The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age
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    Callista Gingrich // Lady Gaga ~~ A Brief Comparison

    By CVille Dem on Sun, 06/12/2011 - 6:16pm |

     

    One is a narcissistic ball-buster who wears scary makeup and whose hair appears to have been created in a plastic factory.  She is a media-loving, cold fish who has a known history of sexual shenanigans, and has a fixation on outward displays of her wealth.  

     

    And the other is a pretty cool singer who actually earns her living!

     

     

     

    Comments

    Oh, I left out that ONE doesn't seem to get along with anyone, plays the piano and sings (in a choir)


    by CVille Dem on Sun, 06/12/2011 - 6:26pm

    There is some guy starring in some forgetable drama on cable and he started out with these eyes!

    Like in Clockwork Orange where they separate his eyelid from his eye:

    It scares the shite out of me. hahahahaha


    by Richard Day on Sun, 06/12/2011 - 6:56pm

    When I try to open my eyes like that my contacts dry out.  Maybe that is the only part of Callista that hasn't dried out so far.  Don't really know.


    by CVille Dem on Sun, 06/12/2011 - 7:36pm

    hahahahahaahahahahahah


    by Richard Day on Sun, 06/12/2011 - 8:01pm

    I love the name "Callista", because in Spanish it means somebody who cuts off "callos" or callouses from people's feet. Neat, huh?


    by David Seaton on Mon, 06/13/2011 - 5:33am

    Seriously? I wonder if she knows...

    by CVille Dem on Mon, 06/13/2011 - 5:54am

    I think Spanish speaking friends would avoid mentioning it... if they can keep a straight face.


    by David Seaton on Mon, 06/13/2011 - 8:37am

    In Greek, Callisto means most beautiful and is the name of both one of Artemis' attendant nymphs that Zeus knocked up (the ticked off goddess therefore turned her into a bear) and a moon of Jupiter.


    by Donal on Mon, 06/13/2011 - 8:50am

    She better hang out with Greeks... but her Mexican gardener is having a few laughs.


    by David Seaton on Mon, 06/13/2011 - 8:56am

    Hair from a plastic factory.. hahahaha. That is awesome.


    by tmccarthy0 on Mon, 06/13/2011 - 9:04am

    I hate judging people by how they look (i'm not all that myself!) but, jeez she makes McCain's wife look genuine, and since when did we go for home wrecking  mistresses for 1st lady? I wonder if she got right with God as well?


    by stillidealistic on Mon, 01/23/2012 - 6:35pm

    Stilli,

         If she did (?!?), it won't help since I'm pretty sure He's not a registered voter and definitely not a Republican!


    by Aunt Sam on Mon, 01/23/2012 - 6:38pm

    Nice one, stilli!


    by erica20 on Mon, 01/23/2012 - 8:44pm

    Oh, I think Callista earns her living. Even leaving aside Newt's relative unattractiveness and the sheer daily monotony of maintaining a campaign schedule, staving off the ministrations of all the potential candidates for Wife #4 must be quite a task.

    The phrase "more to be pitied than censured" comes to mind. 


    by erica20 on Mon, 01/23/2012 - 8:43pm

     

    I don't think we gain anything by attacking Newt's wife.

    It's just more misogyny.

    My problems are with Newt and his policies first; plus his hypocrisy in attacking Clinton over infidelities.

    As for his wife, she 1) can't really help how she looks, can she? and 2) if you're in front of cameras every day, there are going to be some shots that make you look ridiculous, no matter how handsome you might be.

    Overall, threads like this rather suck the air out of any contention that we're "progressive". We're gossipy nit-pickers with the same view of women as fashion accessories as we'd expect from conservatives.


    by PeraclesPlease (not verified) on Tue, 01/24/2012 - 1:29am

    This diary doesn't bolster our credentials as progressives.

    Callista Gingrich was a professional who spent 17 years as a staffer in the House.

    Undoubtedly Newt broke up his own marriage, not her. He's a big boy, he can make his own decisions - and he had 7 years to think about it.

    As the obligatory housewife by the candidate's side, she's subject to thousands of photos - certainly J-Lo or Angelina Jolie would end up looking ridiculous sometimes in such a torrent, and the difference is, the latter ones chose a career in front of a camera.

    [remember what happened when Howard Dean's wife refused to go on the campaign trail? a major media storm that damaged his campaign]

    Callista may not have been born expecting that being a fashion accessory, but that's often the role given women whatever their skills - the hotshot female lawyer might also be the one who makes the coffee or takes the meeting notes. Welcome to 2012, same as 1912.

    Please think twice before piling on with catty non-progressive comments.

