems to have on **Ralph**. She apparently was not J. Edgar Hoover’s favorite person either. All that may explain the divorce and the fact that some 40 years after his death I am still a Democrat. The Old Man was a piece of work. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2004, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-and-theresa-kerry-juan-and-evita-peron/258124/31 "2004-08-05T03:45:34Z")
Some more liberal Southerners disliked Eleanor’s constant haranguing of racism and separatism as if were an exclusively southern issue while ignoring that non southern cities from New York to Miami to Los Angeles also had major racial problems and racial divides. Plus there were the usual crude jokes about her looks, rumors that she was insane (as her father had been), allegations of hypocrisy and “ivory tower” dwelling, etc… Nevertheless she was one of the first First ladies to have a major power base separate from her husband’s (I’m not counting Edith Wilson, since her eminence grise position arose from a deception about the severity of her husband’s condition, or Florence Harding, who did not officially have any power though any of her husband’s advisors knew otherwise.) ---
**Author:** ![Frostillicus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Frostillicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frostillicus)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2004, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-and-theresa-kerry-juan-and-evita-peron/258124/32 "2004-08-05T04:25:29Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > THK is power-mad! You could be on to something here. I recently heard that Ms Heinz-Kerry (if that’s her real name) owns an island in the Caribbean on which she has installed a secret death ray that will destroy the moon unless the United Nations is willing to fork over a ransom of…one meeeellion dollars! I think I heard this on Limbaugh, but I could be wrong. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2004, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-and-theresa-kerry-juan-and-evita-peron/258124/33 "2004-08-05T04:31:37Z")
> [@Frostillicus](#): > > You could be on to something here. I recently heard that Ms Heinz-Kerry (if that’s her real name) owns an island in the Caribbean on which she has installed a secret death ray that will destroy the moon unless the United Nations is willing to fork over a ransom of…one meeeellion dollars! I think I heard this on Limbaugh, but I could be wrong. 😃 Not only that but I hear Drudge is reporting that she’s got sharks with frickin’ laser beams on their heads. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2004, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-and-theresa-kerry-juan-and-evita-peron/258124/34 "2004-08-05T04:34:12Z")
Something involving LSD-laced ketchup . . . Ahhrgh, I got nuttin’. ---
**Author:** ![i\_am\_a\_scientist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f07891/32.png) [@i\_am\_a\_scientist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/i_am_a_scientist)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2004, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-and-theresa-kerry-juan-and-evita-peron/258124/35 "2004-08-06T16:12:57Z")
> [@Frostillicus](#): > > I recently heard that Ms Heinz-Kerry (if that’s her real name) owns an island in the Caribbean on which she has installed a secret death ray that wouldn’t be a 1920’s style death ray, by any chance, would it? ---
**Author:** ![photopat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e95f7d/32.png) [@photopat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/photopat)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2004, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-and-theresa-kerry-juan-and-evita-peron/258124/36 "2004-08-06T17:09:45Z")
> [@Frostillicus](#): > > Since Chris Wallace of Fox News made the same Eva Peron reference after listening to Teresa Heinz- Kerry’s speech at the Dem. convention, I guess I can safely assume that this is now an official RNC talking point that will be repeated by mindless people ad nauseum even though it has no basis in reality. Oh wait. Now I get it. Both women were born in foreign countries. Of course! :smack: > [http://mediamatters.org/items/200408020001](http://mediamatters.org/items/200408020001) Well, I heard Rush_druggie_ call her Evita too, so it _must_ be true, right? At least on Bizarro world. ---
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2004, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-and-theresa-kerry-juan-and-evita-peron/258124/37 "2004-08-06T20:20:11Z")
> [@yojimbo](#): > > A mind of her own? You’ll be saying they should vote next. > > [Women, know your limits](http://ubersite.com/cgi-bin/message_get.cgi?id=14887) There’s just something about outspoken and independent women that infuriates Republicans. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2004, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-and-theresa-kerry-juan-and-evita-peron/258124/38 "2004-08-06T20:33:11Z")
[American Evita](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0060562544/qid=1091824277/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_1/103-5260376-1281411) Theresa Heinz Kerry it ain’t [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-and-theresa-kerry-juan-and-evita-peron/258124.md?page=1)