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Author Curtis Sittenfeld Talks About Using Laura Bush as Muse

LibertySugar — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 06:00:53 -0700

Author Curtis Sittenfeld's new book American Wife - a novel about a quiet librarian and wife of a bumbling American president - hits the stands this week. Buzz and I put our heads together to come up with a few politically-oriented questions before she chatted with Sittenfeld. Here's what the author had to say:

Do you think readers will forget that the book is based on Laura Bush? Do you hope they will forget?
I do think if a person didn’t know anything about this book she could read three quarters of it and NEVER think of Laura Bush. And then in the fourth section, then it might sort of be like, “Oh!” But . . . I don’t think that it totally hinges on familiarly with the Bushes. I would like to think that it stands on its own just as a story.

Are you at all as intrigued by the Bush twins as you were by Laura?
No. I know that’s kind of strange because I’m much closer in age to them. When Jenna Bush had that book, I read some articles about it and I saw her a little bit on TV . . . I don’t know, for some reason they aren’t super interesting to me! (laughs)

Alice is decidedly pretty, which is different than your other characters who were fretting about what they looked like.
Laura Bush is very attractive. If you look at pictures of her from her adolescence or from her 20s or 30s I mean – and I’m definitely a Democrat – she and George Bush were a good looking couple. . . I think they’re still attractive but you know there was something very cute about them when they were in their 30s and I think Alice Blackwell, like Laura Bush, is pretty . . . If the character is not really guided by her insecurities then it’s sort of there just (as) a distraction.

To find out why Curtis decided to set the book in the Midwest instead of Texas, and what she thinks of readers who may feel sorry for the Bushes, read more.

Why isn't the book set in Texas?
The Midwest is more familiar to me I felt like I could write about it better as a native. . . Of course I could have made the characters have the same birthdays that Laura and George Bush have, but I just felt like what’s interesting is this sort of big dramatic episodes in their lives and not the kind of back story.

It's funny because you write that Charlie has a little bit of a drawl, is he just trying to prepare for running for office?
People say, about George Bush, (that) . . . you wouldn’t have guessed he’d become president. . . if you met him decades before he did. . . Where, as you know, a lot of politicians are laying the ground work literally from adolescence on.

The funny part is that I’ve started to sympathize with Charlie and feel sort of bad for the pressure that comes with these dynasty families which is surprising!
Again I'm a Democrat but I like and admire Laura Bush, you know some readers have said to me – I like the book but I was frustrated because I found the Charlie character endearing and it made me feel like George Bush is more endearing and I don’t want to see him that way. I want to dislike him!

I was going to say, I think you’re going to mess with a lot of left-leaning minds with this book. Especially during an election period.
(laughs) I know! Believe me the last thing I want to do is convince anyone to vote for Bush.

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Bookmobile: Lewd American Wife Based on Laura Bush?

LibertySugar — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 10:00:48 -0700

Best-selling author Curtis Sittenfeld has written American Wife - a novel about a quiet librarian, and wife of a bumbling American president. The main character "Alice" might as well be called "Laura," as the story meshes snippets from Mrs. Bush's life with the stories of Sittenfeld's imagination.

Radar has provided some arousing excerpts from the book. Details of the presidential sex life are chronicled, as well as the realization that "Alice" had an abortion, and that her grandmother is a lesbian. The book graphs details from Laura Bush's pre-White House days, including a fatal car accident she was a part of when she was 16. But, Sittenfeld amplifies the drama by writing that "Alice" proceeded to have sex with the brother of the boyfriend she killed with her car.

Do fascinating public figures make for good literary muses? Would you indulge in a good read even if it bothered you that the author treated the First Lady disrespectfully to sell books?

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Berlusconi Insults Women Again - And They're Fighting Back

TresSugar — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 06:00:00 -0700

Feminism is back in vogue in Italy. Some say it lay dormant in spite of a vibrant '70s feminist movement, but thanks to raging misogynist Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, largely silent Italian women have had enough and are speaking up.

"[T]he scandals surrounding the prime minister have been like a violent slap in the face for millions of women who are just now waking up from a state of passivity," said political scientist Francesca Izzo.