     


    by PeraclesPlease (not verified) on Tue, 01/24/2012 - 1:43am

    Ah peracles you are no doubt correct. But...the crazy eyes!!!

    (i suspect that callista's crazy eyes may result to some extent from thyroid issues. So in that sense yes I feel a bit ashamed....)

    but here is the thing about women's appearance--we do make choices about how we look. Hair and makeup choices that extreme do tell us that something is up with that person....

     


    by Erica (not verified) on Tue, 01/24/2012 - 8:46am

    She lives in Georgia. That's how a lot of people dress there.

    Whether her eyes have a thyroid problem, she'd stared at 500 flash bulbs that day, or they just caught her her before a sneeze, I've no idea.

    Let's go back to the text of the post:

     

    One is a narcissistic ball-buster who wears scary makeup and whose hair appears to have been created in a plastic factory.  She is a media-loving, cold fish who has a known history of sexual shenanigans, and has a fixation on outward displays of her wealth.  

    And the other is a pretty cool singer who actually earns her living!

    Oh my - "narcissistic ball-buster"- really? a House aide? "media-loving, cold fish" - couldn't fit any Nurse Ratched references in there? oh wait, you got the "that Nurse Ratched's one big ball-buster, aint' she". So what did she do to deserve this tirade commonly reserved for women in the public eye?

    "Sexual shenanigans" - lessee, it's 2012 - she slept with the same man for 6 or 7 years and then married him and has been living with him for the 12 years since. What a floozy.  

    And then the topper. Lady Gaga "actually earns her living". Again, Callista was a professional congressional aide for 17 years. Yes, she earned her living. She didn't get her job because of Newt.

    If you want to see more normal pictures of Callista, just type her name in Google and click images. That someone doesn't like her "plastic"  hair but then likes Lady Gaga's plastic hair is just arbitrary nonsense. And while I don't know about Lady Gaga's sex life, I imagine she might have more "sexual shenanigans" than Ms. Gingrich?

    Leave her alone. These are not the droids you are looking for. Do the intelligent thing - go after Newt.

     


    by PeraclesPlease (not verified) on Tue, 01/24/2012 - 9:42am

    First, I think you're right about being more sensitive to how we treat spouses (and family in general) of candidates and that we eschew sexist statements. They're not just limited to female spouses, of course, as critiques of Bachmann's husband makes clear (although that might be a perceived homosexual thing, as I don't recall Palin's or Pelosi's husbands getting that kind of treatment - I even had to verify that Pelosi had a husband), but since the vast majority of candidates are male...

    Secondly, the Gingriches now live in Virginia. It seems they might be following me.


    by Verified Atheist on Tue, 01/24/2012 - 11:25am

    I'm curious (mainly because we all know it will be published if Newt succeeds and any additional negatives about her will certainly impact the general, with the comparisons sure to be made with Michele Obama) her 'history' before and during early association with Newt.  And how she came to work with Newt.  


    by Aunt Sam on Tue, 01/24/2012 - 12:46pm

    She was a staffer for the Agriculture Committee and worked with a Republican Congressman for 17 years, while Gingrich was Speaker.

    I certainly hope there's no more info on this during the campaign - it's far from interesting or any of our business, aside from Newt's hypocrisy issue that we already well know.


    by PeraclesPlease (not verified) on Tue, 01/24/2012 - 1:02pm

    I understand your stance and while I always hope for the best myself, in this matter it's a certainty that as I stated, if Newt stays the course, her life will be fodder for the media and of course, any and all of his opponents. 

    It will be a full out scavenger hunt.  Who was her previous employer, was she sleeping with him too (or any other married men)?  Will there be another spouse coming forward to damn her for relationship with her husband (at least then)?  

    There will be remarks about her dress, bleached blonde hairdo (dark roots included), et al. ad nauseam. 

    And many will deem it interesting.


    by Aunt Sam on Tue, 01/24/2012 - 1:31pm

    She couldn't have had that much of a past prior to hooking up with Gingrich in 1993 - she was only 27 (he was 50).


    by Verified Atheist on Tue, 01/24/2012 - 1:44pm

    I know many who, before the age of 28, shall we say, lived on the wild (wilder, wildest) side and evolved to be far right Christian conservatives.


    by Aunt Sam on Tue, 01/24/2012 - 1:52pm

    Yeah, but such things can be chalked up to youthful indiscretions. (In all seriousness, in this particular case, I'm mildly sympathetic as I now think of 27 as being young.)


    by Verified Atheist on Tue, 01/24/2012 - 2:55pm

    Forgoing all the PC lingo, I doubt that many truly would be glad/proud of Mrs. Gingrich as our First Lady.

