In Defense of Dustee Tucker
Dustee Tucker, the HUD spokeshottie about whom we have blogged extensively , has many defenders. One of you emailed the photo at right and wrote us: "For the love, gotta get a new photo of Dustee. Here's one from Christmas. Cropped out others to avoid the backlash I am sure I will get."
In other Dustee-related news, we've heard that she is the niece of former Interior Secretary Gale Norton. Can anyone confirm?
Finally, one of you -- who met Dustee while vacationing in Hawaii last week -- wrote us a long email about her general fabulousness. The full message, including a dig at Dustee rival Stormie Janzen, appears after the jump.
Here's the message, in all its glory:
My husband and I just returned from Hawaii where we celebrated our 20th Anniversary. During our visit, we met a lovely, and extremely bright young woman by the name of Dustee Tucker. She literally charmed the entire resort with her generosity and sweet spirit. She even offered to babysit (FOR FREE!!) our two sons so we could have a night out. I was so impressed that I hoped to introduce her to our nephew who is a resident of Virginia. Upon returning home, I decided to "google" her to try and get some contact information. I was quite surprised and dismayed to see your articles. Your coverage of her is unfair and it is clear that you don't know her at all.
Actually, our coverage of Dustee has been very favorable, even fawning. (But we admit that our commenters can be pretty nasty sometimes.)
It could be that I don't understand the cruelties of working in politics, but to me, this young woman was simply doing her job and commenting on the facts she had. You are mischaracterizing her and making a mockery out of the fact that she happens to be very attractive. It makes me understand why so many worthy people skip out on the political process.
Furthermore, my husband and I both agree that she looks nothing like the pictures you have posted. They must be very old and from the story attached it appears they are, in fact, 3-5 years old. If you are going to hold a beauty contest, get a photo that actually resembles Dustee.I know that she would never consider posting photos like those of the other young woman on the internet.
OUCH. Take that, Stormie! You may have triumphed over Dustee in our two recent polls -- but this lady thinks you're a big ol' slut...
And there's more:
My husband and I are both teachers and don't spend a lot of time following politcs but I do believe we know how to recognize good people; and Dustee Tucker is a good person. She is a head turner but she is as classy and kind as she is beautiful. There is something to be said for that. If you are going to "introduce" your readers to Dustee, you should really "introduce" them.
We thank this reader for sending us us such a long, detailed message about Dustee Tucker and her Hawaiian vacation. And if any of you have pictures of Dustee on said vacation, please send them our way too!
Earlier: Prior coverage of Dustee Tucker (scroll down)