Let's look at those links.
The first small-print one — "Adviser to Obama, DNC Attacks Ann Romney" — goes to this video clip of DNC advisor Hilary Rosen, trying to say that Mitt Romney "doesn't connect" on the issue of women struggling economically: He's "running around the country, saying, well, my wife tells me that what women really care about are economic issues, and when I listen to my wife, that's what I'm hearing." She pauses, then blurts out the unfortunate line, which she clearly thinks is a great zinger: "Guess what? His wife has actually not worked a day in her life." She ends with "He seems so old fashioned."
That's the framing of Mitt Romney that the Obama campaign wants: Who are these out of touch people? Ironically, it was profoundly out of touch with the many women who work in the home (and with the many women who've professed to respect the choice that some women make to devote themselves to homemaking). This is the problem with these framing efforts. You have to brainstorm, imagining all the ways in which your opponents can use it against you. Framefail.
Drudge has done the obvious reframing. His large-print link goes to: "Ann Romney Fights Back: Debuts on Twitter to Counter DNC Advisor's Insult." Ann's first tweet is damned near perfect: "I made a choice to stay home and raise five boys. Believe me, it was hard work." Choice. She spoke their word. Hard work. Putting it simply. Who can argue? (Follow her here.)
Let's go to the rest of the Drudge links. The next one is "Rosen frequent White House visitor...," an item at NRO by Jim Geraghty, who's checked the White House logs and found "Hilary Rosen" there 35 times, much more often than, for example, Petraeus or Panetta.
The second small link is "ANN: 'She should have come to my house -- it wasn't so easy'...", which goes to an article summarizing Ann Romney's appearance on TV this morning. ("She should have come to my house when those five boys were causing so much trouble. It wasn't so easy.... Maybe I haven't struggled as much financially as some people have, but I can tell you, I've had struggles in my life. I would love to have people understand that Mitt and I have compassion for people that are struggling.") Also at that link, Rosen stands by her marginalization of Ann. ("Most women in America — let's face it — don't have that choice. They have to be working moms and home moms.")
Next: "POLL: Nearly 2 of 3 stand with wife..." This refers to a little poll they're doing at a WaPo blog:
Was Hilary Rosen out of line with her comments that Ann Romney "has never worked a day in her life."?It's not 2 out of 3 anymore. It's 96% calling out Rosen. Drudge-driven traffic, of course. But that's my point. Rosen's frame set up a reframe. Disastrous framefail.
Yes, raising a family is a lot of work.
No, Ann Romney is out of touch with the economic issues facing working women.
This is creating so much interest in Ann Romney now, shining a sudden bright light on her, and she is so ready. She's a great persona, better than Mitt at talking to people and generating warmth.
The final link is: "OBAMA: 'We Didn't Have The Luxury For Michelle Not To Work'..." A Harvard Law graduate is going to position himself as empathetic, saying his wife had to work? Michelle didn't choose? That makes no sense. It's not that they "didn't have the luxury," it's that they wanted luxury. She worked to achieve greater wealth. That was not necessary. It wasn't wrong either, but own it.
Despite its appearance among the Drudge links, that was not an effort by Obama to fix the framefail. The linked article is from April 9. Now, I think in that clip Obama sounds nicely empathetic to the way working mothers feel:
"Once I was in the state legislature, I was teaching, I was practicing law, I'd be traveling... And we didn't have the luxury for her not to work. And I know when she was with the girls, she’d feel guilty that she wasn’t giving enough time to her work... And when she was at work, she was feeling guilty she wasn’t giving enough time to the girls. And like many of you, we both wished that there were a machine that could let us be in two places at once. And so she had to constantly juggle it, and carried an extraordinary burden for a long period of time."I'm sure that was hard work. But Michelle was making $300,000+ doing "community affairs" at the University of Chicago Medical Center. That was no ordinary job, and that money bought a lot more luxury than most women have. Plus, there was choice. Obama didn't have to take the kind of work he did, making less money and traveling as he built his political career speedily, while the girls were still very young.
