New York Times Goes Mild on Insult of Ann Romney: 'Some Women saw an Opportunity Squandered'
Friday's New York Times portrayed Obama supporter Hilary Rosen's gaffe on CNN Wednesday night, when she accused Mitt Romney's wife Ann of having "never worked a day in her life," as less of a Democratic fumble and more of a pox-on-both-their-houses moment for both presidential campaigns.
The story came at an awkward moment for the paper, which prominently played up Mitt Romney's alleged woes with women voters on Thursday's front page: "Romney Taking Steps to Narrow His Gender Gap." And the paper has constantly insisted that the issues of birth control access and abortion will kill the GOP in 2012.
In contrast, Friday's story on Rosen's insult was buried on page A18 in the New York late edition. It made the front page of the National edition, in inconspicious fashion, three paragraphs on the front before the jump page. (The failed North Korea rocket test knocked it off the front in New York.)
"Collision Over Roles of Women Sets Off Combative Debate Along the Trail," by Michael Shear and Susan Saulny, didn't portray Rosen's offensive comments as a harmful gaffe revealing what liberals think of stay at home moms, but as merely reviving a debate "about the roles of women in and out of the workplace."
The campaign for the White House spilled into the politics of motherhood on Thursday as a combative back-and-forth involving a Democratic strategist and Mitt Romney’s wife quickly revived a deeper, decades-old cultural debate about the roles of women in and out of the workplace.
The strategist, Hilary Rosen, who has some ties to President Obama, apologized Thursday afternoon to Ann Romney, a stay-at-home mother of five, after setting off a firestorm on Twitter and cable news programs by saying that Mrs. Romney had “never worked a day in her life.”
By the end of Thursday, the most prominent voices in Washington had weighed in, including Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., the first lady, Michelle Obama, and the president himself, who said that there is “no tougher job than being a mom” and that anyone who thinks otherwise “needs to rethink their statement.”
Moving quickly to smooth the partisan edges off the insult, the Times found respondents who condemned the debate in general, not Rosen's comments in particular:
But women of various political ideologies who said in interviews that they had struggled with how to balance work, family and society’s inevitable judgments, largely disapproved of the debate’s tone, calling it demeaning and superficial, even as the issue remains as timely a conversation as ever.
“I’m not a Mitt Romney supporter, but I think the comments about his wife were petty and unfair,” said Beth Shelton, 33, a property manager and mother who described herself as a moderate independent voter. “I was a stay-at-home mom for nine years. Working at home is hard. Working at an office is hard. There’s no way to say what’s easier. That’s not the point.”
Ms. Shelton continued: “There are a lot of real issues right now with Republicans and women, things having to do with birth control and women’s health care. There are more important things to be talking about having to do with supporting families, from a woman’s perspective.”
Other women echoed those sentiments.
The Times finally got around to surveying the political damage to the Democrats in paragraph 19 of 24, but even then the paper concluded with the netural reproof that "some women saw an opportunity squandered."
Mr. Obama’s top political advisers moved rapidly to distance him from Ms. Rosen, noting that she is not a paid adviser to the campaign or to the Democratic National Committee. Mr. Obama’s most senior campaign aides posted on Twitter their outrage at Ms. Rosen’s comments moments after she made them.
“I could not disagree with Hilary Rosen any more strongly,” said Jim Messina, Mr. Obama’s campaign manager. “Her comments were wrong and family should be off limits. She should apologize.”
Ms. Rosen is a managing director at the political consulting firm SKDKnickerbocker, one of whose founders, Anita Dunn, was a senior adviser to Mr. Obama and, this year, to the Democratic National Committee.
Officials of the Democratic Party said Ms. Rosen had had no formal advisory role, though she had attended some meetings informally. A prominent Democrat in Washington, Ms. Rosen has been a repeat visitor to Mr. Obama’s White House.
By the end of the day, as dueling Twitter messages and cable news debate continued, some women saw an opportunity squandered.
“It’s hard to believe that after all these years we’re still debating,” said Karen Davidson, 65, a jewelry designer who started her own business shortly after being fired from a retail job by a male boss who objected to her being visibly pregnant around customers. “Work is work.”
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Comments
Still playing the Role game I see, NYT's
Submitted by CobraMan on Fri, 04/13/2012 - 2:00pm.
"The campaign for the White House spilled into the politics of motherhood on Thursday as a combative back-and-forth involving a Democratic strategist and Mitt Romney’s wife quickly revived a deeper, decades-old cultural debate about the roles of women in and out of the workplace."
WHY are we having this "debate" to begin with? Here's a revolutionary idea: let the women decide whether they're going to work at home or in a business, and accept that personal decision as one that THEY made, and not one that you're trying to make for them. STOP trying to decide for them what is in their own best interest. You don;t even know theses people, so how can you "debate" what is better for them?
By the way, it's asinine to claim that, simply because a woman is a Stay at Home Mom, she's clueless about our economy. Even the richest Stay at Home Mom buys things, you know. Like it or not, they ARE an integral part of our economy. What's that you said? She never had a paying job in her life? Well, more power to her as she's doing fine raising a family, as SUCCESSFUL Family, non the less, without one, so what's the argument?
And what about the Stay at Home Dads? They do exist, you know. Are they just as clueless as the Stay at Home Moms? WHY don't you ever talk about THEM?
