Ann Romney: ‘Our Struggles Have Not Been Financial’

[DonViejo]

Source: TPM

Ann Romney pushed back Sunday against detractors whom she said have called her husband “heartless,” emphasizing that she and Mitt Romney have struggled, even if not financially.

“Mitt and I do recognize that we have not had a financial struggle in our lives,” Ann Romney said in an interview with Mitt Romney that aired on NBC’s “Meet the Press” Sunday. “But I want people to believe in their hearts that we know what it is like to struggle. And our struggles have not been financial, but they’ve been with health and with difficulties in different things in life.”

-snip-

While the Romney campaign tried to play up the nominee’s sympathetic side at their convention, Democrats sought to exploit Romney’s reputation as someone who doesn’t understand people’s suffering. ” I think he’s a good guy. He just has no idea how good he’s had it,” San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro said of Romney in his keynote address in Charlotte.

Ann Romney was defensive about that attack. “For people to think that we don’t have empathy just because we’re not suffering like they’re suffering is ridiculous,” she said. “It’s ridiculous to think that — you can’t have empathy for somebody that’s struggling.”

For her part, Ann Romney described suffering from multiple sclerosis as a “cruel teacher” as well as a “great gift” for teaching “me to be more compassionate and caring for others that are suffering.”

Mitt Romney chimed in with his own response to Castro: “I really think that those people that try and minimize the — the feeling and the connection we have with the American people … are trying to divide Americans based on who has money and who was able to achieve success and who does not have as much.”

Read more: http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/09/ann-romney-mitt-romney-empathy-success.php?ref=fpb

[Cirque du So-What]

1. What about when she & Mitt der Shitt were in college?

They were forced to subsist on dividends from their investments alone! The HORROR!

[Botany]

15. And they had to pay cash for their 1st home too.

As per Ann Romney:
"Remember, we'd been paying $ 62 a month rent, but here, rents were $ 400, and for a dump. This is when we took the now-famous loan that Mitt talks about from his father and bought a $42,000 home in Belmont, and you know? The mortgage payment was less than rent. Mitt saw that the Boston market was behind Chicago, LA and New York. We stayed there seven years and sold it for $90,000, so we not only stayed for free, we made money. As I said, Mitt's very bright.

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2012/08/fact-checking-ann-and-mitt-romneys-hardknock-early-years/56321/

[Cirque du So-What]

16. You may be on to something!

That's the solution to the so-called housing crisis in a nutshell! All young people need to do is borrow the money from their parents & buy a house! Problem solved!

[kestrel91316]

45. I could be "very bright" with money like that handed to me, too.

[tblue37]

59. So now she says they have not struggled financially—but then what was all that BS

about using a fold-down ironing board as a dinner table and a board across sawhorses as a desk?

Oh, yeah—lies, just lies.

Besides, anyone who has ever done much real studying or writing at a desk knows that a board laid across sawhorses won’t cut it. It wouldn’t be stable enough for writing.

A board across two stacks of bricks might do for a desk (though I can think of better ways to fake a desk from cheap materials), and the same structure doubled or tripled will make a typical poor student bookshelf. But a board across sawhorses won’t make a usable desk.

As for the ironing board table—maybe they didn’t know what an ironing board was for, since their servants did all the ironing for them. Nah—it was just another blatant, ridiculous lie.

If you are going to iron your clothes on a surface with a cloth cover, the last thing you would want to risk would be the sort of drips and stains that eating could cause on that surface. Ironing boards have cloth covers, and it would not be easy to get food stains out of a cloth cover. You can’t just wipe that clean the way you would wipe a wooden or plastic table top clean!

Her fantasy version of how “you people” live when we are too poor to purchase the sort of furnishings more affluent people have is so unlikely that it just reeks of falsehood—and, even worse, of condescension.

And now she admits they have not struggled financially, which is essentially admitting that the whole starving newlywed students story was just so much made-up BS.

I teach college English. One thing I warn my students to avoid is making up hypothetical examples to illustrate or support their points. I tell them that if they really know their topic, they will usually have real examples to use, and if they don’t know the topic well enough to have real examples, then they run the risk of creating hypothetical examples that won’t ring true to people who do know the subject well. That happens because there will always be little details that someone who doesn’t really know the topic will inevitably screw up.

