There was no reason for Rosen to cave.

[Ken Burch]

She was right about Ann Romney. Why would ANYONE in this party put pressure on her to kiss ruling class butt?

Nobody who was offended was going to vote Democrat or even write us a check.

This is why we have such trouble. Our side always gives in to pressure from the enemy.

[dballance]

1. My thoughts exactly!

Facts are facts. I appreciate that Ann Romney raised her kids but she doesn't deserve a medal for it.

[JI7]

2. it's not about caving, it's about moving away from the bs , she didn't cave, she referred to the

whole thing as phony.

[Ken Burch]

3. It gave them the win on the day, though.

n/t.

[MADem]

5. Colbert had the last word on the day, and the last word didn't favor Mitt.

Anyone who bought that bullshit wasn't voting for Obama anyway.

The theme has been chiseled in stone, just like "Laura Bush killed a guy"--and the theme is "Ann Romney never worked a day in her life." The bell is rung. It will never be unrung, even long after people forget who did the ringing in the first place.

This is a long view game being played here.

[MADem]

4. It's a game. She says the "naughty" thing, everyone says Tsk, Tsk, and then they laugh their asses

off hiding their mouths behind their hands. They know it. Rosen knows it. She's playing the attack dog, the attack dog NOT part of the campaign, and in fact, employed by CNN!

And the end result?

Everybody lets that shit percolate, they forget about the source of the wisdom, and then, when they see her in her thousand dollar Needless Markup suits, will say to themselves, "Yeah, she never DID work a damn day in her life!"

End result? Mittsy can't reference the economic wisdom of his Caddy driving, horse riding wife on the stump anymore--yet one more avenue to appeal to women by assuming that they are stupid and will buy his bullshit is cut off. Ha, HA!

[enough]

11. Kind of fun when our side does it for a change. (nt)

[MADem]

24. I agree.

In a week or two, the only thing people will remember is that "Ann Romney never worked a day in her life." Lovie and Thurston live a life of ease!

[Raine]

6. TOTALLY agree, our side should never back down

it was obvious that Rosen meant Anne Romney never had to deal with choosing between rent and feeding her kids. Instead of sticking up for Rosen she was thrown under the bus and run over.

[The Straight Story]

7. When we are out there saying that the right is in a war against women

It doesn't seem like a wise idea to tell folks that they, their moms, grandparents, etc who stayed at home didn't work.

Oh sure- that is not exactly what was said, but that is how it comes across.

Mitt's wife is not running for office and focusing on her and commenting on her is a distraction and a waste of time and serves no real purpose.

This is big time politics (presidential level) and I, for one, am surprised at how much ammo we just fed the right here on DU and elsewhere by basically saying (as you will see in other threads) being a stay at home is not a career and how can a woman understand the business world and it's pressures, etc.

Forget about Ann, what she does, what she says - her name is not on the ballot and she is not going to pander to the left anyway and anything we say about her is not going to harm Mitt. The only real possible losers are the left when, come hell or high water, we attack her.

Rosen apologized because she realized how it came it across - even if she was right - and that it harms more than it helps.

[MADem]

25. When all the huffing and puffing dies down, no one will remember Hillary Rosen. They will remember

that Thurston Romney the Third's wife, Lovie-Ann Romney, never worked a day in her life. She drives Caddys and rides horses. She has nannies who raise her kids FOR her.

There's no "feeding the right" here. Believe me, the shit that will stick will be that rich people get "choice"--poor people HAVE to work.

[EmeraldCityGrl]

8. It was all worth it just to hear Ann Romney say,

"Women should have the right to choose."

[MADem]

26. +1,000 nt

[Kath1]

27. I've been thinking the same thing!

She's PRO-CHOICE!

Love it.

[SydBAThule]

9. The problem is

too many Dems would rather make 'nice' with people who hate them when they should be, figuratively, smashing them in the mouth and when they are the ground kicking them till they are dead.

America will not more forward as long as the Democratics continue to pander to the low information voters.

[Bohunk68]

12. You're right on the money.

And then there are those who say we should always take the high road. Well, fuck that, who gives you points for taking the high road? And they get all hissy and self-righeous about it and go on and on and on about how good they are. Well, Scripture has a word or too about those who say their prayers on the street corners.

I say give them a taste of their own medicine, a strong heavy dose.

[laundry_queen]

23. Sadly, there is so much truth to that.

I was raised (and am currently surrounded) by such people. The only thing they respond to is vitriol and fear. Making nice, supplying 'facts' is just fodder for ridicule in their eyes. The only way to win them over is to fight, never back down and own your views and quit changing yer fucking mind with the wind.

[GodlessBiker]

10. Meh. Rosen's been a doofus since her RIAA days.

[madokie]

13. I'm most proud to be a democrat and the fact that we generally take the high road

Its not only who wins but how you play. I've always bought into that line of thinking so this is only natural for me

[A wise Man]

14. It always pisses me off when

democrats say whats right then caves in and apologizes to the dumbass rethugs. DAM DAM DAM

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

15. Rosen was half right

She screwed up by saying that Ann Romney didn't work. Staying at home raising kids is work. A most aggravating kind of work, because sometimes there's no such thing as "taking a break".