    Sure, we can forgive, but no one will/be able to forget her history.  It would be a first in so many ways:  First Bleached Blonde/First Mistress to start.  

     Let's just admit she would not be anyone most would applaud her as our First Lady and move on.


    by Aunt Sam on Tue, 01/24/2012 - 3:35pm

    "forget her history" - you just can't let this one go, can you?

    She met a guy she liked, she had a long relationship, they got married, and have been happy since. Okay, he was married at the time, but no kids, naughty naughty, now go to your room both of you.

    Why don't we just act like all women are power-hungry strumpets, that there's no infidelity anywhere, that all proper relationships start with virginity held until the altar (and hopefully a few minutes after), and finish on the death bed, with sex only for procreation.

    If we share Republican values, why don't we just become Republicans?


    by PeraclesPlease (not verified) on Tue, 01/24/2012 - 4:07pm

    Geez, imagine having a problem with an 8 year long adulterous affair?!?  I believe most married people, whether male or female, wouldn't think this would think this was, at the least, problematic.  (Ask your spouse and married relatives, et al.)

    As for the snark: 

    If we share Republican values, why don't we just become Republicans?

    I'm thinking that the objection to the adultery behaviors is dominant in most political parties.  

    And your third retort is so not applicable to this issue.  

    To repeat myself:

    Let's move on.

     


    by Aunt Sam on Tue, 01/24/2012 - 7:18pm

     

    "...She met a guy she liked, she had a long relationship, they got married, and have been happy since..."

    How do you know any of this?  Since we're pulling our view of Newt and the present Mrs. Gingrich out of our collective behinds, my conjecture is that she saw a powerful guy with a zipper problem and decided she could ride his ass to minor fame and/or a boatload of money.  I mean, with a less severe fashion style, she could be pretty attractive, and Newt, is well, a fat toad with the personality of a belligerent drunk even when sober.  Not to mention she's literally half his age, you're stretching credibility when you assert she did it all for love - this may not exactly be Anna Nicole Smith and J. Howard Marshall here, but come on.

    Maybe you're fine with people knowingly sleeping with other people's spouses in order to get a piece of the status and wealth that the spouse has. But I have to tell you, as the father of a young daughter, if she ends up in a relationship with a married man who she in turn marries, simply because she is attracted to the power and money he represents, I will be deeply disappointed in her, and in myself for raising someone who lived according to those particular values.

    I guess I'll have to turn in my Progressive I.D. card and register as a Republican.


    by Ethanator on Tue, 01/24/2012 - 11:56pm

    Try reading the Kinsey Report - it came out in the 50's, but is still pertinent.

    Unfaithfulness is a fact of life. We have social strictures that work against it - marriage, public condemnation, divorce - but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist - far from it.

    1/2 to 2/3 of American men have have at least one extramarital affair in their life. From Kinsey's time, the % of women has risen from 6-26% up to 21-54% in 1984 up to perhaps 2/3 of the rate of men in 2012.

    Nevertheless, 80-90% of people contend adultery is always wrong. Which means we're horribly unrealistic, idealistic or both.

    What bothers me most is the " she saw a powerful guy with a zipper problem and decided she could ride his ass to minor fame and/or a boatload of money". What a buttload of speculation and anger towards a woman you know nothing about.

    ​I can easily speculate that the ripe time to marry Gingrich would have been before he lost his Speaker job and retired from the House in shame. I can speculate that if Callista were only concerned about money, she could have walked a lot earlier than 12 years into marriage. I can speculate that she actually is Catholic, having converted her husband, and with the amount of church going she's done, her relationship with a married man caused her a lot of internal grief.

    ​In short, I can speculate that Ms. Gingrich is human, as most people are, and not the robotic bitch you assume she is based on an affair that millions of other Americans likewise do, which also presents any women who marries up, or someone significantly older, as simply a loveless gold-digger. 

    Of course she was single during that time - she didn't take vows, Newt did. That Newt didn't have kids by his 2nd marriage puts the affair largely in a "who cares" category - just another switch of boyfriend/girlfriend, and over 40% of marriages end in divorce.

    Values-wise on these issues, yes, you might as well switch registration to GOP - not a significant amount of daylight between.


    by PeraclesPlease (not verified) on Wed, 01/25/2012 - 6:11am

    "What a buttload of speculation and anger towards a woman you know nothing about."