That’s not a 100% rule, since a writer who really does know a topic can create hypothetical examples that will ring true, but it’s at least a 99% rule for any but the most experienced and skillful writers.

[woo me with science]

30. "Living on the edge,"

is what she apparently called it.

[Cirque du So-What]

36. 'On the edge' of what, exactly?

Dipping into their capital? Even more horrifying!

[daleo]

70. On the edge of the ironing board?

And the pointy end at that.

[PassingFair]

2. “It’s ridiculous to think that — you CAN'T have empathy for somebody that’s struggling.”

It's not that they CAN'T have empathy, it's that they DON'T have empathy.

Molly Ivins old quote about being born on third base really resonates when contemplating this couple....

"He was born on third and thinks he hit a triple."

[renate]

85. yup, exactly

I think she believes they really do have empathy, though, as a result of her having MS and being bummed out about it for a while. She just doesn't have enough empathy to know that she still doesn't have enough empathy.

[Bluerthanblue]

3. health issues are FAR more

devastating when you also struggle with financial issues.

It's pretty damn hard to deal with chronic and debilitating illnesses when you have no insurance, and can't get any-

It also seemed to me that Ann was trying to say to America that she and Mitt lived 'close to the bone' early in their life, and understood how it is for those of us who live at or below poverty level.-

Guess she realized that didn't sell.

[Faygo Kid]

4. "who was able to achieve success" Remember where we've heard that?

If that's how you define "success". . .

[riverbendviewgal]

5. Try living with a son and husband dying of cancer

Try having Fibromyalgia while taking care of a dying son and husband.

Try going to a new country with just 2 suitcases and $200 and starting life anew.. with a cardboard coffee table to eat on and every thing you own is from the salvation army or neighbors.

No, the Romneys don't know what hardship is. Money always softens the hardships.

And from reading all the news and DU...there are many Americans who are really experiencing real hardship. I have been blessed compared to many.

[renate]

86. oh, my gosh

No words.

[progressivebydesign]

6. Will Ann ever stop using her illness to garner sympathy?

Is that all they have? It's a terrible thing to have MS. But one can't help but note that the woman has access to the BEST medical care, the best treatments, staff to do whatever she's not up to doing. She doesn't have to worry about what will happen if it progresses to the point where she can't hold a full time job, nor does she worry about losing her health insurance.

I'm sorry she has it, but everyone is aware of it, so what else, Ann? Tuna Fish? Pasta?

[iemitsu]

22. plus she is not crippled like many who suffer with MS.

my mother has had MS for at least six decades and i don't believe she has ever even mentioned it to anyone who didn't ask.
she was paralyzed for 6 months when she had 3 small children and was pregnant with a 4th.
my dad never asked anyone to consider him a hero for braiding my sister's hair and cooking during this period.
they did what they had to do. no complaining. no asking for sympathy.
if ann romney really had any empathy, her suffering would have been triggered every time mitt came home with other people's cash stuffed in his pockets. i don't believe that's the case.
i think the hardship that ann remembers so well has to do with dumping the faith she was raised with to marry a rich man.
she may have lost friends over that move.

[Moonwalk]

43. And she has access to horses, don't forget that...

[spiderpig]

49. Thank you for pointing this out.

I'm about Ann's age and certainly don't want to minimize the trials of dealing with MS - but I have a condition far worse, no job, little left in my retirement accounts after Wall Street raided pension plans - and Ann and her buddies regard Social Security as an "entitlement"?

She can bite me. I am so sick of these creeps.

(But I love my fellow DUers! )

[LibGranny]

7. I might believe she has "compassion and caring" for

people IF I'd ever read anything about her volunteering to help others afflicted with MS or any other debilitating disease - but I haven't. I know people with MS and none of them have dancing horses for therapy. My neighbor man has a disease that has rendered him unable to walk without assistance. He cannot climb stairs and has to sit down and go up the stairs backwards. He's a young man and very proud - doesn't want help and refuses help if it's offered! As far as Queen Ann having "empathy" for somebody that's struggling - I think she's just saying the words - not doing the deeds! She's a cold fish!

[DebJ]

8. Here's a comment with some perspective:

A secretary who worked with me decades ago made this comment one day.
She truly was very frustrated at that time.

