Some Democratic pundit bimbo accused Ann Romney, wife of reluctant GOP nominee Mitt Romney, of never working a day in her life.
To be fair, Hilary Rosen—although a total bitch—was commenting more on Ann’s understanding of economics, not on her work ethic. To be fair to Ann Romney—although having money certainly does help with raising children, with not having to worry about needing to get a job—she’s been involved in charity work, taught early-morning seminary, and is an accomplished equestrian.
Ann Romney hasn’t punched a time clock every day, but she’s certainly worked.
That being said, this cat fight should really be a side show to the main event: how Mitt Romney doesn’t care about poor people, specifically poor women.
The LDS Church has a pretty clear stance on women; they should, whenever possible, stay at home to raise the children while the husband earns the paycheck. The Republican party has a slightly different, but not at all surprising, stance; rich women have the luxury of staying home, but poor women need to join the workforce.
What sort of ass-backwards Republican would go against the time-honored, conservative, Christian principle of stay-at-home Momdom so mothers can have the “dignity of work”?
That’s right. Mittens Romney wants to use his small-government ideals to force anyone on welfare to work, suggesting the dignity of having a job exceeds the dignity of raising children. It’s more important, obviously, that we support the economy than the family.
This stance actually differs, at least at first glace, from Ann Romney’s position. She recently tweeted:
I’ll be with @marthamaccallum this morning at 10:40 discussing Hilary Rosen’s comments. All moms are entitled to choose their path.
— Ann Romney (@AnnDRomney) April 12, 2012
We’ll put aside the initial irony of Ann Romney suggesting moms have choice* and instead focus on how she and her husband seem to disagree on this point. She’s suggesting women should be able to decide for themselves whether they want to stay home to raise their children, work a regular job, or perhaps a little of both. Mitt seems to feel the bigger priority is the economy, with the family serving as a fundamental-ish unit of society.
We’ll just have to wait and see who flip flops first:
Either Mitt Romney will clarify his stance, suggesting women on welfare should work but won’t necessarily be required to.
Or Ann Romney will clarify her stance, suggesting all moms are entitled to choose their path but they should have real jobs.
And we’ll also have to see if the respective organizations speak up:
Maybe the LDS Church clarifies its stance, suggesting women on welfare should stop being leeches on society and start contributing.
Or the GOP clarifies its stance, suggesting it’s okay for women to be stay-at-home moms but they should be working.
I guess at the end of the day, the biggest thing we can take away from all of this is … if you’re a woman and support the Republican party, you likely have brain damage.
*One many even say Ann Romney is “pro-choice”!