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2004-10-07 Home Front: Politix
Theresa Heinz on her miscarriages: "I call them piggies."
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Posted by unix23 2004-10-07 11:18|| || Front Page|| [11127 views since 2007-05-07]  Top

#1 Other people mourn for the deaths of their children. Go figure!
Posted by Chuck Simmins  2004-10-07 11:34:23 AM|| [http://blog.simmins.org]  2004-10-07 11:34:23 AM|| Front Page Top

#2 This is so utterly, massively repugnant that I can't fully process it as reality. Is there a transcript available? I mean, even though I'm pro-choice, I can't imagine... that's just breath-takingly obscene. If a novelist had invented a character named Therese Heinz Kerry, and had put that line in that character's mouth, I'd have thrown the novel across the room, and never read that author again.

I find myself in the peculiar position of wishing that the Weekly Standard is making things up. My world would make ever so much more sense if that were so...
Posted by Mitch H.  2004-10-07 11:43:15 AM|| [http://blogfonte.blogspot.com/]  2004-10-07 11:43:15 AM|| Front Page Top

#3 Whiskey Tango Foxtrot!

My sentiments exactly.
Posted by Steve from Relto 2004-10-07 12:22:51 PM||   2004-10-07 12:22:51 PM|| Front Page Top

#4  At first, I was going to say this was way past the line for ANY Rantburger to post. Then I read the article and was completely sickened. She's a sick woman. It just goes to show you how souless the Democrapic party leadership has become.
It utterly boggles the mind who in the world would think that this woman is first lady material.
Posted by 98zulu 2004-10-07 12:25:10 PM||   2004-10-07 12:25:10 PM|| Front Page Top

#5 This will go down well in Islamic circles.
Posted by Grunter 2004-10-07 12:42:12 PM||   2004-10-07 12:42:12 PM|| Front Page Top

#6 Although I am noiminally pro-choice, I find this really repulsive. A miscarriage is a tragedy for any family, and to make light of this?

Of course, the unwashed independents, as shown in my post of a couple of days ago, don't care, they only care that the Prez was tired and Kerry looked so F****N' presidential. {Osama's Roast Lamb} These unwashed independents are not only going to get us all in trouble, they are insensitive louts...

The Dems are accusing the GOP of "Suppressing" the vote of potential Kerry voters. We are not, but how can we start?
Posted by BigEd 2004-10-07 12:51:45 PM||   2004-10-07 12:51:45 PM|| Front Page Top

#7 The partial transcript on Dr. Phil's website says that Teresa Heinz calls her miscarried fetuses "pinkies," not "piggies."

Whatever. Either way, THK gives me the creeps.
Posted by Dave D. 2004-10-07 12:53:08 PM||   2004-10-07 12:53:08 PM|| Front Page Top

#8 Dave D

Is pinkies supposed to be less obnoxious than piggies?

No nicknames in that situation please...
Posted by BigEd 2004-10-07 12:56:59 PM||   2004-10-07 12:56:59 PM|| Front Page Top

#9 All I can say is that this woman is nuts. For awhile I thought she was a money grubbing opportunist who had an affinity for senators who might become president. I though JFK was an opportunist who sought out someone who could help(?) him become president. I think they are both nuts. Dangerous nuts. Demos seem to have kept her away from the public because they realized she would kill any chance Kerry had for the presidency. As Kerry would say "How about the Theraaasa?'
Posted by John (Q. Citizen) 2004-10-07 1:01:32 PM||   2004-10-07 1:01:32 PM|| Front Page Top

#10 Guys, miscarriages do strange things to women. I haven't seen the show or transcript, but I suspect she talks about her miscarriages as if they were living, present children. I know my wife feels our oldest has a big brother. And if I recall correctly, she has had six miscarriages. That's a lot of pain in one life. Give her a break on this one, show her a little compassion and let her deal with her grief in her own way.
Posted by longtime lurker 2004-10-07 1:22:13 PM||   2004-10-07 1:22:13 PM|| Front Page Top

#11 OK, lurker. How bout this for a deal: we respect Maria Teresa's way of dealing with her grief, and she in turn respects us enough to deal with that grief privately?
Posted by lex 2004-10-07 1:28:41 PM||   2004-10-07 1:28:41 PM|| Front Page Top

#12 Yes lex. It looks like a certain Mozambiqui does not know when she looks foolish. Or she doesn't care. You know, thet "Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy" out to get her...
Posted by BigEd 2004-10-07 1:35:40 PM||   2004-10-07 1:35:40 PM|| Front Page Top