"You know you are having a really bad week when you don't even have time to do your nails."

She actually was miserable about this.

I must have had as astonished a look on my face as I have ever had in this lifetime.

I was a single parent with two children working 70 hours a week, one child had a severe
disability, no family around to help. I didn't have time to do my nails for TWO DECADES.
Not that I could have grown my own, anyway, because I couldn't afford to eat properly
if I wanted to feed the kids right. Paying for that now and forever more....

Molehills get turned into mountains when you don't have any mountains to begin with.

[zeemike]

9. What an unbelievable tell that is.

I wonder if she can see that we all have difficulties with "health and with difficulties in different things in life.” but if you have a lot of money it sure is a lot easier....I mean you can then afford "horse therapy" and hire some people to take care of other things for you.
A lot different if you have no health insurance and low or no income when you get sick....that can ruin your whole family's future well being...not so if you got a couple hundred million to pay for it all.

So out of touch there in that bubble she has been in all of her life.

[iemitsu]

27. and the rest of us have to worry about

whether or not mitt and his crew will swoop in and steal everything we have saved for retirement, forcing us to work every day until we drop.
she does not seem to recognize that it is her and her ilk that causes the rest of us stress.

[xxqqqzme]

56. Someone should inform him

dimson already raided the middle class cookie jar. That all went south in September 2008. There is precious little out here to pocket.

[awoke_in_2003]

57. She knows...

she doesn't care.

[iemitsu]

74. yep, they know.

that is why they are after the money held in big public funds. social security, public education, everything else held by the public is in their sights. once the public trust money is gone they'll sell us off for slaves and auction off our land.

[C_U_L8R]

10. The Bentley or the Rolls

such hard choices

[tblue37]

60. Now, now--she drives two Cadillacs. Mitt said so. nt

[catbyte]

11. boo fucking hoo, Queen Ann

She is beginning to annoy me even more than her husband. Arrgh.

[jsr]

12. The you people should be overwhelmed with empathy for her

[BuelahWitch]

46. I can't help but feel sorry for that poor horse

I bet she abuses him.

[Quantess]

68. Well, we know she drug "abused" that one horse with painkillers.

The horse didn't pop all those pills on his own, so we can't call the horse a drug abuser.
We know that much.

edit spelling

[jberryhill]

78. The "average American median" income?

That would be a great graphic if it did not instantly scream "mathematical illiteracy".

[Big Orange Jeff]

13. I think they are still missing the point...

I'm sure that they honestly believe that they can relate to struggles of less wealthy people, but their own statements suggest they do not.

Take, for example, his advice to young people unable to afford college or to start their own businesses. "Borrow the money from your parents." I'm sure he believes that this is a sound plan available to anyone. The fact is that most families cannot afford to do that. Certainly, f I could afford to, I'd just give my kids the money for college.

And that's the problem. It is unfathomable to him that the majority of parents do not have that kind cash just laying around. Since they've not lived this struggle - nor, likely, anyone they know - they cannot relate to the struggles of the rest of us. I understand and empathize with her health struggles, but she cannot understand how much worse those struggles would be if she couldn't afford the care.

Is money the answer to all of life's problems? Certainly not, but it does make many other struggles more manageable.

[arcane1]

31. He certainly has no idea how much $20k is to most people n/t

[mac56]

34. This.

[randr]

14. Until you have faced lifes hardships on top of financial struggles

you do not have a clue what it means to struggle.
Illness and injury are part of life, get over them.

[randome]

17. "I want people to believe..."

Yet another sign how clueless they are. As people and as politicians.

[jberryhill]

35. That is the stand-out line there...

I want people to believe all kinds of things.

[Big Orange Jeff]

51. That should be a Twitter hashtag...

Unicorns fart rainbows #IWantPeopleToBelieve

[grasswire]

18. something curious about their word choice

"...have empathy for somebody that’s struggling.”

"...to be more compassionate and caring for others that are suffering.”

“I really think that those people that try and minimize the..."

The proper word choice is WHO, not THAT. WHO denotes a living creature. THAT denotes an inanimate object.

[PA Democrat]

21. Good point. Maybe she's talking about those corporate persons that her husband loves so much.

[grasswire]

24. both of them did it

one of those examples was Mitt

[iemitsu]

32. she studied french in school, not english.

i caught the thats when they should have been whos too. another suggestion that ann romney doesn't really consider the rest of us human.

