"Sharp reaction to Ann Romney critic" April 13, 2012|Stephanie Ebbert, Globe Staff
In the latest skirmish in the “war on women,’’ Ann Romney stood firm against criticism from a Democratic strategist that she was unfit to advise her husband, presidential candidate Mitt Romney, on women’s economic concerns because she “has actually never worked a day in her life.’’
By day’s end Thursday, Fox News was announcing a “war on stay-at-home moms,’’ Barbara Bush was rushing to Ann Romney’s defense, Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign was selling “Moms Drive the Economy’’ bumper stickers, and Republicans and Democrats were grappling for control of a debate that had veered wildly off track.
After months of defending against a purported Republican war on women - most notably when the GOP campaigned against mandated contraceptive coverage - Democrats were suddenly on the defensive....
In the face of a public backlash, Hilary Rosen - the CNN contributor and Democratic strategist who criticized Ann Romney for never having dealt with “the kinds of economic issues that a majority of the women in this country are facing’’ - was initially unapologetic. She goaded Ann Romney further on Twitter by posting, “most young American women have to both earn a living and raise children. You know that don’t u?’’
I feel like a such a stereotypical male because I'm starting to like this.
By evening, Rosen had apologized asking to “put the faux ‘war against stay-at-home moms’ to rest once and for all.’’
But the exchange threatened to steer the presidential campaign from a debate over women’s economic struggles to a battle to bring candidates’ spouses into the fray, said Republican strategist Todd Domke. It also neatly encapsulated the damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don’t conundrum of working motherhood.
Yes, the elections must be decided by anything but corporate looting in a crap economy or endless wars in service to empire. That's why I never even see Ron Paul's name in the paper anymore -- even though the guy is still drawing huge crowds as he campaigns across the country.
“I couldn’t believe what I was reading,’’ said Jennifer Nassour, who has been on both sides of the mommy wars, working long hours as chairman of the Massachusetts Republican Party before quitting last fall to stay home and have her third child. “Nothing is easy when you’re a mother. It’s not easy to go to work and leave your kids, and it’s not easy to stay at home. And I think anyone who discredits a mother who decides her career is going to be at home with her children needs a reality check and needs to go to talk to women who manage households.’’
Oh, I CAN CERTAINLY EMPATHIZE with that sentiment!
Yet some saw Rosen’s criticism as apt, highlighting the unusual privilege that the Romneys hold.
“I’m not offended by it because I know what she was trying to say: A lot of women would love to have the luxury of staying home with their kids,’’ said Elizabeth Sherman, an assistant professor of American politics at American University. “The Ozzie and Harriet world that Ann Romney and Mitt Romney have lived in all their lives is just not the reality for millions of American men and women.’’
Yeah, that is the way I feel about by morning newspaper.
Ann Romney has her own challenges - breast cancer and multiple sclerosis - which she mentioned in an interview on Fox News on Thursday.
I'll bet she doesn't need or want for the very best medical care money can buy.
In that interview, she also turned a Democratic talking point on its head by saying women should be respectful of other women’s choices.
C'mon, fight her.
“My career choice was to be a mother, and I think all of us need to know that we need to respect choices that women make,’’ she said.
Her surefooted interview on the personal, controversial issue helped solidify the public impression that Ann Romney has emerged as a solid surrogate for her husband on the campaign.
“She’s a phenomenal speaker. I think she has grown so much. She is so first-lady-like,’’ said Nassour. “Not only that, but she makes you feel as though you’re a lifelong friend. She’s very warm.’’
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Related: Sunday Globe Special: Romney Has the Right Friends
I guess Mitt will be president.
"Past Romney comment contradicts mom-work link" by Callum Borchers | Globe Correspondent, April 16, 2012
Mitt Romney declared last week that “all moms are working moms,’’ but he insisted as recently as January that women on welfare need to get jobs, even if they have young children.
On Friday, Romney defended his wife, Ann, a stay-at-home mother, after Democratic strategist Hilary Rosen said that Ann Romney is unqualified to speak for women’s economic concerns because she “has actually never worked a day in her life.’’
Romney has said the “all moms are working moms’’ argument does not apply to mothers who accept welfare assistance.
“Even if you have a child 2 years of age, you need to go to work,’’ Romney said at a Jan. 4 campaign stop in Manchester, N.H., describing his position as Massachusetts governor. “And people said, ‘Well that’s heartless,’ and I said ‘No, no, I’m willing to spend more giving day care to allow those parents to go back to work. It’ll cost the state more providing that day care, but I want the individuals to have the dignity of work.’ ’’
This from a guy whose business most of the last 20 years or so has been to shed people of that responsibility.
Romney’s comment came in response to a question about welfare dependence and personal responsibility, and his campaign pointed out similarities between it and a statement Bill Clinton made in 1996, when he signed welfare reform legislation....
Do you really want to be lining up with him as the Republican nominee?
See: Sunday Globe Special: Bill Clinton's Betrayal
"Geithner challenges Romney claim on women’s job losses
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner argued that it is unfair to look only at the latter portion of an economic downturn that began before President Obama’s inauguration.
