Does Teresa Heinz Trust John Kerry? If not, why should we?

[Freddie Stubbs]

If Teresa Heinz won't trust presidential candidate John Kerry with her money, why should American voters trust Kerry with their country?

Teresa Heinz and Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., were married in 1995. Kerry's assets at the time were a few million dollars. (Click here for Kerry's Senate financial disclosure form for 1995.) Heinz's assets at the time were reportedly around half a billion dollars, which she'd inherited from her late husband, Sen. John Heinz, R-Pa., heir to the ketchup fortune. Unlike many other married couples, Heinz and Kerry kept their premarital assets separate. Much of Teresa Heinz's inheritance was no doubt tied up in trusts, but a substantial sum must have been unencumbered, because she had Sen. Kerry sign a prenuptial agreement. "Everybody has a prenup," Heinz explained to Lisa DiPaulo, who profiled her sympathetically in Elle.

You have to have a prenup. You've got three kids with somebody else, you've got to have a prenup. You could be as generous or as sensitive as you want. But you have to have a prenup.

By all accounts, Teresa Heinz had no interest in becoming first lady during her 25-year marriage to John Heinz (who died in a 1991 plane crash). "Over my dead body," she told John. Apparently she spent the first seven years of her marriage to John Kerry telling him the same thing. According to a Nov. 30 profile by Maeve Reston in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, "It was only last year that she says she changed her mind and told Kerry she would support his decision to run."

more: http://www.slate.com/id/2091886/

[JAbuchan08]

1. Why does this reflect worse on Kerry than Theresa Heinz

you could always argue that that distrust is HER character flaw. In addition, if Kerry accepted the terms of the prenup doesn't that show that he is LOYAL and NOT after money. Jesus christ the fucking GOP is so disgusting.

[kerrygoddess]

2. chat now

Join us at 3 PM for a chat with Frank Lowenstein of our foreign policy team about John Kerry's speech today to the Council of Foreign Relations in New York. The title of the speech is “Making America Secure Again: Setting the Right Course for Foreign Policy," and the text will be up on the web site at 2 PM. You can find the text and a link to the chat at http://www.johnkerry.com/pressroom/clips/news_2003_1203.html

The direct link to the chat is: http://www.johnkerry.com/chat/index.html
The chat room will open shortly before 3 PM EST.

[blm]

3. That money is hers and her kids. Prenups just keep it legally so.

Trust has NOTHING to do with it. In fact, it frees the family up to concentrate on their own lives and relationships with each other.

This is as stupid a hitpiece as they can muster.

[PROGRESSIVE1]

4. Slate.com is Liberal, MY HIND END!

.

[Scott Lee]

21. Another fine Kerry trait - cover your ass first

Like ol John did with the IWR and Patriot Acts.

It's a family affair!

[sandnsea]

5. An independent woman

Gads no. Can't have that in the year 2003. She should just be the dutiful wife and turn everything over to her husband.

This has got to be the worst post ever on DU and there have been some pretty bad ones.

[genius]

6. HOw low can the Dean campaign sink -going after Kerry for a prenup

I would be surprised if Dean and his wife didn't have one. In that income bracket, everyone has a prenup.

[killbotfactory]

7. slate.com is owned by the Dean campaign?

why blame them?

[dsc]

20. they got married before they were doctors

so they weren't that wealthy. BTW you do have a site for them having a prenup. No wait of course you don't.

[displacedvermoter]

8. I'll say the same thing here, as I say when someone puts such crap

on DU about Dean or other candidiates. Why the hell do we do this? What does this have to do with jack? This is not a policy disagreement, or anything the least bit germane to the issues at hand. Frankly, I'm quite sure Teresa Heinz trusts John Kerry, I trust John Kerry (I don't agree with him on some issues, which is why I am still torn between him and Dean), and I don't give a rat's ass what Slate thinks. They've proved themselves to be pretty much on the reservation with the rest of the media.

So why bother with this stuff?

