Remark about Thompson's Wife Sparks Outcry

Actor and former Sen. Fred Thompson has been generating a lot of attention as he gears up for an expected run for the Republican presidential nomination. But it's his wife, Jeri, who's the focus of a new online controversy.

RedState takes MSNBC's Joe Scarborough to task today for comments he made about Jeri Thompson. Scarborough was talking to Congressional Quarterly's Craig Crawford when he asked if Thompson's wife "worked the pole" -- which many blogs have taken as a reference to stripping. The two men went on to imply that Fred Thompson is only married to his wife because he's a TV star, with Crawford saying "that's what a Hollywood career will do for you." (Thompson is 65, his wife is 40.)

RedState describes Scarborough's comment as his "Imus" moment -- which is appropriate, I suppose, because he made it while auditioning to fill the time slot left by Don Imus' ouster for his remarks about the Rutgers women's basketball team.

Apparently, the conversation about "working the pole" began when the show's traffic and weather reporter mentioned she used it as an exercise routine to stay in shape, and the topic continued into the talk with Crawford. Ed Morrissey of Captain's Quarters writes that this mitigates the comments a bit, but he is "still mystified why Scarborough thinks that Jeri's appearance requires some lecherous reference."

Mary Katharine Ham writes at TownHall.org that Scarborough is "guilty of acting like an obnoxious, lecherous morning-show jock instead of a respectable political commentator, but he doesn't seem to be guilty of calling Jeri Thompson a stripper out of the blue."

William Dyer of BeldarBlog defends both Thompson and his wife in a post entitled "Fred Thompson and Jeri Kehn: Trophy wife, trophy husband?" Omri Ceren of Mere Rhetoric predicted in April that these kinds of comments would be made about Jeri Thompson because of the couple's age difference.

4:25 PM ET | 06- 5-2007 | permalink