#13 I'll get off the dime on this one. I get creeped out by both of them however.
Posted by John (Q. Citizen) 2004-10-07 1:37:21 PM||   2004-10-07 1:37:21 PM|| Front Page Top

#14 That woman is creeping closer and closer to the point of actually costing her husband a state or two. To paraphrase Cheney, "If you can't stand up to your wife, Senator, how can you stand up to Iran?"
Posted by lex 2004-10-07 1:41:07 PM||   2004-10-07 1:41:07 PM|| Front Page Top

#15 pinkies? I don't think so! She's referring to the fact that a fetus - in the very early stages is indistinguishable from a frog or pig or other embryos. At least that's what they used to teach us. Maybe with advances in DNA, etc. that's not true anymore. But that's what they used to say and her miscarriages would have happened awhile back.

Pinkies makes no sense. Piggies does.
Posted by 2b 2004-10-07 1:48:10 PM||   2004-10-07 1:48:10 PM|| Front Page Top

#16 I'd like to say that this is information that provides me some new insight about Terayza or John F. Kerry, but it doesn't. But if 45+% of the Americans polled still plan to vote for Kerry, it sure tells me something about them I really hadn't known before and wish I didn't now.
Posted by Mrs. Davis 2004-10-07 1:55:36 PM||   2004-10-07 1:55:36 PM|| Front Page Top

#17 "Pinkies" could refer to the size and general shape of them, I guess. That changes matters somewhat - calling them "pinkies" is demeaning, deranged, and extremely off-putting, but it isn't depraved in the way "piggies" is. I can't blame the Weekly Standard guy, her accent is thick enough to cause that sort of confusion.

So, unhinged, not monstrous.

Geez, six miscarriages. That explains a lot about her that I never really understood before. If Kerry gets into office by some horrible accident, Heinz Kerry could easily be the most tragically lunatic First Lady since Mary Todd Lincoln.
Posted by Mitch H.  2004-10-07 1:59:38 PM|| [http://blogfonte.blogspot.com/]  2004-10-07 1:59:38 PM|| Front Page Top

#18 ...Normally, I wouldn't even come close to defending Ketchup Lady. But I feel it does need to be pointed out that a miscarriage can unhinge even the most stable woman. Personal experience with two friends who have gone through them has shown me that women take an unbelieveable emotional hit - I can't imagine what would have happened to them if they'd gone through more than one. I back up Longtime's comment, but also Lex's feelings - this is one thing that shouldn't have been brought up.

Mike
Posted by Mike Kozlowski 2004-10-07 2:00:12 PM||   2004-10-07 2:00:12 PM|| Front Page Top

#19 Lex, I don't know that she volunteered the statement, or that the ever-sensitive Dr Phil thoughtlessly asked her about it. I just don't watch that show. I do know that she says what she feels (not saying its a virtue, just a fact) regardless of who hears her, and that she probably chafes under all the "smile and make nice" of an election campaign. I also know that she's suffered--her money can't buy back those children--and that none of us can measure and judge that suffering. Instead of gawking at her, I feel the polite thing is to discreetly turn away, pretend we didn't see or hear what we did, and give her the benefit of the doubt that this expression, however ill-turned, is a reflection of her loss.
Posted by longtime lurker 2004-10-07 2:01:39 PM||   2004-10-07 2:01:39 PM|| Front Page Top

#20 Mrs Davis, You dont expect this to be shown on the MSM do you? So most people probably wouldn't even hear about it.

Stll, Ta-ray-sa as first lady? ---shudder---
Posted by CrazyFool  2004-10-07 2:02:12 PM||   2004-10-07 2:02:12 PM|| Front Page Top

#21  Mrs Davis - You make an important point. Slick Willi was elected twice. Once was barely understandable. But the second time made me suspect that this is not the country that I thought it was.
Posted by SR-71 2004-10-07 2:05:47 PM||   2004-10-07 2:05:47 PM|| Front Page Top

#22 re: 6 miscarriages,

Approximately 1 in 3 fertilized eggs fail to make it to a viable birth.

Many of these are expelled before the woman knows for sure she is pregnant. There are, however, strongly suggestive signs and a woman of THK's age would know them. I'm a bit younger, and I did when I was in my 20s and 30s.