But let's keep following this "out of touch" meme. Who's really more out of touch with the likely voters of America?
Posts
262 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 201 – 262 of 262Let's suppose for a moment that Hilary Rosen is correct that most mothers don't have the choice to stay home.
(I happen to believe that is not the most accurate way of framing it -- it's more that it truly requires sacrifice to stay home, and many mothers rationally judge the sacrifice to be too high. But I digress.)
So let's say for the sake of argument that most mothers feel they don't have the choice to stay home.
Nevertheless I bet a large number of those women wish they could, and say that they would if their circumstances were to change.
I will tell you one thing: Neither women who stay home with their kids, nor women who aspire to stay home with their kids, relate well to a comment that a stay-at-home mom "hasn't worked a day in her life." The only women who would ever say that are women who actively look down on the choice to stay home.
And so even if it's true that wealthy women who can easily afford to live on one paycheck and concentrate fully on raising their children are out of touch with women who can't easily do it...
...anyone who would say that at-home mothering doesn't count as working is far more out of touch with the hearts and minds of women who do it, or who wish they could do it. Women who value the work that mothers do, whatever else they may do to support their families, instantly recognize Rosen's statement as the statement of someone who does not value what mothers do.
This is why Democrats should never apologize. R's will say it was Obama putting Rosen up to it, and R's will pretend Rosen never apologized anyway.
As opposed to Lefties, who accept apologies. Rush, certainly, had his comments about Fluke forgiven when he apologized almost immediately.
Not one single person alive gives a flying fuck what Rosen, a DC insider/lobbyist/PR person said about the stay-at-5-homes Ann Romney. Not one. Please.
Well, you don't --- because Rosen, SOPA puppet, isn't a Republican. If she was, you'd never let it go.
"Except every Dem candidate is promising and campaigning to restore the bargaining rights."
And yet, here you have the Democratic Party starting to soft-pedal that strategy.
Yeah, that's a winner.
What's up with the WIGOP running fake Democrats then? Doesn't sound like a very confident party.
Will Walker be running on taking away collective bargaining rights? I bet not. He'll talk in Luntz-Speak, i.e. "tools", "reforms", etc.
Let’s declare peace in this phony war [that I started]
Good one!
I wonder who working moms identify more with - Ann Romney or Hilary Rosen?
LOL
I would love a sinecure like Michelle's. I'll do one better, though. Give me that 300k a year sinecure, and I'll actually make my local hospital better by making it follow the law, my wife will stay home, I will never run for office, and you won't have to put up with anyone else saying stupid shit in public on my behalf.
garage,
Are single unemployed mothers entitled to the same medical care that Ann Romney received for cancer?
Anyone is entitled to buy nearly (people, murders, and a couple other things are not and should not be for sale) anything they want.
Ann - These outrages are depressing. If you still have any Obama voters left here they'll vote for him even if ______. Let's do some happy talk. I kind of like Obama's foreign policy; at least I'm glad we let the Libyans kill each other and didn't decide they needed our help. Maybe something like that, something that Romney might carry over into his presidency like Obama Bush's.
Does Michelle get a First Lady salary or is she just living off Obama's wealth now?
Garage-
If you want to pay for the healthcare of single unemployed mothers, you won't be stopped.
Step up, or shut up.
Moochelle's salary sure bought a lot of Wagyu beef dinners.
Does Michelle get a First Lady salary or is she just living off Obama's wealth now?
Nerd.
(no reason...it just couldn't be helped)
Lol Scott!
"Are single unemployed mothers entitled to the same medical care that Ann Romney received for cancer?"
I am so fucking tired of this. We can (and DO!) pay for the health care of the poor at a fraction of the new costs imposed by ObamaCare.
“Do you mean Ann Romney, the woman married to the man who signed MassCare (or whatever it's called) into law?”
Her husband promised to repeal the ACA. On DAY ONE.
