JOHN KERRY'S N.Y. TIMES LINK
JOHN Kerry's ex-girlfriend Emma Gilbey is now married to Bill Keller, the executive editor of the New York Times - and some wags are wondering whether Gilbey's romantic past will influence her husband's coverage of the candidate.
Kerry dated Gilbey, a British gin heiress, in the late 1980s before she dumped him for Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour. This was prior to Kerry marrying ketchup heiress Teresa Heinz and Gilbey getting hitched to Keller. But the dishier details of the Gilbey-Kerry fling are just now leaking out.
In the new issue of the American Conservative, co-editor Taki Theodoracopulos, another former flame of Gilbey's, imparts a naughty new morsel about the Gilbey/Kerry romance:
"People do tend to tell each other secrets, and one of her's was that she was involved with JFK Mark II [Kerry], the man who is now running for president," Taki writes. "More details followed, and then it was time for a White House correspondents' dinner.
"I had had much too much to drink . . . and when John Kerry lumbered by I heard myself yelling, 'Senator, do you like to have sex in limousines?' Well, he didn't look best pleased, but then he's a politician and knows how to roll with the punches. He also knew that I knew and left it well enough alone."
"Still," Taki writes, "the big question is whether Emma Gilbey will influence Bill Keller to endorse or not. Stay tuned."
When we posed that very question to Times spokeswoman Catherine Mathis, she told us: "Bill Keller does not endorse the candidate. The editorial board of the New York Times does. Bill is executive editor of the newsroom." But Kerry's annointment by the Times is already a foregone conclusion - the Old Gray Lady endorsed Kerry in the Democratic primary, and will surely tap him over President Bush in the general election.
"Americans care about jobs, health care and national security, not gossip," declared Kerry spokesman David Wade. "John Kerry's coverage in the New York Times will be determined by his vision for the country and the fights he wages and nothing more."
Gilbey was perhaps the least noteworthy of the string of attractive women Kerry squired around Washington in the 1980s. As a swinging single U.S. Senator, Kerry was linked to Catherine Oxenberg, an actress and member of the Yugoslav Royal Family; "Falcon Crest" actress turned Old Navy pitchwoman Morgan Fairchild; Ronald Reagan's daughter Patti Davis; and Michelle Phillips of the Mamas and the Papas.