USA Today Washington Bureau Chief Mocks Ann Romney's MS Therapeutic Riding 'Habit'

Noel Sheppard
July 1st, 2012 9:10 PM
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You would think after all the negative press MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell got for trashing Ann Romney's multiple sclerosis therapy of riding horses, media members would have wised up.

Apparently not, for on CNN's State of the Union Sunday, USA Today Washington bureau chief Susan Page referred to Mrs. Romney's remedy as a "very expensive horse riding dressage habit" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

CANDY CROWLEY, ANCHOR: Susan, in our last minute here, I know you had a big interview with Ann Romney recently.

What would surprise the public about Ann Romney?

SUSAN PAGE, USA TODAY WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF: You know, I asked her -- this is going to be in "USA Today" tomorrow -- I asked her if she was going to write a book and she said, yes, she wants to write a book.

And I said, "About the campaign?" She said, no, she wants to write a book about her struggle with multiple sclerosis and with breast cancer and what she's learned about facing challenges of all sorts in doing that. That's really something she says reshaped her sense of self, her priorities. That is what she wants to talk about.

CROWLEY: A lot of talk that Ann Romney is one of his -- one of Mitt Romney's best weapons. Do you agree after that hour interview?

PAGE: I think she comes across as so warm, she is able to kind of warm him up, make him look a little more approachable, but she will also -- she also has this very expensive horse riding dressage habit, which has been a part of her recuperation from MS, but she will be at the Olympics watching her horse perform. I think that's probably a double-edged sword for the Romneys.

Somebody cue MS-sufferer Neil Cavuto of Fox News for it appears another therapeutic dressage basher needs another dressing down.