Does it matter if Ann Romney has ever worked for a paycheck?

[MoonRiver]

Doesn't to me. I think we need to focus on her husband's extreme positions, including those that hurt women, rather than his wife.

[MrYikes]

1. Just a bit of comic relief

Necessary once in a while.

[sadbear]

2. If she's supposed to be some sort of economic expert, it does.

[hughee99]

26. Why, she could have worked for 100 years for a paycheck

and it doesn't make her any more qualified to be an "economic expert".

[sadbear]

32. But not working a single day totally makes her unqualified to be an economic expert.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

35. define work... n/t

[polichick]

3. What matters is that Republican policies take choices away from women...

I think Hillary Rosen was thinking about that - too bad it came out the way it did.

[Voice for Peace]

19. In this clip she says "we need to respect the choices that women make"

and she says it more than once. It seems to me like a 'dogwhistle' to attract women who are concerned about abortion rights -- and Romney really needs to get pinned down, soon. Does he support choice, or not?

Ann Romney: "We need to respect the choices that women make"

[polichick]

33. I heard that on the radio today and thought the same thing...

Time for Romney to be seriously questioned - and forced to answer.

[atreides1]

4. Yes it does

If she is going to try to pass herself off as an expert on the concerns of working women, especially when it appears she has no idea what it means to work outside of the home!

Putting his wife in the spotlight is also a focus on how out of touch Romney truly is when it comes to women's issues...what he's trying to say is that he understands because his wife knows what it means to work!

[MoonRiver]

5. Granted, but you do understand how this argument is being spun by Repugs.

They're twisting it into an attack on stay at home moms, and galvanizing support for Romney among his reluctant base.

[Demeter]

16. You mean, the 1% Moms? Who Gives a....

[ProdigalJunkMail]

24. we are not one percenters...

and my wife stays home...

sP

[Demeter]

30. So did I, when they were too young for school

You aren't GOP either, or you are lost.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

31. we are not one percenters...

and my wife stays home...all three of ours are homeschooled. you say 'who gives a...' as if ALL moms who stay home with their kids after they are school age are 1%'s. Simply not true...

sP

[riderinthestorm]

6. There's been a lot of RNC chatter about "using" Ann Romney to try to woo back the women's vote

There's a group who believe she can be very useful in playing to women.

I think this was her first foray into that arena which is why its notable.

If we don't counter her now, while it's fresh, that meme will only grow - that Ann Romney is somehow just like the 99% women who are either SAHMs or working moms which is patently false. Its a lie. Yes just one more lie in a long line of lies by the Romney's but they are desperate to play up their "regular family" image (Mitt's unemployed just like the rest of us!!!111) and I'm not going to just sit back and watch it.

They are the 1%. Its something to keep hammering home.

The Obama's come from the 99%.

Its a "win" for us to keep that out front imho. Maybe not in the center but certainly as part of the equation.

[meow2u3]

7. It matters more that her marrying a rich guy gives her the luxury NOT to have to work for a paycheck

Most of us have to work for at least one paycheck just to make ends meet, and even that won't cut it, given this massive and extreme gap between rich and poor.

[Demeter]

17. Let alone the "Luxury" of 5 kids

with ample healthcare...

[gateley]

8. No -- it matters that she had the choice of whether to work outside the home for a paycheck or

stay home and raise the kids.

I think that's the point of this, that too many families can't survive on one spouse's income to allow a parent to be able to stay home.

There's no question it's a tough job and more important that selling timeshares or something, but she had a CHOICE.

They've really sidetracked this and I'm really disappointed with BOTH Obamas, Biden, and just about everyone else who distanced themselves from this and responded as as if they didn't listen to the entire quote.

Why couldn't they have said "Although she doesn't work for us, we understand what she's saying. Being a mother is one of the toughest, most important jobs in the world, but the point was that the majority of Americans can't afford to have a parent stay home -- they need two paychecks to survive. This has been hijacked by the Republicans."

[MoonRiver]

9. Exactly my point,

"This has been hijacked by the Republicans."

