Mrs. Giuliani: the first third-lady First Lady?
I noticed this today via Instapundit: a post pointing out that Giuliani, if elected, would not be the first divorced President. Ronald Reagan holds that honor.
I can remember when, not that long ago, a divorce was thought to be the absolute kiss of death for a Presidential candidate. And now how many people (myself included) don’t even recall that Reagan was divorced, until reminded of that fact?
Perhaps it’s because Nancy’s adoration of the man was so deeply stamped into the public consciousness. And I have to say that her stock rose with me in his later years, when she conducted herself with dignity and courage in what had to be a dreadful time for her.
But Giuliani, if elected, would be the first thrice-married (and twice-divorced) President. Personally, I’ve never been all that keen on judging Presidents by their sex lives or their romantic lives (and sometimes the two even intersect). I also have a feeling that there’s something about Giuliani’s appeal that means his marital status won’t make a whole lot of difference to many of his supporters, even on the Right; he’s already seen as brash, bold, and a bit edgy, and divorce is in tune with that.
But I thought I’d do a little research on his present wife, Judith Nathan, to see how she’d stack up as a prospective First Lady. All I knew about her until now was that the couple had been criticized by some for being a bit too gushingly googly-eyed about each other in a Harper’s Bazaar spread (the content, with photo, is described here).
It turns out that Judith Nathan Giuliani is of Italian ethnicity, like Giuliani. She grew up in what appears to be a working class community in small-town Pennsylvania, and has a nursing degree. She married wealth (first husband Nathan) and lived a fancy New York life as a result, but in-between she’s worked at her profession as a nurse, and also as a pharmaceutical representative (detail: at one point her job was to sell surgical supplies in Bedford-Stuyvesant).
Her nursing background came in handy during the early days of her relationship with Giuliani, when he was diagnosed with prostate cancer. And then, of course, she was around for 9/11, and has done quite a bit of fundraising related to that and other causes.
I haven’t seen an interview yet. But it’s not a bad resume for a First Lady, not bad at all.
However, at the risk of being catty, I have to say: please, Judith, lose the frou-frou dress with the hip-puffs. Most of us—including you—can do without hip puffs:
Question: does everyone else see the links in this post as showing up in red instead of the brownish color they should be? Or is it just my computer?
They’re brown for me, Neo…Mac OS 10.4.8 using Safari.
That’s good, stumbley. It’s not happening to the other posts, anyway.
c-span.orgneimanmarcus.comGiuliani has succesful administrative experience in NYC, which has a larger economy than most states.
I started working in NYC right before Giuliani started the clean-up. Back then winos were exposing themselves downtown, and 42d & Broadway was run by pimps and pushers. Giuliani cleaned that up and the city profited enormously.
Before that as State Atty, he had taken on the Italian mob and won. He also successfully prosecuted Bin Laden and Marc Rich.
After that, he was in charge during 9/11 and its aftermath.
Then I heard him speak at CPAC last Friday and I was very encouraged by his optimism, and his philosophy of a strong America (CSPAN has the speech).
In view of all that, the furtherest thing from my mind is his marital history.
Anyway, instead of that dress with the hip ruffles, I’d suggest this gown instead.
“.. never been all that keen on judging Presidents by their sex lives or their romantic lives (and sometimes the two even intersect)”
I know what the Clintons did to us. But when did we start making this an important part of history, much less politics? A man or a woman to hold public office was expected to show decency and to uphold standards of personal honor and integrity. Devotion to family counted as well as honesty. Certainly the backgrounds of those seeking higher office should exhibit such.
But how then how did rumour, dirt, and scandal mainstream into the process? All the hateful rumours that were lost 2 centuries ago surface in current academic histories, led by Jefferson, but bleeding off into the lives of other past American leaders. My own conclusion: our present public vulgarity imposing upon the past in order to justify itself. Designed to deliberately obscure the necessary requirements for President. (‘Hey, anybody can grow up to be..)
I half recall Helen Thomas spitefully (how else?) interrupting a Presidential press conference in Maine about the Middle East to ascertain whether George Bush the elder had obviously had an affair sometime in the past.
(Of course, there was certainly no connection to those ribald Clinton stories just beginning to surface as that primary season of 1992 opened.)
I don’t know how, but instapundit’s links somehow track to my mozilla history cache such that if I had visited the link (from any website), it would be highlighted… I’ve found that curiously useful at times.
The links are sorta brownish until they get rolled over, then they’re red. There’s a CSS thingy that says something like “a:link” for the color it shows up as, “a:hover” for the rollover color, and “a:visited” for the “I’ve been there” color.
About the candidates: more than one observer has noted that of all the candidates, Romney – the Mormon – is the only one still married to his first wife.
neo, it must be the coming change of seasons. It seems the press has unearthed another hypocrite who is likewise a potential Presidential candidate. And guess his hypocrisy..
“Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich admitted having an affair while leading the fight to impeach former President Bill Clinton in 1998.”
Your post was prescient.
The are dark RED, like a blood transfusion before it hits the oxygen.
Dell Laptop with XP pro on Firefox 2.0.02
As for dresses, a little weird but she probably only wore it once. Looks like a penguin Suit event anyway where weird dresses reign supreme. She has better taste than the Kerry Daughters or the Kerry Ketchup Grape soaked in Vodka wife.
I recall Hillary getting a couple of makeovers.
The photo is cropped, you need the full length version for the dress effect, it wasn’t meant for a closeup view I’m thinking.
Here it is Plus a bonus — all the other weird dresses at overweight guys in penguin suits.
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://38.119.38.28/pmc_images/UploadedImages/2006%255CSeptember%255C25%255CMetropolitanOpera_PM_SR_092506%255CThumbnail%255CtnQQ_092506_11.JPG&imgrefurl=http://patrickmcmullan.com/website/pmc_screens/Event_selects.aspx%3Fpage%3D3%26Event_ID%3D6639&h=120&w=80&sz=6&hl=en&start=53&tbnid=gif3DNHZm648XM:&tbnh=88&tbnw=59&prev=/images%3Fq%3DJudith%2BGiuliani%26start%3D40%26ndsp%3D20%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN
And I think you said she was a Nurse before, not a fashion designer.
Hail to the Nurses
Neo – How would you rate the skill required to operate a blog using WordPress? – VJ
Mrs. Giuliani looks like she could be the first First Gal.
In a good way, that is. One would not be surprised to hear her call reporters “babe” at press conferences.
Pingback:Angelia