States have rights (powers) that the federal government does not. There's nothing inconsistent in believing that states should and can do things that the feds should not and cannot. Moreover, whatever the feds do and should do, they must do it in a way that is constitutional.
I had never actually seen Ann Romney interviewed before I saw her today. Very attractive and impressive -- she looks and sounds very "normal" and grounded (important in a potential first lady, who will be a "celebrity" and thrust into the media whether she wants to be or not).
Framefail!
@GM:
Not one single person alive gives a flying fuck what Rosen, a DC insider/lobbyist/PR person said about the stay-at-5-homes Ann Romney. Not one. Please.
...and that's why the chief Political Advisor and the re-election Campaign Manager for the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES have
both ON THE RECORD thrown Ms. Rosen (35 visits to the White House!) under the bus.
Anyone with sense, or not a shrill, predictable hack, would know that as subordinate political operatives Axelrod and Messina are acting at the behest of their boss and care very deeply -- not about the insult to Mrs. Romney but about the damage to their boss (35 visits to the White House!) that the insult represents. By responding at all they've elevated the issue to greater visibility, weighing the cost (David Petraeus only 9 visits to the White House!) of elevating that visibility against the benefit of distancing their boss from the blowback.
And, yeah, it'll blow over in a week, replaced by the President's latest nonsencial utterance about Judicial Review or Reagan's tax policies or whatever else he has to pull out of his a**.
Let's tighten up the narrative, shall we?
The Republican "War on Women who Attack Stay-at-home Moms"
...and that's why the chief Political Advisor and the re-election Campaign Manager for the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES have
both ON THE RECORD thrown Ms. Rosen (35 visits to the White House!) under the bus.
Have news for you: TEAM Obama DOES NOT FUCKING CARE what Hilary Rosen said! Neither does Ann Romney. Team Obama disavowed themselves of the statement because we live in a stupid fucking country, driven by an even more stupid press corps covering a stupid election year horse race.
‘We Didn't Have the Luxury for Her [Mrs. Obama] Not to Work’ -- President Obama.
Or put another way, '317-large for no-show patronage jobs doesn't grow on trees.'
The important thing, Garage, is that you've convinced *yourself*.
Toodles.
"... Team Obama disavowed themselves of the statement because we live in a stupid fucking country, driven by an even more stupid press corps covering a stupid election year horse race."
USA! USA!
Ever notice how much liberals hate this country?
Remember during the campaign when Michelle encouraged people to work for a non-profit organization like she was doing because it was better than working for a corporation with greedy, overpaid executives? Also, I have read that Michelle's $300,000+ per year job was only a part-time job, but I do not know if that was from a reliable source.
Re "no one gives a f-f..." well it seems the the President and First Lady apparently do as well--, as did Ditzy Debbie WS; And now Ms Rosen has apologized. well--sort of. Apparently quite a few people gave a flying fuck. Anyway, GM--you arent being paid to be a democratic strategist, so you are welcome to your opinion. My only suggestion might be to stay out of PR type jobs.
:)
It's a shame that the RNC now has a site up claiming that Obama insulted mothers.
Have news for you: TEAM Obama DOES NOT FUCKING CARE what Hilary Rosen said!
They don't care so much that they were up in the middle of the night saying what a bad thing it was that Rosen said.
36fsfiend said...
It's a shame that the RNC now has a site up claiming that Obama insulted mothers.
More accurately, Obama resonates with people who disrespect mothers.
You just don't go after mothers in this country. And leave the apple pie alone too.
It's a shame that the RNC now has a site up claiming that Obama insulted mothers.
It is a shame. You wouldn't think it would have to come to such a thing. I hope Obama stops insulting mothers soon so the RNC doesn't have to resort to such basic things, and can focus on the important issue: that Obama totally fucked up the economy.
Blame Bush in 3, 2, 1...
And don't forget to tell us what a moderate you are.
