Mrs. Smith Goes to Washington, or The Merry Widow

Great Debates
1

There’s an interesting Salon article on the silliness of dead guys’ wives being elected to their political offices:

http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2000/11/09/jean_carnahan/index.html

I pretty much agree with the author. What do y’all think?

2

I voted for the dead guy. . . and his wife. Better than being in Connecticut and voting for Lieberman not knowing WHO the governor would put in his place is Lieberman is elected VP.

3

**Eve wrote:

I pretty much agree with the author. What do y’all think?**

I pretty much agree with you, Eve. This custom of appointing the dead guy’s wife to the office seems surreal. Like the author said, she gets in without having to go thru the public scrutiny that would inquiry that normally follows an election.

Think of it this way, too. Suppose the dead candidate is a woman? Would we automatically appoint her husband to the office?