    Rich coming from the commenter who then engages in three paragraphs of pure speculation about a woman you, also, know nothing about.  But, if you want to go to the mat defending a woman who (and this is not speculation) married a much older, physically unattractive and charmless man with a repellent personality and a repellent political ideology, have at it.  I guess being a progressive these days guns blazing support for the right to own black people as property and for Newt Gingrich's (by all accounts) closest personal and political advisor.  Strange times indeed.


    by Ethanator on Wed, 01/25/2012 - 9:17am

    1) I will go to the mat for Newt or Callista to marry whoever they want. That is being progressive. Old people fall in love with young people and vice versa all the time - no need to blame it on gold digging.

    2) Obviously some people find Newt charming all the time, and many people find him charming some of the time. Nor is he physically attractive by normal standards.

    3) My speculation was based on how easy it is to speculate and draw opposite conclusions.


    by PeraclesPlease (not verified) on Wed, 01/25/2012 - 9:47am

    I considered making a comment very similar to what Peracles said and so I was glad he did. Because Callista is not a public figure by choice, I think she deserves some slack even if she is standing next to, and with, the Newt and is able to do so with a smile. [Smile? Weird grimace?] Her looks should not be a subject of public ridicule. And, it could just be an unfortunate instant caught forever.
     Privately, among friends, I take a different position. I emailed the picture to one friend and asked him how he would like to open a closet door late some night and see THAT leap out at him. She could play the mother of Chucky.
     I should note that I once blogged at TPMCCAFE about the looks of some public figures that I really don't like and I said how each looked as bad as I thought them to be; Characters like Limbaugh, Kristol, the goon psychiatrist on Fox, along with a few others. The theme was something like; would you buy a used car from this guy or a foreign policy from this asshole? It got some harsh negative feedback from a few. I do not recall mentioning any women, but there are a few who could have made my list then and more now.


    by A Guy Called LULU on Tue, 01/24/2012 - 2:33pm

    Because I'm basically a bad person, please allow me to go on record as having no problem whatsoever with making fun of Callista Gingrich's appearance.  I have less of a problem with people who want to make fun of Sarah Palin's appearance since she can't have it both ways by trying to sell herself as sexy when she wants to and then having her looks be declared off limits when she doesn't.

    But, also... a good joke is a good joke and there's no such thing as victimless humor.  Callista Gingrich is funny looking.  So is Newt.  That they "do sex," as they say on Jersey Shore, is just absurd.

    But, see, I'm a bad person.


    by Michael Maiello on Tue, 01/24/2012 - 4:13pm

    Heh, which is why we laugh so much at Gawker isn't it des! And Callista looks like a human version of Tweetie the Bird on vicodin!

    Wait, wut?


    by tmccarthy0 on Tue, 01/24/2012 - 5:03pm

    Also, Newt's a wealthy man.  Get a trainer, chubs!


    by Michael Maiello on Tue, 01/24/2012 - 5:38pm

    Heh, from his latest photo, I think Newtie needs more than a good trainer.  It seems he has shed 666 layers of old skin to show us the truest form of a Newt.


    by tmccarthy0 on Wed, 01/25/2012 - 1:17am

    OT, but...6,300+ reads?  I'm thinking for now on I'm putting Lady Gaga in the title of all my blogs.


    by Elusive Trope on Tue, 01/24/2012 - 5:31pm

    I don't think this piece is intentionally (or really even unintentionally) misogynistic.

    PeraclesPlease, I see your point--and I will redouble my efforts not to insult my sisters in arms--but a bit of rueful, "can ya believe it?" humor lets us all take a breath now and again, none of us being saints and all.

    The piece is a bit of pure snarky camp, along the lines of what Dorothy Parker, Maureen Dowd, the Steel Magnolias or John Stewart might come up with, and from what I can see, so are the responses. (Bear in mind that for many of us old enough to have children or even possibly grandchildren, sex is such a rare occurrence that "sexual shenanigans"means, well, any sex at all.)

    Truth is, even in the more dressed up South, Mrs. Gingrich's White-Blond Republican Football Helmet might be considered an extreme example of what hairspray can do if a person really gets busy, and her Barbie-Doll appearance would be a teeny bit out of step for someone her age, even in the more old-fashioned country clubs. She and her husband taken as a couple have the distinct feel of hucksterism about them. Perhaps she is a very nice person; perhaps not. You really can't judge a book by its cover (except on those occasions when you actually can.)

    It's not hard to say that Mrs. Gingrich is probably smarter than she looks--in my experience, many smart women make a real effort to be smarter than they look--it can be very helpful in certain situations.

    All in all, I think we should save ourselves for more important battles than this one. I'm pretty sure that if it came down to it, any of us would affirm that Callista Gingrich is a separate person from her husband and that his quest for the presidency is not necessarily her quest.