They don't care so much that they were up in the middle of the night saying what a bad thing it was that Rosen said
Nobody was offended. The apologies weren't real. The same will hold true in the next dustup where Romney will have to apologize for something so stupid it should make every sane person's head hurt.
Garage -- I haven't read through the whole thread here, so I don't know what all you've said. I take your stance as honest, though, and in good faith.
However, some advice: what you should say is that not only this Rosen person is an ingrate, but that she doesn't speak for Democrats or for Obama. The trouble you have three is that she has been a frequent visitor of the White House, almost assuredly in her capacity as someone who is ostensibly good at communicating messages. You therefore have the problem of disassociating not with some marginal person, but with someone who was previously in or near Obama's ear.
You gotta Derbyshire this Rosen person. You gotta call her what she is, and say she is no longer welcome in polite company. Just saying she all the sudden doesn't speak for people she was close to isn't going to cut it, just as it doesn't cut it with racist conservatives.
Seven said:
".....and can focus on the important issue: that Obama totally fucked up the economy."
Hah. I had a flooring estimator at the house today to get an estimate on some new rugs [have held off for 5 years].
I like to ask others how the economy is and he said :
1- well there is no business for new construction because there is no new construction
2- People can't sell so they can't move so if they have some money, they are updating some parts of their home.
His honest answers just 7 months before the elction will doom Prez Obama and I hope, like you, Romney starts to pound the daylights out of that issue.
The important thing to keep in mind is that when lefties say things as patently offensive to normal folk as what the bitch Rosen said the lefties are shocked! shocked! that anyone would take offensive because after all it's only what EVERYONE in lib circles says incessantly to everyone else in lib circles, so what's to be put out about?
Ricpic:
Agreed - they are all like "Holy fuck? What did she say wrong?"
I was offended, garage. Truly. It was about the most outrageous thing I've heard of since you broke that story on Walker's secret router.
I'm hopping mad.
@7M
Rosen was sitting next to the person that called Justice Souder a goat fucking child molester. Save you tears.
Has Hilary Rosen had a mild stroke recently? The right side of her face seems oddly unsymmetrical. The corner of her mouth is truncated and she appears to have "upper" and "lower" eyebrows on the right side of her face.
I'd expect better from Ms. Rosen, a principal in a Public Relations firm who was hired by the DNC as an image-doctor for Debbie Wasserman-Schultz and has visited the White House 35 times.
The DNC Chairlady should ask for her party's money back.
You gotta call her what she is, and say she is no longer welcome in polite company.
Like a major cable news outlet *not* hiring Al "Medallions-like-a-Salad-Plate" Sharpton as on-air talent?
And "major" in relation to, say, CurrenTV.
I never realized how bad a campaigner McCain had been until I realized how clueless about Americans Obama and his staff turned out to be.
I never realized how bad a campaigner McCain had been until I realized how clueless about Americans Obama and his staff turned out to be.
Rosen isn't on Obama's staff. You are either are: very stupid, or, very dishonest.
And always with conservatives, it's stubbornly hard to tell!
Seven Machos said the same thing I tried to explain to you Garage. Rosen is a liability now, especially now that people are starting to remember her lobbying in favor of SOPA. Do what your party elders did. Cut her loose. She served her purpose.
Own her garage! She's one of yours!
there you go again garage - casting aspersions on millions of people. I thought you hated it when people generalize about liberals.
Own her garage! She's one of yours!
Sure, but you own Erick Erickson who called Souter a goat fucking child molester, and Michelle Obama a Marxist harpy wife. Doesn't seem to bother you guys, why would a factual statement from Rosen bother me? You also now own Foster Friess, who said Obama better have a bulletproof teleprompter. OWN IT! That's off the top of my head, I am positive I can come up with 100s more. I think I'll make a daily addition to the dialogue. Fun!
It's cute how you get so angry and stomp your feet. Cut her loose. Let her go. Free yourself.