[PA Democrat]

19. If you really have a heart then you would not support your husband's

plans to slash Medicare and Medicaid. Yeah Ann, health problems are horrible, but they are especially horrific if you cannot afford health care. Keep talking, Ann. Keep proving that my initial hunch that you were a selfish, cold-hearted narcissist was accurate.

[grasswire]

28. If you really have a heart, why support policies that put grandmas in the gutter?

Why support policies that deprive hungry children of sustenance?

Why support policies that force old folks to choose between food and medicine?

Or make veterans live on the street in cardboard boxes?

[Robb]

20. Oh dear God. *Fuck* these people.

They're taking tonedeafness to new heights.

[Gormy Cuss]

23. Ironing board, door on sawhorses, pasta and tuna, selling stock to pay the bills....

Yeah, people are being mean pointing out that the Romneys are clueless about financial struggles. Truly, their empathy is stunning.

[TBF]

25. Define "struggle". nt

[2Design]

26. yea a horse to write off on taxes - give me a break - others have handled this too and much better

[Warren Stupidity]

29. Wait I have to go check on the field hands, they are feeding our stable of dressage horses

and they have to get that right. After I get back I'll comment on our shared experiences.

[helpisontheway]

33. At least she had health insurance

Think of about those mothers out there that must work outside of the home that are dealing with MS. Consider those that do not have health insurance and they are ill! She needs to realize that although she has had some obstacles in life, overall she has been very fortunate! However, she could care less about the challenges that the poor/middle class citizens have every single day! I don't wish for anyone to have an illness. However, it irritates me when people use that illness to get sympathy in a political campaign.

[UpInArms]

37. for someone supposedly educated and articulate -

Mitt Romney chimed in with his own response to Castro: “I really think that those people that

it is "people WHO"

is this why Rmoney thinks that corporations are people?

it is "corporations that" and "people who"

[Progressive dog]

38. Continuing to prove that they don't have a clue about how most people live

or don't care.

[ann---]

39. If they have it

they surely don't SHOW it by not paying their fair share of taxes and keeping their money in foreign accounts so they don't help their country. They are both losers.

[global1]

40. Hmmmmm......

- what house to live in this week?
- what care to drive?
- what color to paint the car elevator?
- what horse to ride?
- where to go on vacation?
- how to fudge on taxes?
- etc, etc, etc

Oh! The struggles.

[bucolic_frolic]

41. Which Caddy Should I Have Placed on the Elevator Tonight, Dear?

Oh, we're going out for caviar?

[Moonwalk]

42. Methinks the Lady doth protest too much....

This woman is ridiculous. She comes across as someone who broke a nail and then says to someone with a broken leg, "I've been there..." The normal stuff that we all go through--some rough times, arguments, emotional ups/downs, even bad illnesses in a family--she takes as equal to real hardship and she really has no clue to the fact that what she and Mitt went through wasn't the same at all.

Because, frankly, if it was, we'd feel honest empathy from her the way we do from Michelle Obama. And, frankly, if Ann had gone through such real hardship, she'd never support her husband making millions but taking away hardworking jobs, pensions, etc. from others. She would say, "I know what hardship is, and we're not making our money by putting other people through that...."

As she doesn't, her protests ring hollow.

[fun n serious]

44. The campain

needs to stop her from talking most people have had both health and financial trouble.

[Moonwalk]

47. There she goes, playing the MS card again!

I feel very bad for people with MS because of how Ann is making them look.

Thing is, she's right. It's awful to be ill, and it affects everyone in a family; and she is right in the fact that wealth can't buy you health and there is a measure of equality in that. But what she doesn't seem to understand is that her argument rings hollow so long as she is supporting a husband who is ready to take away health care and medicare from others.

If her MS really was so terrible, so devastating, so much a lesson in how hard life can be, and that we all must have a "heart"--then why is Romney backing down on the one thing that would have proved this? His health care law? Why is Romney going to put an end to Medicare if he has a heart and knows what it is to deal with someone with an illness and he wants that to be as easy as possible for every American?

No matter how Ann slices it, her being ill isn't going to gain her sympathy so long as her husband is acting against those who are equally ill, but not equally wealthy.

