Yeah, I think you are right about her little nickname for him.
I don't know how they do it. My brother's wife is a flaming lib and we can't figure them out either. I couldn't be married to someone who I didn't agree with the majority of their political beliefs.
Some people can have disagreements and not take them personally.
That's valuable trait.
It's hard to imagine today because we hear a lot of liberals in the MSM engage in irrational yelling and bad behavior. It wasn't always that way and there are still liberals who are polite, pleasant and good company.
Maybe it's partly because they believe that they "accomplished" changes by shouting down the opposition.
Maybe another part is as David Brooks had suggested, that Roe v. Wade eliminated the need for debate on the Left.