    Beyond that, I just have two things to say. The first is that I have pretty prominent eyes myself, and it took me awhile to cultivate a "picture face" that didn't make me look like Marty Feldman. 

    http://www.google.com/search?q=marty+feldman&hl=en&qscrl=1&nord=1&rlz=1T4ADFA_enUS403US403&site=webhp&prmd=imvnso&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=wlcfT-3ID4m02gXDicGODw&sqi=2&ved=0CDMQsAQ&biw=1280&bih=936

    Second, and I'll stick by this one: show me an over-made up, nervous looking woman standing next to her husband, and 90% of the time, I'll be able to show you a really scary husband.

     

    PS I'm with Trope--I'm putting "Lady Gaga" in all my posts from now on!


    by erica20 on Tue, 01/24/2012 - 8:19pm

    So agree, but I have one query - who is the male equivalent of Lady Gaga?


    by Aunt Sam on Tue, 01/24/2012 - 10:08pm

    David Bowie


    by Donal on Tue, 01/24/2012 - 10:12pm

    In terms of dress code, Mr. Stardust is probably the one.  In terms of driving people to the site in the year 2012, it would be, I am sad to say, Justin Bieber.


    by Elusive Trope on Tue, 01/24/2012 - 10:58pm

    Maybe split the age difference and go with Johnny Depp?


    by erica20 on Tue, 01/24/2012 - 11:19pm

    21 Newt Street?


    by Elusive Trope on Tue, 01/24/2012 - 11:44pm

    I was thinking maybe the Captain Jack Sparrow roles.


    by erica20 on Tue, 01/24/2012 - 11:59pm

    Well there is something of a Mad Hatter about Newt


    by Elusive Trope on Wed, 01/25/2012 - 12:07am

    And we have a winner!


    by Aunt Sam on Wed, 01/25/2012 - 12:24am

    This fellow, with his more formal attire and makeup, seems like a better visual match for Mrs. Gingrich.

    And perhaps closer to her age as well.

    Ah, but the heart wants what the heart wants, eh?


    by Erica (not verified) on Wed, 01/25/2012 - 1:57am

    Maureen Dowd is a huge example of what's wrong with news media these days.

    Read Bob Somerby at Daily Howler for about a bazillion examples. (ok, Gail Collins is doing her best to catch up, what with 40 mentions of Romney's dog).

    This "can you believe it" "humor" happens over and over with women in the public gripes me - Nancy Pelosi, Hillary Clinton, Sarah Palin, Michelle Bachmann, Michelle Obama's muscles, Howard Dean's doctor wife, Fred Thompson's wife (Joe Scarborough: "do you think she works on the pole?").

    Regarding 'sexual shenanigans', unfortunately the schadenfreude (smiley) in America of other people having sex applies to all ages, not just those past shelf life (other smiley) - it's a nation of tittering 7th graders on this subject.

    Where I live, older women will often dye their hair blue or green or orange or pink. I found it ironic that Lady Gaga can have space age hair but not Callista. 

    Regarding your Marty Feldman eyes, 1) I imagine you're glad that you're not in a position to be a photo accessory for a famous spouse, 2) if you look at other pictures of Ms. Gingrich, she doesn't suffer from Graves' disease or other ocular malfunction - it's simply an off moment in a camera shoot.


    by PeraclesPlease (not verified) on Wed, 01/25/2012 - 5:17am

    Naw, I'd be an awesome first lady, crazy eyes and all!  :^)

    I'm not a big Maureen Dowd fan myself--I wonder how she managed to make a career out of driving down the silly trail and never coming back, column after column.

    You have really made me think about why it is that some of this type of humor seems ok to me while some does not. Certainly a little of it goes a long way (the Dowd problem) and it has to come off as not serious or it is just mean. And you are right about the putdowns of women, it got downright weird regarding both Clinton and Palin. But life would be pretty dull without a little ba-doom-chuk (which is supposed to be the drum sound at the end of the joke) every now and then.

    Jon Stewart does a great job of it.

    Anyhoo, on to other things, like the SOTU. I'm glad you came to Callista's defense--it turned out to be a thought-provoking discussion. And long! The original post is more than 6 months old.


    by erica20 on Wed, 01/25/2012 - 11:14am

    Cool, glad it was useful. Looking forward to seeing you on the campaign trail.


    by PeraclesPlease (not verified) on Wed, 01/25/2012 - 12:43pm


    by Donal on Wed, 01/25/2012 - 3:03pm

    Wowsa!  This needs to be made into a poster! Maybe their Xmas card!


    by Aunt Sam on Wed, 01/25/2012 - 3:25pm