The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States. The US Constitution
Unless you're a fetus. The US Supreme Court
Or Anwar al-Awlaki.
Stay at home dad?... RAISES HAND...
Submitted by Mark81150 on Sat, 04/14/2012 - 6:42pm.
Yeah, ya got one here.. I stay at home all day, retired with a 100% disability from a spinal injury at 52. I'm never going to be allowed to unload trucks or handle stock, which was my primary job, grocery department assistant manager at the biggest retail chain grocery.
The thing about a spinal injury, is even though I have trouble walking, there is no visible sign of the injury..
So I stay at home on my pension, while my wife, of her own choice, continues to work. I've learned first hand about what a mothers traditional role is like, and I respect women all the more for it. They should never be criticized by these leftwing gender assignment editors.. it's not their business what families do.
and frankly being a stay at home dad, kids are 10 and 13,.. has given me some insights..
Many people do deeply resent stay at home parents, to the point of hate even. It almost always boils down to their hate you because you are doing what they wish they could, but can't.. I have been called lazy, shiftless, a slacker, a goldbrick and malingerer.. I've been accused of playing the system, of stealing from Social Security, all, because usually, they applied and were turned down.
I wish I could work,.. I miss it greatly.. few realize how much a man's self respect is tied to his ability to provide for his wife and children. My pension keeps us comfortable, as long as we are careful to live within our means.. and we are careful. I sometime will try to explain to the bitter hating types, I did not choose to be handicapped.. it just happened.. as if anyone would choose to have their back broken twice.. the last time in two places.. choose the surgeries.. the rehab, the endless bouts of meds.. dizzy and sick to your stomach is a common reaction to them..
I read where they laughed at Ann Romney because she had MS, and survived cancer while raising her 5 kids.. laughed at her.. and made vile remarks about her servants raising her kids for her.. nasty things about her paying for her life of wealth the way a whore does..
vile subhuman filth.. any who would say that.
I know what my days are like,.. and I can bet you, Ann's aren't that different, money or not.. I can tell you of days sitting by the side of the bed, feeling sick, just sick, aching in a God awful pain,.. reaching for my morning meds as my daughter gets up to get ready for jr. high.. I make sure she's up, and taking her bathroom time, as I make the first cup of coffee for the day.. My wife is still sleeping, she wakes late, never getting home till 1:00 in the morning, and I choose to let her sleep, because she does work damned hard for her paycheck.. and this is my way to say I love you, and thanks.. after my daughter boards the bus, I get to wake my son, and his three cousins, who now live with us, because their single mom's, my sis in laws can't find work.. so I take them in.. or they end up in a homeless shelter.. and who could do that to their nieces and nephew and sleep at night... my sis in laws get up too to help with the kids.. then after I walk them two blocks to school.. we divy up the housework, work out a meal plan,.. and start off on the days chores.. I could just stay in bed.. they ask me to,.. tell me I needn't work through the pain..
but these are my kids too.. and even if I can't move boulders anymore, I can at the least help out.. no man wants to feel useless..
I imagine Ann Romney is the same.. yeah she doesn't "have to" do a mother's work.. she could leave it to others.. but she's a mom as much as I'm a father, and you don't just leave your children to others.. not if you love them and want to be in their lives.. I can tell you exactly how Ann feels about her fine sons, it shows in the way they have grown into very decent young men.. She didn't blow off motherhood.. and she did it suffering in ways most can't imagine.. but she still did it.
Parents don't hand off their children, not real parents.. so I read these attacks on her, and felt the same gut punch she must have..
She handled it with class, with grace.. I'm not that tolerant my self.. I'd be putting more of them in their place..
I pray to God Ann is the next first lady.. she at least gets that we aren't all just cookie cutter stereotypes to be abused and pampered by politicians on cue.. vastly superior to the trailer park queen who vacations three times a month because her ife is just so damned hard..
God Bless you Ann, Mitt's a lucky guy.
All that work for nothing.
Submitted by NeoKong on Fri, 04/13/2012 - 2:40pm.
They had that beautiful "War On Women" campaign running and it was working pretty good and then it all got ruined by one single comment.
Darn.
uh huh..
Submitted by Mark81150 on Sat, 04/14/2012 - 6:53pm.
i would imagine there's many a leftist wonk crying in his corn flakes over that..
never have so many people so deserved complete contempt as these current leftwingers do.. and never have I seen such carefully laid plans get ruined so easily by just the wrong word here or there as these guys efforts are. If I didn't already believe in God, I'd start seeing as how they left is getting a cosmic level education in what happens to you when you play games with Karma.
God watches everything... and forgets nothing.
Hilary Rosen - the headlines we're not seeing
Submitted by Gary Hall on Fri, 04/13/2012 - 4:05pm.
If any Republican were in office, and a Republican strategist (who'd been in that White House 35 times) had come out and attacked a Democratic candidate's wife - in any fashion - for any reason - the various headlines would read (I'll use Bush as the example):
Bush White House in full defensive mode - desperately tries to distance itself from spokesperson's comments
Reporters drill Bush White House on the connections to the campaign
Polls show that voters are not buying lame claims that she's not deeply connected to the WH message machine
When will the White House fire this woman
Bush re-election campaign will have much work to do to recapture it's lead
(;~/ gary