British mag gives the low-down on DK's "hippie" wife.

[Stevepol]

From The Sunday TimesMay 20, 2007

ESSEX GIRL FILLS WHITE HOUSE RACE WITH LURVE

Sarah Baxter, Washington

AN Essex girl may be the first lady with a tongue stud to have set her sights on the White House. The wife of Dennis Kucinich, a left-wing Democratic congressman and 2008 presidential candidate, is a 29-year-old hippie chick from Upminster at the end of London Underground’s District line.

snip...



A 6ft tall willowy redhead who has been compared to Arwen Evenstar, the Lord of the Rings character, she towers over her diminutive husband. “Who cares?” she said in an interview. “I like wearing high heels so I’m used to being taller than most men I stand next to.”

Nor is she bothered by their 31-year age difference. “I have never noticed it at all,” she said. “Dennis is a very mature but young-at-heart gentleman and we complement each other.”

snip...

“I knew at once I really wanted to marry this man,” Elizabeth said. “When you know it, why hang around?” It was Dennis’s third marriage, but by the time he met Elizabeth he had been single for more than 20 years.

If Dennis were elected, they would make a great team, Elizabeth said. “Can you imagine what it would be like to have real love in the White House and a true union between the masculine and the feminine?”

There were clues in her childhood that they were destined for each other, Elizabeth believes. She lived with her mother, a divorcée, on the outskirts of London in a farm labourer’s dilapidated house that was lovingly restored over the years. “The address was 4, Dennis’s Cottages, Dennis’s Lane,” she said.

Her mother runs a healing and therapy centre and passed on her love of new age philosophy to her daughter. Known at school in Essex as “the Jolly Green Giant” because of her height, she studied religion and theology at Kent University and spent time in India and Tanzania, where she worked for Voluntary Service Overseas.

More at link:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article1813550.ece

[stevedeshazer]

1. I don't see what the big deal is

Love is love.

What's your point?

[demnan]

2. I actually met her

My impeachment group was part of a group who walked in to talk to Dennis one day in his office on Capitol Hill before the Cheney Impeachment thing. He was warm, funny and so different than he is on T.V. with a group of liberal people he felt comfortable with.

She walked in as well. She gave the warmest smile I've even seen on a woman so stunningly beautiful. She struck me as the most sincere person. She genuinely loves him, you can tell by the body language. And she is so into peace. The one thing I remarked on to my friends is that if she ever were to be First Lady, every woman in this country would have an inferiority complex. She is truly the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. Probably from the inside as well.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

3. *sigh*

Lucky bastard, that Kooch.

[madrchsod]

4. i`m jealous!

well not really...this really is quite a staement--

Elizabeth said. “Can you imagine what it would be like to have real love in the White House and a true union between the masculine and the feminine?”

yes that would be nice

[smalll]

5. I've got a question: did Dennis in a way betray his true believers and his cause when he married

this woman? He ran for president in 2004, and married her before his current candidacy in 2008. Now I know that Dennis runs mostly to be an alternative voice, but surely all the passion in his speeches and exortations, and all the sacrifices Kuchinistas make when they donate to him or volunteer for him, are (supposedly) founded on the idea that, IF the times shift, IF the populace awakens, IF Dennis's message somehow begins to get through, then YES, the man could be elected President. Surely that's what its all about. A long shot, but a shot.

So after the 2004 election, Dennis takes his notability out there on the marriage market, and marries. Fine for him. But he happens to marry, not only a woman far taller than him and far younger than him, but also foreign (British). And the kicker at the end, a woman who has an effing "tongue stud." Isn't that just like ADMITTING you'll never have a chance to be President, no matter how the stars may ever align? Sure, his odds were never good. But putting yourself in the position of trying to get America to accept a tongue-studded First Lady? It's like he's not really even trying. Or at least, between the last go round (04) and this one, he stopped caring.

So Kuchinistas, why should you care either? There are different ways of "cashing in" or "selling out." They don't all involve money.

[some guy]

6. I've got an answer: "No."

:)

" IF the times shift, IF the populace awakens, IF Dennis's message somehow begins to get through, then YES, the man could be elected President. " IF all that happens, a first lady with a pierced tongue wouldn't be a big deal at all.