[kestrel91316]

48. Every time Queen Ann tries to garner sympathy by whining about how terrible

and tragic and full of "struggle" her poor life has been because of her MS, somebody needs to remind her of Michelle Obama's father, who went to WORK (you know, Ann, a J.O.B.) every day with MS and had to use a walker to do it. And still had to borrow money to help his kids go to college.

That woman should be embarrassed to show her face.

[silvershadow]

50. Earth to Ann: I imagine not, being that the wealth you gained impoverished this country

in the first place. Tone deaf. Plus, it deflects attention I supposed from the fact that Romney/Bain and ilk *are the problem. Yikes.

[Major Nikon]

52. I can only imagine what they go through when their car elevator is broke

Literally

[SirRevolutionary]

53. Empathy? No....

Sympathy? Still no, but a more accurate choice of words IF she could utilize either. Certainly, she's not capable of empathy for the average shmoe struggling just to make ends meet. She never had to work hard to "put food on her family".

[lunatica]

54. Self pity is the best kind 'cause you know it's sincere

[azureblue]

55. the Romneys' struggles

have been with truth vs. reality, right and wrong, and with the delusion that being rich brings.

[sylvi]

58. Money can't buy happiness

But it sure makes the road to happiness a lot smoother when you're not worrying about the roof over your head or where your next meal's coming from.

[Zoeisright]

61. Listen, you fucking bitch, if you didn't have to worry about

where your next meal was coming from or losing your house, your fucking "struggles" were nothing.

[Bette Noir]

62. Two thoughts:

1: If she really had empathy with people WHO are suffering, she wouldn't support her husband slashing the safely net for others.
2: Money can't buy happiness, but it makes being miserable a lot easier to bear.

[Cleita]

63. Really, the Romney campaign needs to duck tape her mouth.

She and her mouth are a bigger liability than Sarah Palin was to McCain.

[crim son]

64. So in other words, they've had all the same struggles

as the rest of us, except they have health insurance and a massive financial safety net.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

65. “But I want people to believe..."

[dixiegrrrrl]

72. Well, I want to shit gold coins.

Looks like neither of us is going to get our wish.

[Blandocyte]

87. Ouch!

Careful what you wish for. Hee!

[riderinthestorm]

66. Health issues only huh. Never had to worry about losing a child to gun violence, gangs, drugs or war

Ann nor Mitt have never had to worry about whether their baby with cystic fibrosis will max out her health insurance and you're stuck without a way to pay for her health care.

Ann nor Mitt have ever had to worry one single second about how they're going to afford to care for a parent with Alzheimer's.

Ann nor Mitt have never experienced the PTSD of sexual abuse or domestic violence.

They've never had to worry that the banksters defrauded them out of their house/life savings/pension.

They never had to worry that they might sleep through their final exam because you had to pull a double shift the day and night before so you could pay your rent that afternoon.

Her plea for compassion because she has MS rings very hollow to my ears. While MS is a hideous disease, money buys a lot of comfort, therapy and medicine.

Go suck on a can of tuna you witch.

[atreides1]

67. In the words of Inigo Montoya, Mrs. Rmoney

"You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."

[daleo]

69. Everyone struggles with health and matters like that

Even the rich die. We know that. But money struggles, serious money struggles, are the province of the poor. Even the middle class rarely understand deeply until they fall into the ranks of the poor.

Mrs Romney knows health troubles, but at least she knew her health problems wouldn't result in bankruptcy. And she knew she could always afford the best treatment money could buy.

[dixiegrrrrl]

71. "with difficulties in different things in life.”

Surely she meant "with various things in life" ?????

Yeah, Anne, baby, I can relate to ya..I too have had difficultites with "different" things in life....
mainly the difference between your clueless sense of entitlement and my poverty level income.
See, Anne..notice I mentioned specifics there.

[Flatpicker]

73. Nor Moral. Nor Ethical.. nt

[Skittles]

75. she has NEVER STRUGGLED

even with a hideous diagnosis like MS she has NEVER WORKED, NEVER WORRIED ABOUT BILLS, ALWAYS HAD WHATEVER SHE NEEDED. She makes a FOOL out of herself every time she talks like this.

