Here We Go Again: the Political Prop Wife
Posted: November 12, 2011 Filed under: U.S. Politics | Tags: David Vitter, Herman Cain, political wives, prostitutes, serial asshole, sexual harrassment 15 Comments
I was hoping that maybe this scandal would be different. When Anthony Wiener was caught in a series of mutually stupid sexting scandals, wife Huma Abedin stayed away from the role of adoring political prop wife. She let him handle the reporters and the public on his own. I admire Mark Sanford’s wife who has completely turned the stereotype of political prop wife on its head. After these kinds of public humiliations, the least you should be able to hang on to is your dignity and self respect. That’s far more important than staying in a marriage with a Lothario.
The worst and most shameful abuse of a wife of a politician had to be by David Vitter who got caught with his diapers down on a prostitute’s call list.
Looks like one more manipulative political husband just can’t resist trotting out his probably long suffering wife just one more time. Herman Cain may be getting some big donations from men in denial of their treatment of women, but his numbers with women voters–who know that men frequently overstep their boundaries–have dropped like an avalanche. So, he’s going to do the knee jerk damage control thing and trot out political man’s best friend, his prop wife. After enduring the Vitter presser, I’ve decided this is nothing less than domestic abuse. I still remember Eliot Spitzer’s wife blaming herself for his problem with call girls. What campaign manager thinks the public humiliation of a wife is good politics?
Introducing … Gloria Etchison Cain.
At long last, the political spouse who has kept the lowest profile of the campaign season is preparing to make a network debut. Mrs. Cain, who has been married to the former restaurant executive Herman Cain for 43 years, is expected to sit down this weekend with Greta Van Susteren of Fox News, for a segment that could air on Monday, according to a source familiar with the planning.
Mrs. Cain has, to date, not appeared on the campaign trail with her husband, and is said to prefer her home life in Atlanta, far away from the national spotlight. But since allegations of sexual harassment began to engulf the Cain campaign almost two weeks ago, it had been rumored that Mrs. Cain would eventually come to her husband’s defense on television.
Mr. Cain has been talking about his wife and family more of late, perhaps to offer a counterpoint to the multiple women who have come forward to accuse him of inappropriate behavior while he was chief of the National Restaurant Association in the 1990s.
While in New York City on Friday for a major fund-raising drive, Mr. Cain stopped at Fox News and was asked about his wife by the host Neil Cavuto. “What’s she saying to you?” he questioned.
Mr. Cain replied, “She’s saying to me that the family has your back. We’re not going to let them, you know, continue to … We are there.”
Worst example to date of making your humiliated wife act as your prop for the purposes of shoring up your hypocritical ass comes from selfish David Vitter.
Gotta admire the former Mrs. Stanford for leaving her bum of a husband and getting on with her life. She seems to be one of the few wronged political wives that didn’t accept her role as prop and pulled herself away from a man that obviously didn’t have her or her family’s best interests at heart. I can only imagine what Gloria Cain will be put through to prop up her husband’s stalled ambitions.
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I don’t think putting Herman Cain’s wife with Greta is going to change women’s minds. Herman Cain has been busy making fun of Anita Hill, calling Sharon Beilek a ‘Troubled Woman’, and saying ‘don’t be surprised if others come forward’.
He had his good friend call the women complaining of sexual harassment ‘assassins’ and his attorney threaten them, ‘Think twice’… and so no, as a woman his wife singing his praises isn’t going to change my mind, as he has gone on to say, ‘Princess Nancy’ and busy on the campaign trail making Anita Hill jokes.
His so-called jokes really put the nature of his thought process on display. Obviously, he thinks demeaning women is not such a big deal. He apologizes by saying, it was just a joke. He doesn’t appear to get the idea that it’s tasteless period.
I feel sorry for her.
Yup, and I wonder if later on more things come out, it is really not fair to her, he needs to deal with it, but he just says 999…nothing more. The 999, the machine is out to get me, while his mouth is busy attacking women just isn’t cutting.
Oner wife who held her own, thought of the effect on her children, and managed to stay away from the press was Mrs. Tiger Woods.
She refused to “stand by her man” and walked away with huge chunks of his earnings and her head held high. No one was able to spin her comments, read her body language, or discuss her feelings since she saw no reason to do otherwise.
Today her former hubby is a “broken man” on the golf course, fighting his way back on the golf circuit to his former days of glory which will never happen.
Mrs. Cain may think she is doing the right thing by her husband but his acts alone show a man who could not have cared less about his wife of 43 years as he traveled the country posing as King Leer. Better she should just let this lecher hang himself without her humiliating herself more on his behalf.
He’s not worth it nor is any man who tries to exert his power and control over a woman.
Hear, hear, Pat.
I don’t think Hillary ever stood up there with Bill, did she? And she went on to create a pretty good political career for herself.
There was that infamous 60 minutes interview.
Yes, and wasn’t there a walk to the helicopter, with Bill and Hillary holding hands with Chelsea?
That’s true. That was before Bill was elected.
Well, it was about time for this: Cain: God persuaded me to run for president – USATODAY.com
What campaign manager thinks the public humiliation of a wife is good politics?
A male one.
good guess.
“Drag a hundred-dollar bill through a trailer park, you never know what you’ll find.”
– The always sensitive and compassionate James Carville regarding Paula Jones’ complaint against Bill Clinton.
I hate that the Cain defenders can legitimately point to Bill Clinton and say “So what, he did it and liberals didn’t care.” Many of Bill’s sexual interactions were with women who were in full agreement but there were several reports of him touching women against their will.
For me, that whole period was an internal battle over tolerating a loathsome sexually exploitive Democratic man or giving into lunatic Republicans who were probably doing the same thing. As it turned out, they were.