Top Dems distance themselves from Hilary Rosen. DNC: she doesn't work for us

[Freddie Stubbs]

Source: Miami Herald

Republicans are jumping all over Democrat Hilary Rosen for saying last night on CNN that Mitt Romney's wife, Ann Romney, has never worked. Conservatives say that amounts to an attack on stay-at-home-moms.

Obama's campaign and advisers quickly distanced themselves from Rosen. President Obama's campaign manager said she should apologize. No way, says Rosen.

Now the Democratic National Committee is as well, saying that she doesn't work for them -- despite a Wall Street Journal report saying last month that she was a DNC advisor to Chairwoman and Broward Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

"She's not an adviser to the DNC - the DNC's contract for media services is exclusively with Anita Dunn," said spokesman Brad Woodhouse via email. Asked about the journal article, Woodhouse said "I don't have any idea what the wsj's source for that is - our contract is exclusively with Anita Dunn."

Read more: http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2012/04/top-dems-distance-themselves-from-hilary-rosen-dnc-she-doesnt-work-for-us.html

[Capt. Obvious]

1. Is Ann really a "stay at home mom" though?

I suppose someone has to supervise the nannies.

[asjr]

2. I heard Hilary's remark and can't understand

all the brouhaha. She simply made a statement. Anything she said against Ann Romney would have been refuted by the Republicans, but to have the Democrats pile on her was the wrong thing to do. Did they ever pile on Republicans when one called Obama stupid? How many refuted the ones who were birthers, death panelists, and lately one who is utterly dangerous to be around, said about 81 Democrats in D.C. were communists. There are some W.H. Democrats who are beginning to make me irritable. When our country has been reduced to second-grade political shenanigans what can we do. I am with Hilary Rosen!

[DJ13]

5. This sounds like another instance of the typical cowardly Democratic response

The party leadership has less spine than a boneless chicken.

[asjr]

9. Amen!

[aquart]

21. +1

How bloody gutless!

[harun]

26. +1

[nashville_brook]

28. yeppers.

[DebbieCDC]

31. As usual, Dems eat their own

Even though Hillary Rosen is spot on with her comments. I'd like to see Ann Romney do the "hard work" of raising those 5 boys on a minimum wage job, or two or three jobs, without nannies, tutors, chauffeurs, cooks, and accountants.

[Daemonaquila]

33. No kidding.

Yes, if you've never been in the work force, or it has been so long ago and so little that you're out of touch with the working world, then it shouldn't be surprising that someone will comment that you're out of touch. Same thing when supposedly she is a touchstone about what American women think - Ann Romney's experience as a 1% non-working leech doesn't make her qualified to speak on anything regarding virtually all women's experiences. By the by, Mrs. Romney is not even a stay-at-home mother - their staff do that job.

[Jefferson23]

37. Exactly, to treat Rosen like this is pure bullshit. n/t

[truebrit71]

43. Yup...once again a Democrat has to apologize for being correct...

...

[Moonwalk]

13. I agree that they shouldn't pile on her, but your argument is apples and oranges...

If Rosen had said Romney was stupid, they wouldn't have piled on her because Romney is fair game. But Rosen's implication was that stay-at-home moms don't work and that criticizes voters, not a particular person, even if a particular person was the aim of the comment. It wasn't a good political thing to say. So your comparison to republicans calling Obama stupid or refuting birthers, etc. don't match up. They were aimed at the politician. This was aimed at the politician's wife and at a group she seems to represent: full-time moms.

Which isn't to say that I disagree. When democrats run from someone who says such a thing it makes them look bad. They should either say, "yeah, she's ours but we don't agree with her remark and here's why..." or they should stand behind her and support what it's all really about--meaning that Ann was a rich lady, not a hard-working mom.

[harun]

27. Wrong, her implication was that Ann can't relate to the economic problems the majority

of women have today.

[Moonwalk]

35. I don't care what her implication was, she said it wrong...

...and because she said it wrong, she put forth the wrong implication, which is that Democrats are against stay-at-home moms. That's bad politics. But the democrats running away from her are just going to make the situation worse, because it now looks like that WAS what she was saying.

Which means whatever she was really trying to say is totally lost, and everyone is left scrambling and going "what I meant...that's not what I meant...etc." Bad all around.

[montanacowboy]

3. Stay at home Mom my ass

how many nannies did they hire? Hillary Rosen is right and again the Dems cave into the right wing propaganda and bend over.

Ms Rmoney is a multi millionaire who never worked a day in her life and that is the goddam gospel truth.

Good for Hillary Rosen and shame on the spineless democrats.

