Take my wife, please
February 23, 2001 5:54 PM   Subscribe

Take my wife, please Old soldiers may die but their wives carry on. The mantle is passed.
posted by Postroad (12 comments total)
 
Yeah but the real story is...if Thurmond dies (and I don't wish that on him, however much I disagree with his politics) a Democratic governer has the chance to appoint his successor and give the Democrats a Senate majority.
posted by lbergstr at 7:11 PM on February 23, 2001


Hmm... it described his wife as estranged. Has Strom been tomcatting around again?
posted by anildash at 7:52 PM on February 23, 2001


How many gus would do such nice things for an ex-wife? Ex wife of Rich seems to have helped him out via the former president...this may be a whole new thing that is coming to us by way of globilization or warming of the polar coaps.
posted by Postroad at 8:00 PM on February 23, 2001


He now has two aides to help support him as he walks to and from his Capitol Hill office and reads most of his remarks from index cards prepared by his staff.

Man, I wonder if I could bribe one of his staff members to let me write on those index cards....(Dreamy Harp Music)

"Mista Pres'dent, if ah may, ah'd lahk ta address tha gen'ral body of tha Senate. (pause for wheezing, and squinting at card) Ah think it's time mah esteemed collegues knew a secret ah've been keepin' for lo these last forty seven years ah have served with ya'll. (more wheezing and squinting.)
Ah would lahk to make it known that while I may appear at fust glance ta be just a shrivelly, hateful, racist, cracker-ass, poor man's George Wallace, in mah heart, I'm a "Disco Queen". Ah would also lahk ta profess mah love for the one woman whose ever meant anything to me, Miss Chaka Khan. Chaka, baby....Ah feel for you."
posted by Optamystic at 9:35 PM on February 23, 2001


I didn't even bother reading the whole piece, once I found out Strom was involved. Can he even remember who his wife is?
posted by xtrmntr at 10:43 PM on February 23, 2001


Newt Gingrich said the other day "A lot of politicians have wasted their careers waiting for Strom to leave office."

I'm reading The Breach (one of the best books about the impeachment trial). In it, an incident is recounted whereby Strom was so intently flirting with White House lawyers Nicole Seligman and Cheryl Mills (white and black, respectively), at their table on the floor of the Senate, that he had to be sharply reprimanded by other Senators. "We don't want a sexual harassment charge right now, Strom." Seriously.
posted by dhartung at 7:12 AM on February 24, 2001


Oh, that's The Breach. (Still in hardcover, but highly recommended: tone leans slightly Democratic, but makes no bones about which Senators believed what, goes into detail about how Democrats were angered by Clinton's behavior and how leading Republicans like Lott and Hyde, though pilloried as pro-impeachment, were actively seeking a bipartisan soft landing the whole time. Excellent insider stuff.)

Strom also was notorious for giving out candies to the ladies. Seligman and Mills wanted to reciprocate one day so they brought brownies in tinfoil. The Capitol Sergeant-at-Arms wouldn't let them bring it onto the Senate floor (rules of decorum: they also wore skirts while preferring pants), and was shocked that Thurmond had candy.

Sliding back OT: my favorite anecdote, along the same lines, was how Rehnquist and his staff sat out an extended recess (while Daschle and Lott played shuttle diplomacy between their caucuses) by playing poker with his law clerks. The Sergeant-at-Arms stuck his head in to give them a heads-up, and deadpanned that gambling was not permitted in the Capitol and there'd better not be any money on the table when he came back in five minutes. There wasn't.

Anyway. The WashPost has a more illuminating look at Thurmond's proposal. Gov. Hodges has indicated he most likely would appoint a caretaker senator, a moderate, but a Democrat nonetheless. It's rare to appoint a partisan in these cases, partly because the electorate presumably voted the other direction. Anyway, next election, Lindsey Graham may have it locked up.
posted by dhartung at 7:36 AM on February 24, 2001


Did someone say Strom Thurmond, disco queen? (Oh, all right: I'll concede that sexual orientation and musical taste don't necessarily coincide.)
posted by allaboutgeorge at 10:38 AM on February 24, 2001


There's something very very wrong with a world in which Strom Thurmond gets more action than I do.
posted by aaron at 2:54 PM on February 24, 2001


The more I think about it, the more Strom inspires me. See, I'm only 25 now, and I can't wait for the day nineteen years from now when my future wife is born. Ah, the joys of having a wife 44 years your junior...
posted by anildash at 8:33 PM on February 24, 2001


Heck, he ran for president before his wife was two. Ran for President. He's also just about the only person in national government who remembers when women couldn't vote.
posted by dhartung at 9:03 AM on February 25, 2001


I am a resident of the crusty old bastard's state and I do NOT LIKE HIM. He is the biggest nepotist and cronyist in the Free World, making the USSR look competitive by comparison. Not only does he want to give that woman his seat (regardless of qualifications), he is making sure his 28 year-old son, who still pays junior lawyer dues to the state Bar (he graduated 2 years ago), will be appointed State Attorney General!

Goddammit, no wonder our state can't be good at anything but VD transmission and welfare receiving! Thurmond's time was up 30 years ago. Our governor sucks, too. Hodges is a weak governor who slashed college budgets up to 10% this year and was willing to go up more...
posted by Capn_Stuby at 9:20 AM on February 25, 2001


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