[SheilaT]

9. Money in trusts

is not necessarily completely tied up. It's not always possible to keep it completely from spouses. Prenups are quite sensible and I see as NO indication of Teresa Heinz not trusting John Kerry. If you're going to criticize the guy, do it on issues of substance, not junk like this.

[JI7]

10. this is what the republicans did

this is the same thing right wingers were saying about clinton. saying if he cheats on hillary how can we trust him. i never believed private relationships reflected how a person would lead. george w bush thought he deserved to be president because he doesn't commit adultery. do you think divorced people can't be trusted to lead the country because they weren't able to keep the marriage together ? just another way to avoid the real issues.

[eissa]

11. Let's keep the spouses out of this

I still have a bad taste in my mouth over how the repukes treated Hillary, during the campaign and all through the Clinton term. What Theresa and John do with their money, in their bedroom, on vacation, or whatever, does not affect my feelings for or against the man.

[JI7]

12. she has a family with john heinz

she has 3 kids with her late husband john heinz (who she still loves). in case of divorce or anything else she has to make sure things are secure for her and her kids. and kerry didn't marry her for the money so he has no problem with this. he is a grown man who already had a life and career of his own when he married her. he isn't entitled to her money just for marrying her. and what has any of this got to do with how someone would be in public life. that idiot in the white house is n't divorced and wouldn't cheat on his wife, but it doesn't make him anything near a good president or person.

[blm]

13. btw...Kerry has plenty of his own money.

He also inherited a large sum when his mother passed away last year.

[Scott Lee]

22. As his ownership in a company helped by his FCC vote can attest

[molly]

14. Teresa Heinz-Kerry is one helluva lady -

she has everything it takes to be a GREAT first lady. She loves and supports her husband. Everything she does is upfront and in your face.

Your post is a slam against all independent - successful women. Prenups have absolutely nothing to do with trust.

What were you hoping to gain here - support for some wimpy wife who can't even join in her husband's campaign?

Tell us the views of your canidate's spouse if you want to do something constructive.

[Fleshdancer]

15. She's a smart woman

prenups aren't about trust, it's about security just in case a relationship doesn't end with death. With the divorce rate as high as it is in this country, she'd be stupid not to get one.

[MaineDem]

16. This has nothing to do with trust!

Good Lord, it kills me to see the crap going on among Democrats over this election. Why has it turned so nasty?

I have my candidate. I'm working hard for him. I don't like a few of the other candidates but I will never sink to the level of bashing a decision made between spouses like this pre-nup.

This is the first election year that I have been in DU. I really had hopes that the people who post here lwould ook at issues and the candidates and show respect for others. I'm so disappointed in many threads. If we could harness the hatred for fellow and sister Democrats shown here George Bush would be toast in no time.

[curse10]

17. Heck, I'm poor and I'm getting a prenup

It's about protecting your own assets. Nothing about trust. It's smart for every woman to do this-- it's about empowerment.

[helleborient]

18. This is dumb and unimportant...

What they do in their marital agreements is their business.

[dsc]

19. Shame on you for posting such crap

This post has zero relevence to Kerry and his race. We rightly decry such idiocy when it is directed at Dean and we should decry it now. We wonder why we can't win elections this crap is why.

[Tharesa]

23. Is Teresa being bashed?

Many couples have prenuptial agreements, and it always makes sense to establish basic truths before any marriage. If the couple can't even agree on basic things before the marriage, why assume the marriage would last more strident disputes?

To Tharesa it reflects highly on the charecter of John Kerry, because it demonstrates that he did not marry Teresa for her money. And this is something she certainly has the right to feel re-assured of.

Why should an individual that well-off have access to half of such an estate, which he did not have a hand in earning? Even more importantly, this would certainly be a more explosive political issue for Kerry to grapple with had there been no such agreement. Charges would be flying everywhere that Kerry had married her for the money, a charge which could destroy any political career.

[DrFunkenstein]

24. This Is Pretty Low Class

And that has nothing to do with money. I'm very disappointed in anyone that would go along with rolling her name in the mud.

[NashVegas]

25. This is Way Low

..

[eileen_d]

26. How low can you go?

Can you go down low?
All the way to the flo'?