Mom Romney

The latest case of Fake outrage on the right(and there are many) comes from some obscure political pundit named Hilary Rosen who (probably) correctly said Ann Romney “has never worked a day in her life”. yes that sound was the collective grumble of the right appalled that anyone would say such a thing.

We know from recent history, how republicans nothing but the utmost respect for women. They ran to the nearest microphone to point out that being a Mother was “the hardest job in the world” how dare her!

I agree that being a parent is one of the hardest jobs in the world and deserves respect. I also believe that if a family chooses to have one parent more power to them. However, the fake outrage over Ann Romney and “Rosengate” should embarrass even the republicans. Lets look at some facts, especially as they relate to multi Millionaire Ann Romney:

From the Guardian:

• African American women make only 62¢, and Hispanic women only 54¢, for every dollar earned by white, non-Hispanic men, according to the National Women’s Law Center.

• About 46.2 million people, or 15.1% of the US population, are living in poverty, according to census bureau data, the highest figure in 52 years. Women were hardest hit, with 17 million living in poverty last year, compared with 12.6 million men. Twice as many women over 65 were living in poverty, compared with men.

• More than 40% of women who head families are now living in poverty. With more than half of poor children living in female-headed families in 2010, the child poverty rate jumped to 22%.

• Even in among the 1%, inequality remains rife. The number of women on corporate boards worldwide has nudged above a measly 10% for the first time, according to a recent survey of 4,300 companies in 45 countries by corporate governance expert GMI. There are just 11 women at the head of Fortune 500 companies.

TIME: Hilary Rosen was right:

The “mancession” of recent years has made more mothers than ever before responsible for the lion’s share of their children’s economic well-being. Attitudes tend to follow behavior change: in 2010, according to the General Social Survey, which has collected data on social trends and attitudes since 1972, fully 75% of Americans agreed that “a working mother can establish just as warm and secure a relationship with her children as a mother who does not work.” Sixty-five percent of the public even now believes that preschool children are not likely to suffer if their mothers work outside the home.

the LA Times points out that there are bigger issues than Ann Romney’s feelings being hurt:

The problem is this: Many of the economic policies that the former Massachusetts governor has embraced during the contentious Republican primary could make it much harder for him to appeal to the moderate and independent women who are key to his quest for the White House.

The gender gap Romney faces is stark. He trailed President Obama among women by 19 percentage points in a Washington Post/ABC News poll this week — a slide that began in the midst of the Republican primary debate over issues like access to birth control. Perhaps most ominously, a USA Today/Gallup survey released last week found that Obama had opened a 14-percentage-point lead over Romney among independent women in 12 swing states.

While the campaigns tangled this week over ancillary issues like whether Romney was using a fair statistic to describe job losses among women during Obama’s presidency, or the stances of several of his female surrogates on controversial issues like transvaginal ultrasounds for women seeking abortions, the more crucial question is what the toll has been of his sometimes harsh rhetoric on issues of concern to moderate women, like budget priorities, immigration and the nation’s social safety net.

I am betting that no one who is going to read this has been a mother in the Ann Romney sense of being a mother. My questions for Ann Romney are:

* How many lunches have you packed for your four kids?
* How many tutors/nannies/trainers etc… did each of your children have?
* How many days did you have to go to work incredibly sick because you already missed the last three days staying home taking care of your sick kids and can not afford another day off and without pay?
* How many times have you had to keep your kids out of activities because you just did not have the money to enroll them and you had to work during their practices and had no way to get them there?
* How many times did you go without that new sweater you wanted and needed because your kids put a hole in their jeans and they need clothes?


I think you get the idea. While being a mother is an incredibly hard job, some people have it harder than others. Hilary Rosen was correct, maybe Ann Romney is not the best person to be consulting Mitt on women’s issues.

I do find it ironic that the republicans pretend to say that being a single mother is the hardest job in the world, then try to declare single parenthood as child abuse! if you think being a mother is the hardest job in the world, try being a single parent!

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2 thoughts on “Mom Romney

  1. Here we go again…proving the Republicans’ point for them…

    In my youth I voted Republican once. It was my first Presidential election. As an average 18 year old I didn’t pay attention to the issues nearly as much as I did to girls and the novelty of my new freedoms. But I tried to make the best decision I could make at the time. And when I compared Ronald Reagan’s track record to what his administration actually did, I stopped voting for Republicans.

    I didn’t “boycott” the GOP or make snap decisions; this came from the sum total of a lot of observations I made over many years. It was a rationally thought-out decision that was based on sound empirical evidence.

    After making one big mistake, the last thing I was going to do was repeat the same error by rushing into the arms of the Democrats, or any other political party for that matter. Although I’ve never voted for a Republican since, and almost never find a viable non-Republican who’s not a Democrat. But I’m not a Democrat myself because I’ve learned the lessons of blind allegiance vividly.

    The thing is that I’m almost totally reliant on Democrats and/or “liberals” to represent me in government. And by extension I’m almost totally reliant on Democratic/”liberal” voters as well. So when I see a large group of Democratic/”liberals” snap from being the adults in the room to being the very embodiment of what Rush Limbaugh accused them of being as a reaction to the statements of someone who I don’t believe deserves to be dignified with a response, that worries me.

    Since nobody else has the common sense or guts to say it, I will: This imaginary “war on women” reaction by the Democratic/”liberals” is a reckless self-indulgence that the democratic/liberal causes (notice the lowercase “d” and lack of quotes) can little afford right now. It’s pig-headed, wrong-minded, and worst of all it proves the enemy to be right. It’s a disaster!

    The Republicans bring more than enough bigotry for all of us. So why are my brothers and sisters all too eager to play by Republican rules, time and again? Don’t you know that separating people on the basis of sex, race or creed is what you’re supposed to oppose, not practice?

    I have the utmost empathy for those who have been treated unfairly; I’m one of them. And if being the victim of years and years of intolerance and hatred is that the only way to be fair is to do things on a case-by-case basis. Where do we see things being done on a case by case basis? In the courts, of course! There’s also arbitration and other similar methods in place.

    One of the things we point to when we puff out our chests and declare ourselves evolved from barbarians is things like the courts and related institutions. We use terms like “witch hunt” to highlight the fact that we know that behaving impulsively and rashly against others is no longer acceptable.

    So when are you people going to come to your senses and start obeying your own rules of conduct? Will it be, predictably, after you sabotage your candidates’ chances for election?

  2. I’m seeing a couple of dissonant points. You, on one hand, describe yourself as being a brother or sister in one sentence and then it’s a criticism of “you people,” doing something in the next. Makes your points a bit hard to take seriously with a couple of instances of conflicting uses of personal pronouns and group association in the piece. I’m getting an urge to say, “whose side are you on?”

    Your question, “Don’t you know that separating people…oppose not practice?” is not what I see happening at all. I’m seeing a reaction by “we” (indies/democrats/liberals) to a purposeful division that was created by conservatives (them), and directed against women, not something that “we” are or were doing or creating from the onset. When somebody else, Republicans/conservatives, separates a defined group of, “us,” and then, “we,” respond to that separation of that part of our whole body, I just don’t think that “we,” are being just like them in the way that you are portraying it. Don’t see any of our own rules of conduct being disobeyed. I’m seeing a justifiable reaction necessary to no longer simply letting Rush-con-shit fly by with a free pass.

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