As far as I'm concerned, IF people who like his positions would vote for him, and talk about him and his positions amonget the people they know, he could be elected. I like his positions, so I support him. That's how elections should work.

:hi:

[BBG]

7. ummmmm, nope.

My impression of Dennis is he does what he thinks is right. Not what you or I think is right but what he thinks is right. And I trust the man's judgement.

Rock on Dennis. My next fifty will be earmarked as congratulatory of your marital state.

G

[tech3149]

8. There is no questioning the choice

When you meet the love of your life, you know it and nothing can change your course of action. The only downside is that nothing good lasts forever. I had 29 years with my ex and I still think she was the best thing that ever happened to me. I hope Dennis and Elizabeth get to enjoy their lives together, if not I can understand the reasons it didn't happen. Either way, I'm pretty sure they'll both be happy with the time they spend together.

[smalll]

9. People question such choices all the time. Many people questioned Sir Paul's choice from the start -

Turns out they were right! How do we know Elizabeth isn't Dennis's two-legged Heather Mills? That's probably unfair, I'm more amazed by his actions than by hers. I already knew that he had married someone radically age-inappopriate and height-innappropriate. I knew that he had created a marriage of attractiveness imbalance strong enough almost to cause disruptions in the time-space continuum. But a "tongue stud" as well on his bride? As I said before, there are many ways to cash in or to sell out, not all of them involve money!

[ima_sinnic]

18. "age-inappropriate," "height-inappropriate"?

somehow I get the feeling that you wouldn't have been voting for Kucinich no matter who he married (or did not marry), and that you set yourself up as the judge of everything superficial and meaningless.

of all the absurd notions, stated in one of your earlier posts, that Kucinich threw the voters under the bus by marrying whom he wanted, with whom he is obviously ecstatic, who apparently adores him and brings out his best.

but he should go by your small-minded, PETTY, SHALLOW VALUES and rigidly adhere to the nonsensical notion that a man MUST be not only around the same age as but also taller than a woman.

here's a clue: one of the things that makes Dennis Kucinich, Dennis Kucinich is that he is NOT a superficial, CALCULATING, SHALLOW person who takes such meaningless crap into account as he lives his life. I mean, YOU apparently would throw away true happiness because of "what people might think," but can you picture Dennis saying to the love of his life: "gee, I can't be seen with you because people wouldn't vote for me" --?

let me guess: your life revolves around really important things like what you wear, who you appear in public with, how big your house is, and how fancy your car is, because "what people think" RUNS YOU.

[tech3149]

23. Thank you for your most appropriate response

I think small was channeling my ex!

[smalll]

27. Fair enough, fair enough -

I was feeling ornery last night, and you were "appropriately" ornery right back to me. I must say though, my life DOESN'T revolve around who I appear in public with or what people think, but then, I'm not running for President! Those who do might want to think about such things!

And let me just say something about "true love." If Dennis Kucinich was an unknown working stiff like you and me and he ended up marrying this woman, I would be the first to assume that this was a "true love" marriage. The fact that he is one of the best-known Congressmen around (thanks to his presidential campaigns) makes me think that it is more than likely that Elizabeth married him for coverage rather than for love. Media coverage, that is. It's the way of the world. :shrug:

[fujiyama]

14. LOL

He met her, fell in love, and got married.

I don't see much more to this than that. Sometimes things are pretty simple.

And I'm not a Kucinich supporter (I don't even view his bid seriously)...but I am happy for him that he found someone. I hope they have a great life together.

[rucky]

15. You assume we all care about image. n/t

[Greyhound]

17. Possibly the silliest thing I've ever seen written here.

America suddenly notices that there is a candidate that has been right all along and has the plans to make the correct changes to turn this country back onto a path of sanity and posterity, but he'll lose because his wife has a pierced tongue?
:silly:
:kick:

[Clark2008]

20. Times change, smalll.

I would hope that since more than half of the voting population is under the age of 50, they'd be used to people with piercings by now.

Besides, in this age of the visual, Elizabeth's beauty probably helps Kucinich in the "looking viril" department - something he'd need to pick up some white male swing votes.