She was right in saying that Ann Romney didn't have experience with the economic struggles, headaches, worries, panic, the things that plague most 99%-er women. Ann may have paid household bills, but she never worried about having money to cover the check. In that sense, Ann is out-of-touch with the mainstream.

So, Rosen should cave on the first part of her statement.

[Ken Burch]

21. YOU'RE forgetting, though, that Ann pretty much always had a houseful of servants

doing the actual WORK of parenting.

She's basically a young Lovey Howell.

[KharmaTrain]

16. Right Size, Wrong Shape...

Firstly, a lot of this "poutrage" is manufactured...created by a desperate rushpublican noise machine to try to divert attention away from the massive gender gap that not only threatens to lead Mittens to a big loss in November but affect the party down the ticket. They needed someone to step into their trap and Rosen happily went there. The fact the right wing response was so fast and furious shows how they were laying in wait. I'm sure they hoped a higher profile Democrat would have done it but Rosen will do. It let them attempt to score some badly needed points in hopes that by amping things up loudly that some women would see this as an attack on motherhood.

Rosen would have done better had she questioned the methods Mrs. Rmoney used in raising her children than in appearing to dismiss her role as a mother. This was a pre-meditated attempt to do a famous Rovian trick...turn a weakness into a strength and try to diminish your opponent. Lately Millard's been hiding under his wife's skirt. Rosen was attempting to call her out on the phoniness of both of them but missed the mark.

[Skinner]

17. The hardest work I do is when I'm home with my kids.

It makes "work" feel like a day off. Telling stay-at-home moms (and dads) that they don't work is simply wrong.

Plus, it's off-message. Women are going very strongly for the Democrats this year, and it would be utterly moronic to voluntarily give up our advantage among women defending Hilary Rosen. She knows she blew it.

[GoCubsGo]

19. Yep. And, the worst part is...

This just gives the MSM more chances to play clips of Rmoney spewing his lies about how the it's really the President who is "at war with women". And, boy, they are doing just that. Every last freakin' network newscast has led with bits of him spewing his lies. Sure, the "Anne Rmoney hasn't worked a day in her life." notion is now out and circulating, as has been suggested upthread. But, so is the "Obama hates women." meme--BIG TIME.

Rosen was absolutely correct in what she said. She just said it poorly, and doing so left herself and the rest of her party open to the republican smear machine. You can't do that.

[uponit7771]

20. Ann Romney has staff to do the "work" you do from washing close to picking flowers to...

...sweeping the floor.

It's not good to make any kind of comparison between a mega rich person to even a slightly less than mega rich person.

[malaise]

18. All she had to do was explain her comment

She did choose her words badly and gave the morons a chance to 'poutrage'.

[DCBob]

22. That position would lose us votes.

Even if unintended, Rosen comments sound like a swipe at "stay at home" moms. That offends alot of people.

[SydBAThule]

28. Your so-called offeded people

are way more offended that a person of color is in the WH vice what Rosen said.

The one thing that has been proven is all Pubs have to do now is act 'offended' and the WH and Dems will back right down.

Obama and the Dems backing down is now being perceived as weakness by the most in America.

[Liber-AL]

29. So true, SydBAThule

I still can't understand how what Rosen said would override the threat that a majority republican government headed by a republican president poses to the 99%. Besides, what she said is the truth. When she said Anne Romney never worked a day in her life, I knew what she meant and I didn't feel that statement was an attack on SAHMs. The words were said and they should never have been apologized for. Instead of people like Wolf Blitzer putting Rosen down in front of the camera for her remark, she should have been uplifted and congratulated for her honesty.

Most of us agree with Rosen. But, even our president misread this one. He jumped on the bandwagon put forth by the repug-NAH-I Cant's. He went off on a tangent that had nothing to so with Rosen's statement. Rosen wasn't attacking SAHMs, she was attacking Anne Romney's masquerade as a SAHM. There is a difference.

I guess we cant help that some of our fellow liberals continue to fall for such trickery and duplicity. SOme of us are quick to condemn our own for telling the truth. I wonder about people who are afraid of the truth... I wonder about their loyalty to our common liberal cause.

[SydBAThule]

30. This adminstration has a long history

of throwing liberals and progressives under the bus at the first chance they get while openly embracing the others who call themselves Democrats yet only support republican policies and openly block or water down anything liberal or progressive.

Sad, very sad and pathetic if you ask me.

[DCBob]

31. That comment offends more than just those idiots.

and it was so unnecessary. We had a huge margin on the woman vote. Romney was not making any traction. Ann Romney was not connecting. Why attack her now? It was dumb.

[SydBAThule]

32. Sorry you are offeded but I was just as offened at your post

so I guess we are even.

No I am not playing tit for tat either.

We both have the right to be offened by each others post, that is the beauty of semi free speech at DU.

[DCBob]

33. I didnt say I was offended..

I said many people will be offended... and not just RW loons.

[Ken Burch]

34. All you have to do to neutralize that is to point out that

unlike 99% of stay-at-home-moms, Ann Romney had a houseful of servants...in fact, a FEW households of them.
Nobody thought she was Carole Brady, for God's sake.