Iowa first lady comes under fire for column
By Ed Tibbetts, Quad-City Times | Posted: Tuesday, July 27, 2004
BOSTON -- On the day before she was slated to give a prime-time address at the Democratic National Convention here, Iowa first lady Christie Vilsack came under fire Monday for comments she penned in columns for an Iowa newspaper.
The columns included a 1994 piece in which she said she was "fascinated at the way some African-Americans speak to each other in an English I struggle to understand, then switch to standard English when the situation requires."
The comments were disclosed Monday in the Boston Herald under a large headline reading, "Say What?" In the columns, written for the Mount Pleasant News, Vilsack also wrote that Southerners, while polite, have "slurred speech," according to the article, which characterized her comments as derisive toward blacks and people who live in the South and East.
Republicans immediately pounced on the remarks. "This kind of intolerance is not acceptable in our country and it's shameful this kind of language is being supported by John Kerry and the rest of the Democrats on a national stage," said Leon Mosley, an African-American who is the cochairman of the Republican Party of Iowa.
The Iowa GOP also issued a news release saying Christie Vilsack embarrassed Iowa. Gentry Collins, the deputy chairman, called for an apology.
Democrats called the controversy an attempt by Republicans to divide Americans and divert attention from their own failed record. "These are just attacks from the other side to try to divide us," Christie Vilsack said in an interview. She said that, as a mother and teacher of literacy, she worked to instruct tolerance. "The columns that I wrote celebrate the differences we have in language in this country," she added.
On Monday, she and the wife of New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson handed out scholarships and gave books to the Boston public school system, which were donated by Iowa delegates.
Christie Vilsack, who endorsed Kerry during the Iowa caucuses, is scheduled to speak in prime time tonight about values. The Kerry campaign dismissed the criticism as an orchestrated GOP campaign.
The Herald article quoted Vilsack as writing, "The only way I can speak like residents of New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania is to let my jaw drop an inch and talk with my lips in an 'O' like a fish. I'd rather learn to speak Polish."
When asked about the meaning of the remarks, an aide to Vilsack said she would not respond. But in a separate interview, Gov. Tom Vilsack said the comments were taken from 14 years worth of columns and that "she was making fun of herself," not deriding anyone. "Anybody who knows Christie ... knows this is a very, very unfortunate and inaccurate characterization of her," he said.
He called the criticism a sad commentary. The election, he said, is about John Kerry. "This is not about my wife."
Ed Tibbetts can be contacted at 563-383-2327 or etibbetts@qctimes.com
The columns included a 1994 piece in which she said she was "fascinated at the way some African-Americans speak to each other in an English I struggle to understand, then switch to standard English when the situation requires."
The comments were disclosed Monday in the Boston Herald under a large headline reading, "Say What?" In the columns, written for the Mount Pleasant News, Vilsack also wrote that Southerners, while polite, have "slurred speech," according to the article, which characterized her comments as derisive toward blacks and people who live in the South and East.
Republicans immediately pounced on the remarks. "This kind of intolerance is not acceptable in our country and it's shameful this kind of language is being supported by John Kerry and the rest of the Democrats on a national stage," said Leon Mosley, an African-American who is the cochairman of the Republican Party of Iowa.
The Iowa GOP also issued a news release saying Christie Vilsack embarrassed Iowa. Gentry Collins, the deputy chairman, called for an apology.
Democrats called the controversy an attempt by Republicans to divide Americans and divert attention from their own failed record. "These are just attacks from the other side to try to divide us," Christie Vilsack said in an interview. She said that, as a mother and teacher of literacy, she worked to instruct tolerance. "The columns that I wrote celebrate the differences we have in language in this country," she added.
On Monday, she and the wife of New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson handed out scholarships and gave books to the Boston public school system, which were donated by Iowa delegates.
Christie Vilsack, who endorsed Kerry during the Iowa caucuses, is scheduled to speak in prime time tonight about values. The Kerry campaign dismissed the criticism as an orchestrated GOP campaign.
The Herald article quoted Vilsack as writing, "The only way I can speak like residents of New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania is to let my jaw drop an inch and talk with my lips in an 'O' like a fish. I'd rather learn to speak Polish."
When asked about the meaning of the remarks, an aide to Vilsack said she would not respond. But in a separate interview, Gov. Tom Vilsack said the comments were taken from 14 years worth of columns and that "she was making fun of herself," not deriding anyone. "Anybody who knows Christie ... knows this is a very, very unfortunate and inaccurate characterization of her," he said.
He called the criticism a sad commentary. The election, he said, is about John Kerry. "This is not about my wife."
Ed Tibbetts can be contacted at 563-383-2327 or etibbetts@qctimes.com
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