[smalll]

28. I'm under 50 myself, I'm "used" to people with piercings by now,

just as in the 70s and 80s, we were "used" to people with mullets. Fashion mistakes are fashion mistakes; it matters not how many people fall into any particular error, it's still an error! Yes, I guess I'm a little old fashioned like that: I'm more than used at this point to it, but still, every time I hear someone use "impact" as a verb, for example, my estimation of that person slips a little bit.

At this point in history, I expect tongue studs on the people making our frappucinos and our porn. I don't yet expect them on a First Lady.

[wicket]

25. Better a tongue stud than a forked tongue

n/t

[Bucky]

10. Does anyone in this thread admire Kucinich's marriage but find Fred Thompson's creepy?

Lots of threads at DU make caustic comments about Fred Thompson's "child bride" (She's 40), which I find pretty unliberal and unaccepting of two peoples' choices of what they want to do with their lives. But Kooch marries a spring chicken and gets universal sighs of admiration at DU. Shouldn't we hold them to the same standard?

Or more succinctly, is true love ever wrong?
.

[smalll]

11. Perhaps making the assumption that all marriages are "true love"

even in the face of overwhelming circumstatial evidence to the contrary, perhaps that's the error.

[Bucky]

12. What "overwhelming circumstantial evidence" are you referring to?

Does your statement relate to the Thompsons at all? Again, I'm looking to see if there's any basis for lauding one May-December match up and sneering at the other.

[smalll]

13. Well, look upthread, I'm afraid I "sneer" at both -

I wouldn't want to say "sneer", more like I am NOT willing to make the assumption at all that the two marriages in question are "true love." They look to me more like "power as aphrodisiac" marriages, to borrow Kissinger's phrase.

[eridani]

16. Fred Thompson's wife is a smart lawyer, but still--

--the visual imagery of them together creeps me out because the age difference is so obvious. With Dennis and Elizabeth, visually they look far, far closer in age than they actually are. Remember that Dennis was commonly mistaken for a newsboy when he was her age--the flip side of that is that at 60 he looks like a far younger adults. I rather like it when men don't insist that their female partners be shorter than they are.

http://kucinich.us/node/934
Cute that her father's wedding gift was a stepladder.

[lynne]

22. I have no problem with either wife -

- as it's certainly no business of mine. I remember a thread about Thompson's wife and thought it rather cheesy. Both couples look happy so who are we to judge?? :shrug:

[rinsd]

29. It is their business. I could care less.

Though yes its hypocritical to talk about Thompson's wife as a trophy/child bride and swoon over Kucinich's "true love" to someone who was in their mid-20's when they met.

[Clark2008]

19. That adds points in my book.

I'm pretty much a "hippie," second-generation (I was raised by hippies, so I come by it honestly). My parents worked and didn't over-indulge in drugs or anything, mind you, but they did protest and stay informed about politics and current events. They took the best parts of "hippie-dome" into their adult hoods, in other words.

Because of their rearage, as an adult, I don't need a lot of material items to make me happy, TV was EXTREMELY LIMITED; therefore, now I read more than watch the TEEVEE (weird American!), I think the best music came from the late 60 and early 70s, I hate propaganda, don't blindly trust the government and stay informed about what it's doing in my name.

I don't smoke weed (it doesn't do anything to me except make me sleepy. No fun in that ) and I do bathe often (so much for those stereotypes).

Being a hippie's fine. I never have understood how it was a 'cut down' to be used by the right. When one of those freaks calls me a hippie, I say, "Damn straight and proud of it." Big deal.

[T_i_B]

21. No Essex girl jokes on this thread yet?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essex_girl

[nealmhughes]

24. I was, indeed, hoping for a Croydon Facelift at least from someone.

But I don't think one can blame the source for the lack, it was the Sunday Times, after all.

The only thing that came to my mind after the headline was "That is the most un-Essex Girl I've ever seen in my life!

Oh, for an entire county to be disparaged! But Ali G is from Staines which is in Sussex. . .

I think E.K. is fantabulous!

[T_i_B]

26. "Oh, for an entire county to be disparaged!"

Well I live in Essex myself and it's only to be expected! You know the sort of jokes

Q) What does an Essex girl say after sex?

A) Do you REALLY all play for West Ham?

That sort of thing.

[leftofthedial]

30. she is stunning

and sounds like a remarkable woman