I've worked my entire life (now retired), sometimes part time while I raised kids, sometimes full time. I've never had the luxury of not working, plus I am highly educated and wanted to use my professional skills. Yet I don't begrudge women who can and choose to stay at home with the kids. I don't even begrudge the very rich their wealth. Many progressives are rich. It's how people use their wealth and positions of power that matter.

[mazzarro]

13. Bingo - That response was what I was expecting!

But true to form, they are showing signs of their ever ready tendency to buckle whenever rePIGlicans throw hissy-fit.

I hate it when the Obama administration/organization tend to crumble at the slightest hint of controversy instead of them looking at whatever it is in detail before responding.

[uponit7771]

29. +1

[Egalitarian Thug]

10. Insofar as it keeps the class war front and center, yes. n/t

[aquart]

11. When she talks as if she'd had it tough, YEAH, it does.

She's not a stay-at-home mom wrestling with five kids and the housework. She is someone who never had to lift a finger she did not choose to lift.

When Ann Romney talks about choice, SHE HAS NO CLUE.

[Cleita]

12. Or worked, period?

Funny segment on Stephanie Miller today when one of her parent's former maids called in and said that Ann never did a days work because she did it for her and her siblings while she was growing up. I guess she had to clean up after their parakeet Blue Boy but not their dressage horses as well. The maid said she knows she never did any work whether outside or inside the home. Oh, her brother used to sic the parakeet on the maid.

[Roselma]

14. Since she is speaking to the economic concerns of mothers, it

would seem to matter that she never had to be concerned with the economic concerns of women who must work to support a family.

That said, Rosen was inarticulate. She should have said Ann Romney never earned a paycheck. It is too late to put that genie back in the bottle.

Ann Romney simply doesn't know what the majority of women experience with the work/home situation. That doesn't make her a bad person, but it does make her ineligible to be considered an expert on the concerns of America's mothers.

[abelenkpe]

18. +1000

Ann Romney has never had to walk in a working mother's shoes so she is unqualified to comment on them. If she truly cared about women's issues she would encourage her husband to support policies that help working mothers who are not as fortunate as herself to have the choice to stay home provide for their family.

[Demeter]

15. People who Stray Outside Their Areas of Expertise DESERVE Everything Coming to Them

[The Second Stone]

20. Nope, she's not running for anything

so her qualifications are meaningless. She's trying to say nice things to help her husband get elected. I think we should leave her alone and concentrate our fire on Rush Limbaugh and Mitt Romney's looting of pensions for personal gain.

[RebelOne]

21. Actually, I do not care one way or the other because I will not be voting for Romney.

Obama will win over him by a landslide.

[MoonRiver]

23. I think so too.

I'm basically sleeping through this election. Much more interested in the Trayvon Martin outrage.

[cali]

22. It matters to me and here's precisely why: She purports to be speaking for women

she acts, according to her husband and others, as an important adviser to her husband.

[Rex]

25. It only matters if she makes an issue out of it.

And since she did and is a public figure...BAM, it matters. She only has herself to blame for the words that come out of her mouth, like everyone else.

[Sivafae]

27. She absolutely has the right to speak.

However, her credibility lies in what experience she has in such matters. There is nothing wrong with questioning someone's credibility. Questioning her credibility on comments she has made in the press or in public is also a form of free speech.

[MoonRiver]

28. All I'm trying to say is it really doesn't matter to me whether she worked or not.

I also think going after her is pointless and maybe counterproductive. It diverts attention away from Romney's policies and turns a "stay at home mom" into a victim. JMHO.

[Aerows]

34. I think it does

If she struggled on a $250 million bank account. That tells me that neither Romney is very good at managing finances.

Who struggles on a million dollar bank account, much less, $250 million? Nobody with financial sense OR no one that isn't living like royalty.

[Cleita]

36. Didn't Marie Antoinette have problems too?

Something about a priceless diamond necklace(Hope Diamond) that she had a hard time convincing Louis, the king and her husband, to pay for. Or is this just a tale?

[Aerows]

37. Oh you are right

She had some struggles paying for that. I seem to recall she had some problems with telling the peasants to eat shit (that's what cake really meant in the translation from French), too.