[Proud Public Servant]

8. She's right, but

politically, it's a dumb thing to say. Obama could surf to victory on the gender gap alone; why would you want to risk alienating any female voters -- which is what you do with a tone-deaf statement about women who choose not to work? (If you don't get what a third-rail issue this is, just go read teh comments sections some of the more prominent mommy blogs.) This is like Hillary's Tammy Wynette comment back in '92; nothing incorrect about it, technically, but politically stupid, stupid, stupid.

[creeksneakers2]

19. Rosen wasn't being critical at all of stay at home mothers

The subject was Romney getting his information about how women feel from his wife. Rosen was just pointing out that Romney's wife wasn't a good source, since she never worked and is out of touch with life for most women.

As usual, the GOP twists what somebody says and gets away with it. I can't blame the White House though for conceding. They have more important battles to fight.

[Proud Public Servant]

24. Which is too easily translated as

"women who have never worked have no business commenting on economics." And all over America, women who stayed home to raise the kids suddenly hear themselves being criticized and dismissed by the Dems. Politically stupid. Thank god the WH gets that.

[creeksneakers2]

40. How does what she said translate into

"women who have never worked have no business commenting on economics?" She didn't say anything like that. Last week, the GOP twisted what Obama said as a threat by Obama not to honor rulings from the Supreme Court. The Republicans get away with these lies because nobody in the media calls them.

[Proud Public Servant]

41. It doesn't matter that she didn't say anything like that

What matters is that it can be twisted that way. That's how politics works. We do it to, and we need to. But we need not to be giving the other side gifts to whip up their base, which is essentially what this was. I'm glad it got shut down quickly and will soon be forgotten.

[KurtNYC]

15. They are picking their battles and the one

Rosen picked here was the wrong one Romney needs women so the GOP would love to play this as 'limousine liberals trash work at home moms."

Obama isn't running against work at home moms and raising children is a lifelong job.

[MysticLynx]

22. I listened to part of

Mrs. Romney speech, what I found offensive is it was obvious it was HER choice to stay at home- Most of the mothers I know can not afford the luxury of that choice, even those that would like to stay at home with their children at least while they are young. Mrs. Romney speech was offensive and blatantly obvious that is a heartbreak she has never had to struggle with- feed my family or stay at home with my months old baby. So the DNC lady may not have expressed it well, but I think she was responding to what I and many other Mothers 'felt' from Mrs. Romney Speech. It was condescending, and completely ignored all the Mothers who HAVE to work, and was disrespectful towards them as well.

[JaneQPublic]

4. She's a stay-at-home mom the same way as Lady Grantham on "Downton Abbey."

I suppose if one of her kids has a dead Turk in bed, Ann would also help haul the carcass to the opposite end of the mansion; but otherwise, everything is done by servants.

[classof56]

20. Love that series!

Great post--and now I can't get the image of Ann dragging a body through one of her mansions out of my head. Thanks for the chuckle!

[nolabear]

6. Well she has something in common with ONE working mother. Arnold's maid.

They both like to ride Austrian Warmbloods.

Ba-dump-ching!

[larkrake]

29. there is no such thing as austrian warmbloods

Romney said that because he is ignorant, and his choice of a missouri foxtrotter proves he is lazy and taking the easy way out. Protecting his family jewels on a bounce-less horse instead of learning to ride. I cant see any horse letting such a stiff awkward man on his back anyway.

[KurtNYC]

7. shouldn't it be "stay at 6 homes mom" or

"stay at multiple mansions in La Jolla, Boston, Utah and New Hampshire mom" ?

[Kolesar]

11. Har har

I knew somebody was going to save this thread

[avebury]

10. She may not be politically light but she is correct. There is a huge difference

in being a stay at home mom who actually takes care of the children and cleans the house and a woman who stays at home to supervise the nannies, domestic help, and goes out horseback riding.

I should have added that is would have been difficult for her to hold down an outside job when she was moving around from one mansion to the next.

[PassingFair]

42. I am not one to be an apologist for the very rich...but I DO have a very rich in-law....

I noticed when I stayed with her over a holiday once that her LIFE
is WORK.

Really, she had more management crap to deal with before breakfast
than I do in a typical work day.

There were problems with the nanny's day off, the couple who took
care of the horses (not Austrian Warmbloods, I don't think) were in the
midst of a divorce and not tending to the horses, nevermind the BUFFALO
that were kept so that the land could be taxed AS A FARM instead of
a homestead....When their only child was diagnosed with autism, she
BUILT A SCHOOL attached to the house and then had to supervise that, too.

There were contractors wandering in and out of the house in a dizzying
array. The cook burned the breakfast and was having some sort of break down...

