Connie Schultz: HIs Lovely Wife

Thanks to Robert McChesney, and Media Matters June 17th episode, I'm now familiar with Senator Sherrod Brown's Lovely Wife, the articulate, pulitzer prize winning journalist Connie Schultz. I strongly encourage people listen to that show, particularly those who miss Molly Ivins.

Connie Schultz is a columnist with the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Her column is now carried by Creators Syndicate, which still lists Molly Ivins as a writer. She won the 2005 Pulitzer prize for commentary written in 2004. The Pulitzer citation stated the award was for

her pungent columns that provided a voice for the underdog and underprivileged.

Of course, she's just the lovely wife of newly elected, truly progressive and not-afraid-to-speak-his-mind US Senator Sherrod Brown. In 2004, I was pulling for outspoken Iraq war veteran Paul Hackett, before the Democratic machine hammered him, and put in this guy named "Sherrod Brown" as the US Senate candidate. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that Brown/Schultz are the real deal. Brown voted against the Iraq war, Brown truly deferred to his wife Connie before entering their race. His belief in himself and honesty to the progressive values persuaded Connie that the sacrifices would be worth it, even if he was a long shot.

And they are in love. I know that sounds a little silly, but listening to her interview with Bob McChesney revealed the power of true love. In other words, a little advice to right-wing hit men; don't piss these two people off... they're in love and that's a force you don't want to mess with. Seriously.

As revealed in her interview with McChesney, Schultz is a clear thinker. This is critical to ensure informative, concise writing. She also has a firm moral compass and stands by her principles. When you listen to her, you can't help but think, "her parents must have been solid people."

She demonstrates this with an anecdotal story. Connie was at an event in which someone introduced her as Sherrod Brown's wife, saying she's one of those women who won't change her name. Her father had just recently died at age 69. She got up to speak and explained her pride in being a Schultz. She was raised by extremely hard working parents from Appalachia who never went to college, who gave up a lot so their children could be somebody. You can be certain there's a man out there who had a rapid conversion in his views on women keeping their maiden name after marriage.

That's where I'll end it. You can have some hope in the future, because Sharrod and Connie are out there slogging away for truth, justice and the American way. Of course,they can't do it without us.

Aside: This blog entry got a slow start... it once looked like this:

I confess that this is a draft blog entry, because while I was writing it I bacame side-tracked on finding a widget for making a slide show that would make Sherrod Brown look like he was clapping. Unfortunately, the clapping slide show doesn't seem to work, and I've yet to do justice to Brown's lovely wife.... but I'm work'n on it.

... if you want him to clap faster, click the [-] minus sign... still trying to figure out how to default to 1 sec....