A favorite tactic of the 73-year-old Berlusconi is to disparage the looks of his female political opponents. In a heated debate with 58-year-old opposition party member Rosy Bindi, he said, "You're more beautiful than you are intelligent," to which the annoyed politician shot back, "I am not a woman at your disposal." (Perhaps she was referring to his multiple girlfriends, which finally led his wife to file for a divorce.)

Many American women claim they aren't feminists, but I wonder if they'd change their tune if the president were speaking this way every day! To find out how Italian women are fighting back and to see a clip of a documentary about how women are represented on Italian television, read more

After Berlusconi's nasty comment to Rosy Bindi, pissed off women drafted a petition saying that his sexism was an insult both to women and to democracy. 11 days later, more than 100,000 women had signed it, claiming that Berlusconi participated in the "cretinization of women."

It took long enough for more women to speak up, but it's great they finally did it. Alas, Italian feminists have more than Berlusconi and his rhetoric to fight. In the following clip from filmmaker Lorella Zanardo's documentary Women's Bodies, you'll see that almost all the representations of women on Italian television depict them as sex objects.

Front Page: The Public Wants a Public Healthcare Option

TresSugar — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 08:00:12 -0700

A majority of Americans want a public option for health insurance according to the latest poll. - WSJ
George W. Bush will be giving talks as a motivational speaker. - Talking Points Memo
After drug traffickers shot down a police helicopter this weekend, Rio de Janeiro says it has a long way to go before it's safe enough for the 2016 Olympics. - New York Times
The Heene's episode of Wife Swap has been pulled out of the rerun rotation following the balloon-boy incident. - CNN
Iran, the US, France, and Russia have drafted a deal that should ease concerns about Iran's nuclear program. - BBC News

Politicians, Narcissism and Cheating - Oh, My!

TresSugar — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 06:00:00 -0700

There's been no shortage of politicians in the news who cheated on their wives (Sanford, Spitzer, Clinton - we're talking about you), and the television show The Good Wife is even dramatizing this all-too-familiar story. Most social scientists and psychologists are not surprised; many of the traits that are required for political leadership are prevalent in narcissism: ambition, risk-taking, and charisma. You don't need to be a narcissist to be a political leader, but it doesn't hurt.

So what is narcissism exactly? We all have self-love on some level, but in the '80s, the American Psychiatric Association argued that it can become pathological enough to be considered a personality disorder. They claimed that one percent of the population has NPD (narcissistic personality disorder); it's since been revised by The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, which said that 6.2 percent of the population has NPD. To find out about NPD, read more

According to the DSM-IV, here are the traits of Narcissistic Personality Disorder:

"A pervasive pattern of grandiosity (in fantasy or behavior), need for admiration, and lack of empathy, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by five (or more) of the following:

1. Has a grandiose sense of self-importance
2. Is preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty or ideal love (megalomania)
3. Believes they are 'special' and can only be understood by, or should associate with, people (or institutions) who are also 'special' or of high status
4. Requires excessive admiration
5. Has a sense of entitlement
6. Is interpersonally exploitative
7. Lacks empathy
8. Is often envious of others or believes others are envious of him or her
9. Shows arrogant, haughty behaviors or attitudes"

Most of us will never date or marry a narcissistic politician, but some of us will have the misfortune to date narcissists, who have a tendency to cheat. "Infidelity," says Stanley Renshon, a political psychologist at City University of New York and who writes about psychology and political behavior, "is a byproduct of narcissism."

Do you know any narcissists or have you ever dated one?

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Do, Dump, or Marry? Tom Brady

TresSugar — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 08:30:00 -0700

Tom Brady is definitely a hottie. In an interview for September's Details, the New England quarterback reveals that he fancies himself a family guy, too. Tom, who already has one son with his ex Bridget Moynahan and is expecting another with wife Gisele, says he ultimately wants four or five kids.

For those of you who are skeptical of Tom because he began dating Gisele while Bridget was pregnant, Tom had something to say about that, too. He explained:

"Life is not living in the suburbs with a white picket fence. . . . Somehow our American culture has made it out that that's what life needs to be - and that if it's not that, it's all screwed up. It's not. You go through life and you try the best you can."

