Boston- Teresa Heinz Kerry told a Pittsburgh newspaperman to “shove it” just minutes after urging the Pennsylvania delegates to restore a more civil tone to politics. `We need to turn back some of the creeping, un-Pennsylvanian and sometimes un-American traits that are coming into some of our politics,” she told delegates. Colin McNickle, the editorial page editor of the conservative Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, later questioned her repeatedly on what she meant by the term “un-American.” After repeated denials, Heinz Kerry told McNickle, “You said something I didn’t say. Now shove it.” Never bashful about correcting others, Heinz Kerry also settled a mini-feud that broke out last night during the Pennsylvania delegation’s State House party over whether Boston or Philadelphia holds the distinction as the “birthplace of America.” On the steps of the grand staircase, flanked last night by delegates from her home state of Pennsylvania, Heinz Kerry made the fete her first delegation party stop, giving a spontaneous speech alongside Gov. Ed Rendell, who introduced Heinz Kerry and took issue with her husband’s historical characterization of Boston. “The birthplace of America is a little bit south,” Rendell joked. “I hate to correct the governor, but actually John said that (Boston) is the birthplace of freedom,” Heinz Kerry said. Clearly comfortable among her fellow Pennsylvanians, Heinz Kerry said she was grateful both her husbands gave her the room to speak her mind, which has led to unpredictable and awkward outcomes on the campaign trail. Born in Mozambique, Heinz Kerry raised her family while married for 25 years to Republican State Sen. John Heinz, who died in 1991 in a plane crash. “I always cherish going home to Pennsylvania,” Heinz Kerry said. “They are my American roots – still today.”
“Shove It” Kerry’s Wife Tells Reporter
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