@garage: Erick Erickson & Foster Friess
These guys are associated with Romney how? They visited him recently?
chickenlittle said...
"More accurately, Obama resonates with people who disrespect mothers."
chickenlittle,
That's a pretty broad brush.
These guys are associated with Romney how? They visited him recently?
They're both conservatives. Duh. OWN IT!
They're both conservatives. Duh. OWN IT!
Ha ha. No, the person has to have recently had the incumbent's or the candidate's attention.
Ha ha. No, the person has to have recently had the incumbent's or the candidate's attention
You now own an assassination joke leveled at POTUS. Link.
You going to disavow now, or later?
You sure you want to go there Garage?
Shooting a teleprompter: Unforgivable assassination joke.
2000-2008 continual Bush assassination porn: Proper use of the First Amendment.
bagoh20,
My point is that this is the kind of thing from Romney that's just sub-par, and he will get killed if he doesn't up his game.
I'm not following you. His wife with multiple sclerosis and five boys should retroactively get a job at the local grocery store, so that she can seem busier than, say, the current First Lady, without whose extra $300K in salary the Obamas and their children just plain couldn't have managed in the middle of the last decade.
Ms. Obama at least had a nominal job. ("Job" as in "paycheck"; not "job" as in "hardest job in the world" — which, as I understand it, does not actually entail "work."). Ms. McCain and Ms. Kerry, the previous runners-up for First Lady, I think were running entirely on inherited boodle. They might possibly have done some "work" somewhere. But they better have saved the pay stubs, because without those, it doesn't count.
Q has it right
"Hilary Rosen is precisely the sort of woman which feminism aims to advance - a lesbian who has spent her entire life "working" in political activism."
Think also of Kagan and Sotamayor.
Then as Q also cites, on the male side there is Van Jones.
It is not that there is anything wrong with Lesbians, but it is odd how they dedicate their lives to the democratic party and/or liberalism and prosper greatly. The smart attractive women hook their wagon to the republicans and conservatives and the unattractive lesbians go with the democrats. I'm not sure it important, but it is odd.
@garage: I read that story as Friess reaching out to Romney first and the Romney campaign acknowledging his knock.
Has any money exchanged hands?
Has any money exchanged hands?
Im sure the millions got Romney's attention. That's your baseline.
Only when you realize how idiotic this all is, will you realize how screwed up our political system really is. Rotten, corrupt, inept, hypocritical, and self serving.
"I'm not following you. His wife with multiple sclerosis and five boys should retroactively get a job at the local grocery store, so that she can seem busier than, say,..."
No, No, No,. It has nothing to do with her. That's my point. Romney can't use an opportunity to explain why women should vote for him by saying his wife agrees with him and tells him what women want.
If women really are serious voters, that should be insultingly pandering. He should explain how women make great entrepreneurs, and need to get government off their back and out of their family's pocket. That the spending currently planned under Obama will keep them and their families and their kid's families much poorer and less upwardly mobile forever. Then explain how his policies will be better.
Sure this looks good today, and it was a great blow to the women-belong-to-Democrats momentum, but that cannot be sustained. Obama's team will not let this happen again.
Don't people ever get tired of this gotcha back and forth crap? It's endless, childish, and tells you nothing about the people who you will be giving permission to fuck with your life and your kid's lives.
""Guess what? His wife has actually not worked a day in her life."
Neither did Obama, but he still got elected.
Seriously, the man has never held a real job in his entire life.
Bagoh20. Well said.
She can make any choice she wants because she is filthy rich.
Remember the 3 "F"s:
- filthy rich
- flip flopper
- funny underwear
I would have commented on this earlier, but I was busy not doing any work at home with three boys.
Seven Machos said...
"You wouldn't think it would have to come to such a thing. I hope Obama stops insulting mothers soon so the RNC doesn't have to resort to such basic things, and can focus on the important issue: that Obama totally fucked up the economy."
Obama didn't insult women who stay at home with their children. The RNC is claiming he did.
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