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner tried on Sunday to discredit what has become one of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s favorite campaign factoids: 92.3 percent of the jobs lost under President Obama belonged to women.
“It’s a ridiculous way to look at the problem,’’ Geithner said on ABC’s “This Week.’’ On NBC’s “Meet the Press,’’ Geithner called the statistic a “deeply misleading look at the economy.’’
The figure is technically accurate. Between January 2009, when Obama took office, and March 2012, 683,000 of the 740,000 total jobs lost were held by women, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Bankers really can't help but lie, can they?
But Geithner argued that it is unfair to look only at the latter portion of an economic downturn that began before Obama’s inauguration.
“A lot of the early job losses in 2008 affected men because they affected construction and manufacturing,’’ Geithner told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos. “And as the crisis spread, and state and local governments were forced to cut back on services, fire a lot of teachers, that caused a lot of damage to women, too.’’
I really could not care less about WHICH GENDER has had their LIFE and their FAMILIES' LIVES DESTROYED by this CRAP ECONOMY you have constructed!
And all the while, you, your Wall Street friends, corporations, and guys like Mitt have been MAKING OUT JUST GREAT!
This is ALL ABOUT DIVISION, be it race, gender, religion, sex. All an AGENDA-PUSHING MEDIA DISTRACTION so the money-junkies can continue to grab more loot!!
The Bureau of Labor Statistics confirms Geithner’s explanation. A majority of early recession pink slips went to men. Of all the jobs lost since 2007, only 39.7 percent were women’s.
Ed Gillespie, Romney’s senior campaign adviser, cited the 92.3 percent statistic in an interview on “Fox News Sunday,’’ before host Chris Wallace cut him off and said the number is “a little bit of an accounting trick.’’
Hey, that's politics!
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Related: Sunday Globe Special: Obama Sweet Talks Soccer Moms
Also see: Brown steps up focus on women
Is being used for your vote the same as rape?
Time to head for the lifeboats:
"‘Women and children first?’ Not usually" Associated Press, April 13, 2012
STOCKHOLM - A hundred years after the Titanic sank, two Swedish researchers said Thursday that when it comes to sinking ships, male chivalry is a myth, and more men generally survive such disasters than women and children.
“Our findings show that behavior in life-and-death situations is best captured by the expression ‘every man for himself,’ ’’ the authors wrote.
Well, in this era of equality....
The report also referred to the Titanic, which sank in the North Atlantic in the early morning of April 15, 1912. The researchers called the Titanic an exception to their findings, mainly because its captain, Edward Smith, threatened to shoot men unless they yielded to women for lifeboat seats. Smith went down with his ship.
Also see: Globe's Titanic Conspiracy Theory
Like I'm going down with the Globe?
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"Homelessness increasing for female veterans" Associated Press, April 09, 2012
WASHINGTON - Homelessness and economic struggles are escalating among female veterans, whose numbers have grown during the past decade of US wars while resources for them have not kept up.
Support the troops!
The population of female veterans without permanent shelter has more than doubled in the last half-dozen years and may continue climbing now that the Iraq war has ended, sending women home with the same stresses as their male counterparts - plus some gender-specific ones that make them more susceptible to homelessness.
Related: The Fighting Females of Camp Homeless
The problem, a hurdle to the Obama administration’s stated goal of ending veterans’ homelessness by 2015, is exacerbated by a shortage of temporary housing specifically designed to be safe and welcoming to women or mothers with children.
Are you tired of hearing excuses?
The increase comes even as the overall homeless veteran population has dropped by nearly 12 percent to about 67,500 between January 2010 and January 2011, officials say.
Veterans’ homelessness, the subject of a March congressional hearing, has received fresh attention amid government reports documenting the numbers and identifying widespread flaws in buildings that shelter veterans.
This is all the Globe gave it.
“I think it’s very clear that women veterans in particular lack the services they need,’’ Senator Patty Murray, a Washington Democrat who chairs the Veterans Affairs Committee, said in an interview.
Female veterans make up about 8 percent of all veterans, or about 1.8 million, compared with 4 percent in 1990. The number of homeless female veterans has more than doubled from 1,380 to 3,328 between fiscal years 2006 and 2010, according to a December Government Accountability Office report that found many with young children and nearly two-thirds between ages 40 and 59.
And yet we get endless public relations campaigns about military families from our politicians.
A new report from the Department of Veterans Affairs inspector general examining housing that receives VA grants found bedrooms and bathrooms without locks, poorly lit hallways, and women housed in facilities approved for men only. Nearly a third of the 26 facilities reviewed did not have adequate safety precautions.
One female veteran and her 18-month-old son were placed in the same facility as a male veteran who was a registered sex offender.
Maybe you ladies wouldn't mind spending a night with General Carter. Maybe you will even get a kiss.
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Also see: Occupation Iraq: Mommy Court-Martial
In the Loving Arms of the AmeriKan Military
Related: Women in the Military
