Poor Ann Romney

[cbelt3]

:hail: $tevie :agree:

[Lemon Drop]

I have respect and admiration for Ann Romney. But she deserves criticism and scrutiny for the arrogant and offensive and misleading comments she's been making about working moms and about her own situation.
Once you do that and make yourself your husband's official spokesperson on women's issues, then you are fair game.

What Hilary Rosen meant by "she's never worked a day in her life" is obvious, but the Romney campaign used that to launch their absurd and petty Mommy war.

Not much that Ann Romney says will matter in November, it's her husband's leadership ideas that will matter.

My family and I won't be affected by Ann's charity work nor by her health issues and her brave battles there (fought with unlimited resources for alternative treatments not available to most people.)

However, we would be affected by her husband's leadership ideas should he become President.
So bring it on Mrs. Romney.

[Pam]

$tevie wrote:
I'm not comfortable with making a mockery of a woman who has survived two terrible health crises and who has been dragged into an election fray for her crime of being a stay at home mother. MY mother was a stay at home mother, and she is one of the most astute and politically savvy human beings I know including all the pundits in print and broadcast. We used to try to talk her into writing a blog but she's not one for calling attention to herself. My mother raised five children, too, and I admire her immensely for it.

The War Against Women isn't just about reproductive rights. It's about reducing complicated issues into a cheap and tawdry cat fight between Rosen and Romney. Hey, we're just talking about women -- it's funny, not important, right?

I hated this when they did it to Kerry's wife and I hate it now.

I agree with Lemon Drop. This was never about stay at home mom's versus working outside the home mom's. And pretty much everyone knew it. It was skewed into that, or attempted anyway, to divert attention from what was really intended. There is no way Ann Romney knows what it's like to have to work to put food on the table, clothes on backs, and a roof over heads. That she thinks she can relate is just plain stupid.

[decay]

What does Ann Romney make for dinner every night?


Reservations.

[graylocks]

Pam wrote:
There is no way Ann Romney knows what it's like to have to work to put food on the table, clothes on backs, and a roof over heads. That she thinks she can relate is just plain stupid.

I agree. Rosen was referring to a class difference which the Repubs are playing the usual game of doublespeaking into a slur against stay at home moms. I emphasize with her health challenges but i know many women with similar challenges who had to find a way to continue to work outside the home to provide the basics for their family.

Stevie, I don't think stay at home moms are 'less' or stupid. i bet your mom was astute enough to understand the differences between her situation and women who have to juggle parenting and providing food, clothing, and shelter.

[$tevie]

Most of the posts in this thread were mocking Ann Romney for being rich. I see barely any posts that intelligently address what she said.

And if you think about, the woman does have a job. It's to be the wife of a person running for/serving in elected offices. A sucky job which has effed up the life of many a woman, just ask Pat Nixon or Kitty Dukakis.

As I said, I hated the Rich B*tch crap when applied to Teresa Heinz and I hate it when applied to Ann Romney.

[Lemon Drop]

Which of Mrs. Romney's comments show she has any empathy for working moms or middle class families in general?

Most of them have been whiny attempts to defend her lifestyle.

I actually thought I liked her, based on what I'd heard, before she started talking much on the campaign trail. Now I understand why Romney staffers back in the 90's said that her lack of talent at campaigning and inability to connect with ordinary women played a role in her husband's Senate loss.

[lafinfil]

Maybe he should get a second wife just for campaigning purposes.

; -)

[Pam]

I don't remember Teresa Heinz saying that she connected with middle class women. Or trying to be something she wasn't.

[J Marston]

Stevie wrote:
And if you think about, the woman does have a job.

I agree that most of this has a whiff of carnival side-show, and I also agree that raising children is work of a very important kind.

But the context of Mitt's original statement is germane: he said that women want jobs and a better economy, and he heard this from Ann. In that world, it is useful to point out that Ann Romney has never had paid employment outside her home: as john dough remarked, she is part of the elite and, like her husband, seems trapped inside an elite world-view.

Plainly the point of Mitt's statement was to interrupt the "war on women" narrative that had been constructed, so he stated that employment is more crucial than contraception, more relevant than reproductive freedom.

Mitt (and Ann) appear to be unable to see that the problems are related, and that without contraception, day care, and reproductive freedom, valorizing motherhood presents many women with the unavoidable choice between performing work that is valued (motherhood) and work that is recompensed (outside the home).