[Danmel]

76. What has she done for ms sufferers???

Has she donated some of her filthy lucre to MS research or support for other less fortunate MS sufferers who don't have health insurance or dancing horses?
Has she used her status and position to even raise
money from other people if parting with some cash would be too painful for her? Surely she has had some free time.
Or does she just us her MS as a pity party when it is to her benefit?

[ejpoeta]

77. they sure seemed to be trying to make it sound like they were struggling financially

otherwise what was that bs about living in a basement and eating tuna and pasta. what utter horseshit. see, that's the problem with these two. they don't have to pretend that they have struggled like the rest of us. Just realize that we struggle and tell us how you are going to help. But you don't want to help us. You want to help yourself. Because $200 million dollars just isn't enough to live! uggh.

[jberryhill]

79. Many misers are frugal

[closeupready]

80. And there she goes, once again, about her MS, for the 100th time.

You know, I've had friends die of worse things - do I use that fact to garner sympathy?

How incredibly tacky.

I just can not stand her and her condescension.

[goodword]

81. It's Insulting

when people of the Romney's financial status try to relate to the rest of us. I bet Ann Romney has never worn an article of clothing from a Wal-mart, much less a thrift store. I'll bet she's never put together a dinner of hamburger, baked beans and ketchup. I'll bet she's never worried that her 15 year old car would break down, then how would she get to work? Bet she's never worried about a mortgage payment, hospital bills, whether she could pay the electric bill. Bet she's never pawned stuff to pay bills.

STFU, Ann. You don't have a clue what struggle is. I'm sorry for your illness, but one thing you never had to worry about was how to pay the doctors for your care and medicines. Until you have financial worries on top of all your other worries, then you don't know what worry is.

[Ineeda]

82. Poor Ann

Healthy until aged 49. Had tons of money and help to deal with her illness, which has been in remission for many years. Five children, apparently all healthy. A healthy husband. Eighteen grandchildren, all apparently healthy. The conception of three of Taggs kids was through IVF (an expensive proposition) and at least two of his brothers is said to have used IVF too. Surrogacy has also been instrumental in perpetuating the Romney dynasty. So, in a nutshell, she/they never experienced a hardship that money couldn't/didn't fix. She's so much like the rest of us.

[indypaul]

83. A perfect example of

J.K.Galbraith's explanation of trickle down" economics. Which, in reality, is
Horse and Sparrow economics. When one stuffs enough into the horse it
will eventually leave something at the side of the road for the sparrow.
Now we more clearly understand her attachment to horses.

[muriel_volestrangler]

84. If the Romneys supported Romneycare for covering pre-existing conditions like MS

then they'd have been able to use her genuine suffering as an example of knowing what people can go through, and how it's important to be able to afford the necessary healthcare. It would be like David Cameron, who, when he was running for PM in the UK, said he knew how important the NHS was, and pointed to the treatment of his severely disabled son, which was all done by the NHS. As a result, he was the first Tory in ages who people thought really did appreciate the NHS.

But since Romney has run screaming from his one achievement in government, Ann's "we've suffered too" falls flat. We don't vote for people just because they've suffered. We expect them to show some understanding of what suffering can be like for many people; if they seem to lack empathy in general (like the Romneys), then they need to show they understand how their own suffering relates to others'. But this couple doesn't do that either.

[Maine-ah]

88. Ann can go suck it.

she'll never go bankrupt or homeless because of her medical condition. She won't die because she can't afford the treatments.

We have a DU'er right now who posted in GD that she goes homeless next week. Because her choice was to either keep a roof over her ailing husband's head in a nursing home, or a roof over her own head. She chose her husband.

so, fuck you Ann. You don't know suffering, you don't know pain. You just plain old don't fucking know.

[closeupready]

90. And remember DU member Medical Technician, or

what was his username here? He died recently from a metastasized cancer. He couldn't get adequate treatment due, in part, to pre-existing restrictions, if I recall his sad story correctly.

[bamacrat]

89. But wait I thought they used an old door as a desk...

That must have just been some folksy fun to see how the poor lived.. what a douche couple.

[area51]

91. Oh, shut up, queen Ann.

If you really felt compassion for others due to your condition, you'd be fighting for single-payer health care, so that not just Mrs. Ritchie Riches as you can get health care, no matter whether they have a job or not, because health care would be a basic human right, and access to health care would not stupidly be tied to a job.