If we limit the term "miscarriage" to losses of pregnancies after the 4 week point, then the figure is more like 1 in 5 IIRC. And yes, there can be grief associated with these, especially if a child was desired and the woman & her family have begun to think in terms of a child on the way.

However, 6 known miscarriages isn't all that unusual. My mother-in-law had that many between her first and her second child.

Posted by been there 2004-10-07 2:06:23 PM||   2004-10-07 2:06:23 PM|| Front Page Top

#23 it would be interesting to see if the transcript said "piggies" first and was changed to pinkies.

I feel quite certain that she would have said "Piggies". But this would be very offensive to pro-life women and ESPECIALLY to other women who had miscarriages. While she may have found comfort in this, others will find it horribly demeaning to have the loss of their baby be reduced to no more important than the loss of a pig fetus.

I'd be willing to bet $25 to Fred's tip jar, that if we looked it up - that if you cross checked the stage of her fetus' at the time of her miscarriage - that they would have been around the level of development that would be similar to a pig.

While she may try to pull of this "pinkies" thing - I find that even MORE disturbed than her taking some sort of weird comfort in the belief that they were not yet human.
Posted by 2b 2004-10-07 2:13:16 PM||   2004-10-07 2:13:16 PM|| Front Page Top

#24 Piggies, not pinkies! Here's the proof!

4 weeks: It looks something like a tadpole. The structure that will develop into a head is visible, as is a noticeable tail. The embryo has structures like the gills of a fish in the area that will later develop into a throat.

5 weeks: Tiny arm and leg buds have formed. Hands with webs between the fingers have formed at the end of the arm buds. Fingerprints are detectable. The face "has a distinctly reptilian aspect." 1

6 The face has two eyes on the side of its head; the front of the face has "connected slits where the mouth and nose eventually will be." 1

7 weeks: The embryo has almost lost its tail. "The face is mammalian but somewhat pig-like." 1 Pain sensors appear. Many conservative Christians believe that the embryo can feel pain. However, the higher functions of the brain have yet to develop, and the pathways to transfer pain signals from the pain sensors to the brain have not developed at this time.

2 months: reptile like brain development yadda yadda

10 weeks: The embryo is now called a fetus. Its face looks human; its gender may be detectable.
Posted by 2b 2004-10-07 2:22:27 PM||   2004-10-07 2:22:27 PM|| Front Page Top

#25 Pinkies are baby mice. At least that is what people who own pet snakes call them.
Posted by TS(vice girl) 2004-10-07 2:23:30 PM||   2004-10-07 2:23:30 PM|| Front Page Top

#26 I'm sort of willing to give her the benefit of a little bit of doubt, for once. That's because I haven't heard and seen the actual clip. If she was serious while saying it, that's a lot different than tossing off the comment with a laugh.

That said, a friend of mine and his wife had to induce labor because the fetus was not viable. They named it, and my friend still has the kid's footprints on a certificate he keeps with other important papers in a fireproof safe. They don't have a cute nickname for the child.
Posted by growler 2004-10-07 2:44:44 PM||   2004-10-07 2:44:44 PM|| Front Page Top

#27 from the article linked above:

* Correction appended, 10/7/2004:The article originally reported that Teresa Heinz referred to her miscarriages as "piggies," not "pinkies." The audio on the interview was unclear, but the partial transcript on Dr. Phil's website says "pinkies," and the Washington Post concurs. Of course, whatever name she uses for her miscarried children isn't so revealing as the fact that she has a name for these would-have-been offspring which she uses to discuss them in public.

I told you so! No doubt "piggies" got too much of an uproar ...so in typical STOOPID Kerry style... some stupid lackey came up with the brilliant save ....she said.....pinkies - yeah! That's it, that's the ticket. That'll pacify the foolish masses.
Posted by 2b 2004-10-07 2:58:07 PM||   2004-10-07 2:58:07 PM|| Front Page Top

#28 been there: My mother-in-law had 9 miscarriages and stillborns before having 9 children that lived to adulthood (and one of those died in an accident). What's the point? You don't know anything about THK's miscarriages, and neither do I. I did read in a Weekly Standard or American Spectator article that she wanted 12 children. Hardly sounds like an abortion nut to me. Sorry to disagree with the ghoulish element here, but I think she's talking about emotions, not cell tissue. Have a little human decency for someone whose pain and damage may not be readily visible.
Posted by longtime lurker 2004-10-07 3:15:18 PM||   2004-10-07 3:15:18 PM|| Front Page Top

#29 Hey, Fred. You got an "Insane Meter" somewhere in your pile of stuff?
Posted by tu3031 2004-10-07 3:18:55 PM||   2004-10-07 3:18:55 PM|| Front Page Top

#30 oh please! I think she's talking about emotions, not cell tissue.

