By Adele
Last week, Hilary Rosen got the White House and mama grizzlies’ knickers in a knot when she said on CNN that Ann Romney “never worked a day in her life.”
Rosen could have avoided being shish-kabobbed if she’d just added “outside the home” to be closer to the truth.
Ann Romney’s outside activities seem to have been confined to not-for-profit endeavors and sitting on boards.
Mitt anointed Ann his “expert” on women’s economic concerns. She’s got her finger on the pulse of working women — from one of her Cadillacs, her horses, or any of her several homes — while being supported by her millionaire husband.
(BTW, in January, Mitt said in New Hampshire that poor women don’t deserve to be stay-at-home moms because they need the “dignity” of work. I wonder how he thinks women married to millionaires acquire “dignity?”)
Instead of trying to have it all, Ann Romney chose the June Cleaver path. She laid back, using insufficient birth control, and popped out a litter of 5.
She never ran with the big dogs in Corporate America to learn what she’s worth in hard workplace cash. She’s never had to worry about being fired or laid off and losing her healthcare, being paid less than a man for the same work, or not earning enough to keep her kids in their private schools.
That’s what makes her so QUALIFIED to spout off about women’s financial concerns — NOT.
Face it. Ann’s as eerily out of touch as Mitt. You’d think they both spent the last century sleeping in matching coffins.
It’s a shame Rosen apologized to appease outraged mommies when she was actually DEFENDING the employed ones — the breadwinners who know how much a gallon of gas costs.
No one disputes that staying home with kids is hard work — especially without a nanny, cook, or maid. But at home you ARE the big cheese who calls all the shots. You don’t get fired for screwing up. And you do it all on SOMEONE ELSE’S MONEY.
Instead of seeing Ann “Everywoman” Romney as the hollow façade she is, mothers are rallying around her, even as Ann schemes with her husband to stab them in the back if he wins, denying them basic female healthcare and the right to earn as much as men. Not to mention gutting education and vital programs to help them and their children through hard times.
But the 800-lb. gorilla that NOBODY dares to mention is that this whole brouhaha probably has its roots in the Romneys’ basic Mormon belief in the subservience of women. Do you really think they DON’T see it as doing God’s work to set women’s rights back to the 1800s?
BONUSES: Linda Hirschman’s opinion in the Washington Post.
A male perspective from blogger Bud Meyers.
Cats Working 
I agree that apologizing was a bad idea. Instead, she should have been more specific – pointed out to moms just what the problem actually is. This puts us on the defensive when we actually have a great point. Why does that keep happening? The Republicans are so good at propaganda that Goebbels would be proud. Why can’t we actually stand our ground and be articulate when we have such an excellent point to make.
My comment about Ann Romney has completely left my head.Bourdain in Kansas City didn’t interest me ,so I turned on the International Latin Ballroom Dance competition on PBS. Damn,I wish I looked like that in sequins and feathers.
ZM
ZM, I wish I’d known that was on! Then again, I was already in bed by the time Bourdain came on, but I did catch a bit of Dancing With the Stars for the first time this season. Would much rather watch pros compete, though.
Imabear, I think it doesn’t serve mothers well to throw the baby out with the bathwater and refuse to acknowledge the point Hilary Rosen tried to make. Do they really want a woman who has NO CLUE about managing a normal family’s finances to be in the White House, advising the president on matters affecting families?
Romney was caught just the other day saying he’d eliminate HUD and reduce the Dept. of Education because education should be handled on the state level.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/post/mitt-romney-at-private-fundraiser-i-might-eliminate-hud/2012/04/16/gIQA5QuKLT_blog.html
It’s certain that Anne Romney never had to come home from work, make dinner, clean up the dishes, help the kids with homework, get some some ironing done so the kids will look decent for school the next day, take care of her own clothing so she will look good for work in the morning , fall into bed, wake up in the morning and start all over again. If Anne Romney doesn’t feel well, she can lie down for a nice nap and recover before her husband comes home from his high power job which makes her lesiure possible. I wonder how many loads of laundry she has done-never having to tote that load to the laundromat on the week-end and only on one of her two days off work. Poor thing, she will never know the pleasure of standing at a bus stop corner in below freezing weather or the pressure of getting to that corner in time to meet the bus. Her Caddies are always in good running order, and ALL her houses are always clean and presentable Her kids are always healthy, clean, smart and enrolled in the best schools. Go cry me a river, Anne!
Anne, the Republicans picked a candidate who creeps everybody out, paired with a First Lady wannabe who doesn’t remotely represent “normal” women.
Republicans like to think they’re the real “salt of the earth,” yet they consistently lionize guys born with a “silver foot in their mouth” (I’m going back to both Bushes here). Remember when somebody asked Bush Sr. when he was president how much milk or gas costs and he had NO CLUE?
Obama once got reamed for mentioning “arugula” like he was some elitist foodie. Compared to these Republican millionaires, the Obamas are paupers. And in spite of all the help the Obamas have in the White House, they both play an active role in raising their kids. Hell, Michelle brought her MOTHER to Washington — she didn’t hire a nanny.
Repubs seem to be cloning Stepford wives like Ann Rommey and Calista Gingrich. Bottle blondes with pasted-on smiles, phony and insincere to their bone marrow, without an original thought, willing to say WHATEVER to get their hubbies elected.
Both Calista Gingrich and Ann Romney look like Republican party dolls. I wonder if the Ann Romney party doll model comes with a Mormon garment.
Adele, although Mitt has refused to answer whether he’s into the magic underwear, there’s a picture of Mitt floating around the ‘Net that shows the unmistakable outline of a Grandpa-style tank T-shirt under his dress shirt — or the undergarment. Since Mormons tend to look upon those who don’t embrace the 24/7 underwear as “unworthy” (unworthy of what, I don’t know), I’m betting my treats that the Romneys wear, if only to keep the Mormon vote.
The Gingriches, on the other hand, are Catholics, so Calista can wear thongs or crotchless panties, push-up bras or bustiers, and garters. Newt seems the type to appreciate that.
It’s probably Newt wearing the thongs and bustiers. Calista spanks him with a hairbrush.
ZM
ZM, LolZ !
What strikes me, is how up in arms the Catholic Bishops got over the Obama birth control Policy, yet are just groovy with the Antichrist Romney. I saw some old pouf (read Bishop) being interviewed and he was jolly fine with the thought of a woman subjugating, detached wealthy elitist, zombie, cultist, poncing about the Whitehouse, cause at least HE doesn’t condone contraception.
My fascination is with the Veep choice. It’s my guess they are BEGGING fatso Chris Christie the Republican dream candidate.
PS: Were his parents high when they named him?
Morgan, it is very creepy to see the Catholic Church crawling into bed with the Mormons. While some of the outward trappings are similar (ostentatious cathedrals/temples, male-only hierarchy), you would think the Catholics would be skeptical enough about the Mormons’ secrecy and reputed weirdness (baptizing famous dead Jewish people to “save” them) that they would step back.
But maybe the pedophile scandal has worn the Catholics to the point where they’re looking for friends in all the wrong places.
I feel as if the deal to make Christie the VP was struck long ago, and the only reason they haven’t announced it is to keep the speculation going so Romney doesn’t drop to the back pages. Meanwhile, all the wannabe VPs (like Governor McDonnell of Va.) are showing Romney how they’d boost his cred be by going overboard with the conservative asshole act in their current jobs.