The pool had a crack in it's cement foundations...blah, blah, blah, blah

Honestly, I was HAPPY to come back home to my 1100 sf ranch house
in the Detroit suburbs and just roll out of bed and fling a piece of toast
at my kids on their way out the door to the public school before I headed
to work.

I have nothing bad to say about her, but honestly, even with ALL of her money,
I wouldn't change places with her if I could.....

[Iliyah]

12. This is already

backfire on the goppers and pissing women off even more.

And she is not an adviser to the DNC, but does have support from the Dems. The corporate media again. What she said is the truth and now you have Ann R stating "women making their own choices" family planning, etc.) duh, isn't that is what the Dems have been saying?

Again the backfiring has commence on the GOP.

[sulphurdunn]

14. The Dems have been pulling

too far ahead in the polls. They must help the repugs close the gap so they don't win both the presidency and the congress and have to explain why they couldn't get anything done again.

[LynneSin]

16. A 'Stay-at-home-mom' with the best domestic help money can buy

I would hardly compare Ann Romney with regular Moms

[zbdent]

17. Uh-oh ... it's the "chocolate cookie" situation again ...

In 1992, Granny Bush had her attack dogs put out the attack that "Hillary was a bad mommy because she has a career". Started up a "cookie war" ... Granny and Hillary had to have a chocolate cookie bake-off for the "media".

So, when Bill Clinton ran against Bob Dole, who was divorced and remarried to a woman who had no kids, the "cookie war" came up again, but, of course, the Republicans allowed the rules to the game to be changed again in their favor. Elizabeth Dole said that Bob didn't like chocolate cookies (or something like that) so she had a "ginger snap" recipe. How you compare the better chocolate chip cookie recipe to a ginger snap cookie, I don't know.

So now, you have Ann Romney, who probably visits the kitchen (with an interpreter) to fire the help, being defended TO THE HILT ...

watch for somehow the "liberally-biased media" attacking Michelle Obama, probably a much better mother than Ann "I'm going to have to move into a smaller house???" Romney, as a horrible mommy.

[patrice]

18. Families are off limits, except if they are convicted felons. nt

[KamaAina]

23. Hilary Rosen? RIAA Hilary Rosen?

Is a Dem?! With Dems like that, who needs repukes?

[Psephos]

32. Exactly. n/t

[rayofreason]

34. Yep. Rosen=RIAA, 'nuff said. n/t

[chelsea0011]

25. Oh, not this again.

The Romney people are going to have to be careful how they handle this. They want to make inroads in the woman vote but this issue is a minefield for them. If they go down this road not only, as has been mentioned earlier in posts, will they have to explain all the "help" they have had around the house, but also has all the help been legal. Romney has been in trouble in the past for hiring companies that use undocumented workers for his gardening an house painting. I'm not sure this is an issue they want to pursue in length. If they keep this an issue past the weekend the press will start to get a little antsy in getting out the true picture of Ann as stay-at-home mom. Not that one can't be a stay home mom and have people cook and clean for them.

[DallasNE]

30. Everybody Understands What Is Going On Here

Mitt Romney has a huge deficit with women voters so he sent his wife Ann out in an attempt to close that gap. When Ann Romney claimed that she felt the pain that working women face and that her husband was a pro-growth guy that would create jobs for women Hilary Rosen called her out since she has not been a working wife and is being disingenuous with her comments. That is a far cry from an attack on stay at home moms. It is also unclear whether we have the complete comment made by Rosen meaning it could well be out of context. Heaven knows, the Romneys would never do that. Oops, Romney used a comment where Obama was quoting McCain and claimed the comments were Obama's.

[Jefferson23]

36. Idiots, throw one of your own under the bus. n/t

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

38. We need to come to grips with the fact that there is a double standards. Republicans are never held

accountable for the slime they or their supporters/surrogates spew. NEVER!

But as we can plainly see, the Corporate Media is jumping all over the Democrats for the inartful words from Rosen.

That's just the way it goes...

[Kelvin Mace]

39. What utter contemptible cowardice

Why are they running FROM the truth?

Each day they make it so that more on the left cannot vote for them in November.

[Tom Rinaldo]

44. It reminds me of what Wes Clark went through in 2008

He was defending Obama on national security issues on TV, asserting that Obama had the experience and character needed to be a better Commander in Chief than McCain when the host interrupted and said something like "But General, Senator Obama has never been shot down in a fighter jet and held as a POW" to which Clark replied something like "Being shot down in a fighter jet is not is not a requirement to be President.

Republicans and the national press jumped all over Clark non stop for days after that, claiming he had "swiftboated" McCain. Obama cut Clark out of the campaign and disavowed his comments - no leading Democrats defended Clark in any way during the public lynching that followed.

We have to learn to do better than this when Republicans come after one of our own.