How do you figure she's talking about emotions? Emotions wouldn't be a physical description. If she called them her little "pink tear-drops" - you might have had a case.

Look, if it gives her comfort to tell us what her dead "cell tissue" looked like - more power to her. If after so many years she's still so unable to cope from her trauma ....then ok...I'll give you that it was the miscarriages that made her go nuts.

Stop wanking. This is no less bizzare than if I went on Dr. Phil and asked about my cat that got run over, I referred to him as "my little pinky" or "pancake".

Go ahead and excuse her bizzare behavior. I feel sorry for her too. At least we can all be in agreement here - shades of Mary Todd Lincoln.
Posted by 2b 2004-10-07 3:33:22 PM||   2004-10-07 3:33:22 PM|| Front Page Top

#31 Tell you what, 2B, I will feel sorry for her as long as she stays the hell out of the White House and does not officially embarrass the country.
Posted by Alaska Paul 2004-10-07 5:33:20 PM||   2004-10-07 5:33:20 PM|| Front Page Top

#32 she's a nut and we don't need that in a first lady - nuff said
Posted by Frank G  2004-10-07 5:51:02 PM||   2004-10-07 5:51:02 PM|| Front Page Top

#33 Have a little human decency for someone whose pain and damage may not be readily visible.

I beg to differ, ll. The damage is readily visible.

In other words, she's absolutely bonkers.
Posted by Parabellum 2004-10-07 7:09:25 PM|| [http://www.angelfire.com/moon/yoelnatan/koranwarpassages.htm]  2004-10-07 7:09:25 PM|| Front Page Top

#34 As a pro-life Publican, I say give her plenty of room on this one. My wife has miscarried twice and is currently 3.5 months pregnant and having complications. I cannot fathom the pain of six miscarriages. My wife and I know a lady through church that lost a baby at 8 months and had to carry the baby to term. I don't know how you would get through that without a straight jacket. If using a nickname to cope works for her, I am glad she has found peace.

I imagine that this information is intended to soften her image and should work. She doesn't seem to spout the leftist line that every baby is expendable tissue until the tissue receives its allotted dose of state education. I'm sure she funds Planned Parenthood, though.

From a political standpoint I think she should be ignored as a possible distracter from the true danger - installing a man who wants to normalize relations with Cuba, Iran and Vietnam into the Oval Office during the WOT.
Posted by Super Hose 2004-10-07 9:58:47 PM||   2004-10-07 9:58:47 PM|| Front Page Top

#35 An analogy: suppose candidate Bob Dole had gone on Oprah and told us all about his private tragedy of "erectile dysfunction"?

My response: I don't want to know. Respect the dignity of the office. There's a war on, remember?
Posted by lex 2004-10-07 10:11:38 PM||   2004-10-07 10:11:38 PM|| Front Page Top

#36 Oh my brethren, do you not see the weakness of the infidel, whose mighty president cannot even control his woman?
Posted by UbL 2004-10-07 10:14:57 PM||   2004-10-07 10:14:57 PM|| Front Page Top

#37 I think she should be ignored as a possible distracter

Good advice.
Posted by 2b 2004-10-07 10:17:58 PM||   2004-10-07 10:17:58 PM|| Front Page Top

#38 Lex - Bob Dole cashed in after he lost. If he'd been pushing the Viagra on the campaign trail, you'd have a case.
Posted by 2b 2004-10-07 10:19:28 PM||   2004-10-07 10:19:28 PM|| Front Page Top

11:22 tu3031
11:22 .com
11:13 WhyNot
18:34 Sock Puppet of Doom
18:18 DustbinUK
23:37 ex-lib
17:25 jules 187
17:20 BigEd
10:55 lex
06:54 Poison Reverse
02:39 Sock Puppet of Doom
00:24 Super Hose
00:08 tu3031
23:58 BigEd
23:53 BigEd
23:50 WhiteHouseDetox
23:38 Mark Espinola
23:37 Sock Puppet of Doom
23:36 Pappy
23:33 Asedwich
23:33 tu3031
23:24 Bored with knee jerk reactions.
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