Rudy's Family Hates Him Don't you just love the news that Rudy Giuliani's 17-year-old daughter, Caroline, is supporting Barack Obama?

Some of it surely has to do with her dislike of Rudy's third wife, the adulteress Judith Nathan, who sounds deeply dislikeable—when angered, she used to call one of her previous husbands "kike" and "little Jew boy."

Oh, and by the way—no matter what Robert Novak or anyone says, Fred Thompson's wife is a trophy wife. For God's sake, her name is "Jeri."

I just love these family-men Republicans.....




Fred Thompson's wife.





Fred Thompson.

Update: As some of you have graciously pointed out, the photo above is not, in fact, Jeri Thompson, but country singer Lori Morgan, whom Fred Thompson once dated, and, to be fair, is actually a woman of some substance.

Here's an accurate photo of Fred Thompson and his wife.




On another note, some of you have suggested that I am grumpy this morning. (More than usual, apparently.) Grumpy? Nah. Tired, overworked, and a little sick. But definitely not grumpy.

For the record, I have nothing against Jeri Thompson; I'm sure she's a very nice woman. But let's be honest here: The chances that Fred Thompson, who is now trying to present himself as the "real" conservative in this race, married her for her character and substance are pretty slim; and the chances that she married him for the same are even slimmer. Any of you who have lived in Washington and spent any time on Capitol Hill know how this works.

No, what irritates me is when Republicans try to proscribe behavior for the rest of us—and then exempt themselves whenever it's convenient. And the Republican media has swung to her defense, when if, say, John Kerry had married a woman 25 years his junior, they'd be ripping into him like a pack of piranhas. (Though come to think of it, they do that when a Democratic man marries a woman of substance, too.)

Note, for example, the way that Republican commentators have claimed that Jeri Thompson is a lawyer—when, whoops, she isn't. She has worked as a political and media consultant for a law firm, and as a spokeswoman for the RNC and Senate Republican Conference. Many people who have such jobs in Washington are experienced and qualified; some women who look like Jeri Thompson have such jobs for other reasons. Given that it's unclear whether JT has any actual campaign experience, I'd be willing to bet that she got the job because she's a pretty young woman from Tennessee.

Here's a little more bio on Jeri Thompson, from the Washington Post:

Growing up in Naperville, 30 miles west of Chicago, Jeri Kehn was a member of her high school's state-champion spirit squad, the Starlettes, known for their white boots and matching Stetsons. She majored in English at DePauw University in Greencastle, Ind.....

Thompson then lived with a man for the better part of a decade, which is not exactly kosher to, oh, most of the Republicans running for president.

In 1994, Kehn [Thompson's maiden name] was ordered to pay $10,000 in unspecified civil damages related to a 1990 car accident in Naperville in which she swerved across three lanes on a highway and struck another car, totaling it. The outstanding balance was paid off in 1999.

In 1996, the Davidson County court in Nashville ordered a $900 judgment against Kehn in a case brought by an anesthesiologist, and garnished her wages at a communications company. In 1997, the court ordered a $1,700 judgment against Kehn for unpaid medical bills at Nashville's Baptist Hospital and again ordered her pay garnished. But Kehn had left for another job, and the debt is still listed in court records as unpaid.

Later on, Kehn met Thompson at a barbecue in Nashville, and they started dating occasionally. She took the opportunity to propose to Thompson that she build and maintain a website for him, though she had absolutely no experience in web design.

...Thompson's staff sharply rejected the proposal, according to memos located by the Memphis Commercial Appeal in the Thompson Senate archives, stored at the University of Tennessee. "I consider this project technically vague and stunningly overpriced," a staff member wrote.

After it became known that Kehn was dating Thompson, she was hired by the RNC. Again, those of you who have lived in Washington will know that both the RNC and the DNC are traditional dumping grounds for people someone wants employed for reasons that have nothing to do with their qualifications.

Kehn was subsequently hired by Burson-Marsteller at the request of Kenneth Rietz, then the head of the firm's DC office, who happened to be a friend of Fred Thompson.

After marrying Thompson in 2002—she was 35, he was 59—she stayed home to raise their two kids. (Not that there's anything wrong with that.)

So...you tell me. Trophy wife or no?  ¶ 7:05 AM