Great article on Theresa Heinz, should be most readers' first major introduction to her.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4825959/One snippet from p. 3:
Not even Ralph Nader could claim there is no difference between Teresa Heinz Kerry and Laura Bush, yet she is no Hillary Clinton either. She was a stay-at-home mother to her three sons, baking bread and making raspberry jam as well as the trademark scones that Vanessa Kerry, the candidate's daughter, says "are a real problem for me." Though Kerry was formed and defined by the '60s, his wife effectively missed that whole era—or at least the sex-drugs-and-rock-and-roll part. She was already a mother at the time, "who raised her kids and cooked for her kids every single day," Kerry says, "who took her kids to school and didn't manage money until her father—until her husband died." Asked generally about the home he grew up in, Chris Heinz offers, "My father was definitely the leader of the family."
And over Margaritas and quesadillas at a Mexican restaurant in Baltimore, Teresa shows how traditional she really is. On the subject of abortion, she says, "My belief—and I maybe am very wrong—is that women, generally speaking, do not want to have abortions. With the exception of people who are mindless—and there will always be mindless people of both sexes—most women wouldn't want to. So starting on that premise, I'd say it's our duty as a society to help women arrive at the best conclusion." She does, "on the other hand," wish the Roman Catholic Church would reverse itself on birth control. (Later I ask about an interview she gave five years ago, in which she described herself as "not 100 percent pro-choice," and she says she is no longer allowed the luxury of such qualifiers. "Ultimately you're either for choice or you're not, so I am" for abortion rights, she says. "
I ask myself if I had a 13-year-old daughter who got drunk one night and got pregnant, what would I do. Christ, I'd go nuts." When I ask her husband if their views are similar, he says, "I do not know the answer to that. We've never—she's never had to vote.")
But they both say that she is far more traditional than he. "Oh, yeah, totally," she says. "
I'm five years older, and John is my sister's age. He's of the generation of the Beatles, and that's a real line of demarcation." Of her sister, who died in an accident at 19, she says, "Even her mores were different; she used to shock the heck out of me, and John is much more her age. Jack
was my age. So I married a younger guy—they say women should. Cradle snatcher! I've always liked babies." She declares herself a fan of the lost art of flirtation, and finds overt sexuality in the culture both sad and demeaning. "We should start emphasizing mystery; save it for another day. I came from a more romantic time." During another conversation, she expands on this: "It would be interesting to show young people that sexuality and sensuality are very different, and that being sensuous is more charming, more sustainable, more beautiful." When she was raising her boys, in any case, her husband took care of the sex talks, but she set down three nonnegotiable rules: you treat people with respect, you never drink and drive, and if you do drugs, "tell me, because I want to know what it was like. But if you ever do cocaine, I will kill you."
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