OK then! Would you want Tom in your life?

Saudi Vice Patrol Gears Up For a Summer of Enforcement

TresSugar — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 13:00:00 -0700

Yesterday we examined Americans' sometimes confusing morals - but could you imagine if the US had a vice patrol to enforce them? Residents in Saudi Arabia do face that reality, as the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice is gearing up for a Summer of morality patrol.

What will get you potentially jailed or publicly flogged? Punishable vices range from: alcohol consumption, prostitution, keeping shops open during prayer time, congregating in public with a non-related member of the opposite sex, and driving . . . if you're a woman.

Luckily for everyone, especially women who need to get somewhere, change is slowly coming to the Islamic country. King Abdullah appointed a new head of the religious police who is thought to be more moderate. The group also hired outside marketing experts to help it soften its image and apologized for arresting a man that kissed his wife in a parking lot. But like I said, the change is coming slowly - the virtue police have yet to abandon plans to install video cameras in malls to keep a better eye on people.

Do You Feel Sorry For Bernard Madoff's Wife Ruth?

TresSugar — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 09:23:27 -0700

The Pierre Michel salon in New York City will no longer give Ruth Madoff her regular foil highlights in Soft Baby Blonde. Her florist has stopped providing her with her favored lismachia, Queen Anne's lace, and thistles flower arrangement. Even her two sons have taken to referring to her as Ruth rather than as Mom. Ouch.

Apparently, it sucks to be the wife of the perpetrator of the largest Ponzi scheme in American history (well, except for the still being incredibly wealthy part). Her husband, Bernard Madoff, is accused of bilking investors (including Holocaust survivor and author Elie Wiesel and his foundation) of up to $65 billion. She claims she knew nothing of his scam; skeptics ask how, as his wife of 49 years and the director of his firm, she could not have been complicit?

"She's perceived as the succubus to Bernie's incubus," says a University of Chicago cultural anthropologist. "She was inside a circle of people whose wealth has been sucked out of the system."

So how do you feel? Do you feel sorry for the wife of this criminal?

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First Wives Urged to Stay Away From Sexist Berlusconi's Italy

TresSugar — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 08:30:53 -0700

How do you say "sexist" in Italian? Berlusconi. At least that's what a group of female academics in Italy think. They're urging wives of male G8 leaders to stay home from the G8 conference to be hosted by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi next month in Italy.

While the Obamas offer Americans at least a picture of marital bliss, Italians are being treated to a messy divorce. Since Berlusconi's wife of 20 years Veronica Lario filed for divorce in April, a colorful series of allegations about his love life and treatment of women have come out. The 72-year-old leader, who has had his fair share of other scandals including countless criminal trials, has been accused of having an affair with an 18-year-old and hiring paid escorts. Of course, he denies any "spicy" relations.

The academics also call into question Berlusconi's attempt to appoint showgirls, actresses, and a Big Brother contestant as candidates in the European elections.

Perhaps the first wives will attend, if only so their husbands have less free time to spend with their Italian host.

Sarah Palin Still Hasn't Dumped Her Pro-Marital Rape Nominee

TresSugar — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 11:30:00 -0700

Revelations about Wayne Anthony Ross, Sarah Palin's choice for Alaska attorney general, have me wondering: what did she possibly see in him?

Some of the accusations leveled against Ross include: he's called homosexuals "degenerates," ridiculed an African-American student who was offended by a KKK art project, worked to undermine Native American tribal sovereignty, and defended men who rape their wives. Is there anyone he hasn't managed to affront? Oh yeah, straight white men.

The accusation that he is a defender of marital rape got his confirmation off track this week. An antidomestic-violence lobbyist sent a letter to the Alaskan legislature accusing Ross of saying in 1991: "If a guy can't rape his wife, who's he gonna rape?" Ross denied making the comments.

But women's rights groups say Ross has a habit of making antiwoman remarks. He allegedly once said: "If a woman would keep her mouth shut, there wouldn't be an issue with domestic violence."

If Sarah Palin wants to win back the women's vote for Republicans in 2012, she'd better distance herself from public figures like Ross. It looks like she might do just that - she's considering scraping his nomination before it goes to a vote.

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