If you're bold and gutsy you reiterate what you said and stand behind it.  If you don't expect to be called on anything you say and feel you are above explaining yourself, you just tell people to piss off.  I think this sort of thing just gives evidence to the hypocricy and arrogance the Kerrys seem to subscribe to.

As if she has any importance as all. I don't understand the American obsession with the wives of their politicians. It's bizarre. If she is the real power and thinker behind the Kerry campaign then I think her opinions might be important, but if Kerry is not merely a hollow shell which she uses for political power then anything she says should be treated much like the words of Prince Philip - surprise, contempt if necessary and then by ignoring them.

As if she has any importance as all. I don't understand the American obsession with the wives of their politicians. It's bizarre. If she is the real power and thinker behind the Kerry campaign then I think her opinions might be important

The First Lady is often considered in a different light than the spouces of other elected officials. She often has a significant impact on policy and is often used as a representative of the country. In a marriage you don't have to be the real power and thinker in order to influence your spouse. To think that even a strong man would ignore his wife, especially if she were the one with a billion dollars, is silly.

Good for her. Apparently this reporter has repeatedly misquoted her, and Mrs. Heinz finally fought back.

well i never.

oh my  goodness gracious.  heavens to betsy. tarnation. ill be a blankety-blank by gosh  geewhiz h cripes.

im totally mortified.  scandalized.  kerry's pretty little wifey actually said 'shove it'? 

good thing she didnt completely abandon civility by specifying exactly what she wished the guy would shove and where.

you just tell people to piss off

gosh almighty it was bad enough she used the 'sh*** *t" word; think of the blankety-blank controversy that would have exploded had she said 'piss'

Good for her. Apparently this reporter has repeatedly misquoted her, and Mrs. Heinz finally fought back.

In this instance, the tape of her remarks clearly shows that she DID say "unAmerican," yet when he asked her what she meant by that, she repeatedly denied having said it, and THEN told him to shove it, for supposedly asking her about something she didn't say, when she very clearly DID say it. She fought back against having to explain herself after, in my estimation, spouting off without thinking.

She fought back against having to explain herself after, in my estimation, spouting off without thinking.

Exactly!  It isn't the language she used that bothers anyone kingbee.  I am just amazed how hypocritical it is to stand up for people who get pissed off because they are expected to explain themselves when throwing around accusations.  Heaven forbid a journalist ask for clarification of a statement.

It isn't the language she used that bothers anyone kingbee

ive spent the past 4 hours clicking from cnn to msnbc to fox and back.  i must have seen 'teresa heintz kerry tells reporter to 'shove it'' go by at least once every three screens.   if i knew nothing more than what i saw there, i could only conclude it was all about the language.

ive spent the past 4 hours clicking from cnn to msnbc to fox and back. i must have seen 'teresa heintz kerry tells reporter to 'shove it'' go by at least once every three screens. if i knew nothing more than what i saw there, i could only conclude it was all about the language

Thats great, but it CNN, MSNBC, and Fox headlines are not all there is to my blog. If you knew nothing more than what was there then you didn't read this article and the comments people have offered.

They showed the whole thing earlier on TV. It wasn't so much what she said, it was how she said it. She walked off the second time, and then came charging back at the guy and asked him why he was putting words in her mouth. Seems she is unhappy about the whole vibe of the Pittsburg newspaper he works for. The official statment from the Kerry machine called it a "rag".

I dunno, I heard her use the word un-American with my own ears, and she stopped and thought a long time before she said it, grasping for words. If that hadn't been the kind of thing the Democrats had been villifying for months I would have brushed it off like I did Cheney's little tiff, but honestly it is different. She used the word un-american, then when asked about it she got really mad at the guy. To me it is obvious that she knew she shouldnt have said it the moment it came out of her mouth.

No big deal, honestly. Bad choice of words turned worse when she tried to waffle on it. If she can be this annoyed by a small-fry newspaper reporter, though, she has no idea what she is in for...

No big deal, honestly. Bad choice of words turned worse when she tried to waffle on it.

Indeed. All of us sometimes says wrong words, and once spoken (or in my case, signed) it cannot be taken back at all. Only thing she did wrong was try to dodge it and lied about it.

If she can be this annoyed by a small-fry newspaper reporter, though, she has no idea what she is in for...

Lol yeah. If Kerry gets elected, it will go way overboard.

Heaven forbid anyone ever suggest that "Perhaps unAmerican was a poor choice of words."  How hard would that be to say?  Would anyone make a huge stink?  I wouldn't.  I totally agree that she has no idea what she is in for "if" she becomes the first lady.  If she is going to have such a "head strong" persona, she is going to get called on what comes out of her mouth.  There is no question she is an intelligent person.  That is exactly why she will be held to her words.  It isn't as if she is unknowingly saying things.

She strikes me as someone that is unaccustomed to being antagonized or challenged. A billionaire... who'd a thunk it.

it's a non-issue to me, other than showing how easy it is for them to turn around and start using the "un-american" stuff. Will be interesting to see if she shifts how she interacts with the press. I was kind of surprised she was rubbing elbows at that level anyway.

Just another stupid sidehow to distract us from the boring issues.

It's fun to bait every conservative politician and call them ignorant and stupid. It's fun to bait liberal candidates' wives for not being able to find the exactly correct feminist and mainstream image simultaneously. Then, when these people finally make a gaffe in exasperation, the field day really begins, and we listen to the tapes over and over, wallowing in it all. It is quite congruent with telvision entertainment shows, and it avoids our having to wrestle with any difficult issues.

Anyone who votes based on the verbal clumsiness of either Mr. Bush or Mrs. Kerry deserves a poorly chosen government.