On Fri, 18 May 2007, Wojtek Sokolowski wrote:
> > Why, throughout this whole soap opera, was W's mistress *never* referred
> > to as such, but always as his "girlfriend" or "companion?"
> Does not the term "mistress" denote a female paramour of a *married*
> man? I do not think Wolf is married at this time.
FWIW, that actually turns out to have been an open question:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/13/AR2007051301016_2.html
<snip>
Are They or Aren't They?
The calls usually start: "Why do you people always . . . " Of late,
there have been a couple e-mails and calls demanding to know why the
media often refer to World Bank President Paul D. Wolfowitz's
companion, Shaha Riza as his "girlfriend" when, they insist, she's
his mistress, because Wolfowitz is not divorced from his wife,
Clare.
It's true that no one in the media has used the press's subpoena and
contempt powers to force someone to tell us what the bank chief's
marital status is. Some reporters doubtless felt it was not the
central factor in, as they say at the bank, "the current situation,"
or TCS.
Some sources have said they thought the couple were divorced. Others
said they were "legally separated."
But since the TCS began in late March, reporters have tried, just
for the record, to get a clear answer to the question. Last week,
our colleagues Linton Weeks and Richard Leiby asked several people
close to Riza and the Wolfowitzes to clarify. None could -- or
would.
Weeks, in an e-mail, asked Clare Wolfowitz about the marital
situation. She didn't address the question.
Two years ago, when Wolfowitz was nominated to the bank presidency,
the Daily Mail in England reported that she refused to confirm her
marital status. "Reports of his appointment repeatedly describe
Wolfowitz as divorced but [the newspaper] has been unable to find
any records. Asked if she is separated or divorced, Clare replied:
'That's my business.' "
When we checked a while back, we could find no records of a divorce
in Maryland, and land records indicated that Paul and Clare remain
owners of a home in Montgomery County.
But, to paraphrase the great Donald H. Rumsfeld, absence of a
divorce record is not evidence of a divorce.
So it may be we were wrong to say Riza was Wolfowitz's girlfriend.
If so, we regret the error.
<end excerpt>
BTW, I found this entire column by Al Kamen kind of interestingly amusing -- he reminded me a Washingtonian Herb Caen. Is he always like this?
Michael