Sometimes, the Morning Jolt is just too good to make you wait until the actual morning:
Obama’s Allies Let Out What They Really Think of Ann Romney
What?
What?
So apparently on CNN Wednesday evening, Democratic strategist Hilary Rosen felt the best way to help her preferred candidate, Barack Obama, was to go after Ann Romney, Mitt’s wife.
ANDERSON COOPER: To the Romney campaign’s point, they say they’re focusing on the economy, and that’s what women say they overwhelmingly care about right now in poll after poll. And whether it’s a typical pattern or not, women are seeing jobs come back much more slowly than men are. Is there anything really wrong then, on reaching out to women on an issue that they care about, on the economy?
HILARY ROSEN: Well, first, can we just get rid of this word, “war on women”? The Obama campaign does not use it, President Obama does not use it — this is something that the Republicans are accusing people of using, but they’re actually the ones spreading it. With respect to economic issues, I think actually that Mitt Romney’s right, that ultimately, women care more about the economic well-being of their families and the like. But he doesn’t connect on that issue either. What you have is Mitt Romney running around the country saying, “Well, my wife tells me what women really care about are economic issues.” And, “When I listen to my wife, that’s what I’m hearing.” Guess what? His wife has never actually worked a day in her life. She’s never really dealt with the economic issues that a majority of the women in this country are facing — in terms of how do we feed our kids, how do we send them to school, and how do — why we worry about their future.
Brittany Cohan: “Democrats are all about choice. Until you are a pro-life woman who stays at home and raises her kids. Then you’re wrong. Or something.”
Erick Erickson: “If raising 5 sons through breast cancer and MS isn’t a real job, I’m not sure what is.”
Our Charles Cooke observes, “An astonishing number of liberals on Twitter have feeds featuring both nonsensical ‘war on women’ claims and mean comments about Ann Romney.” He adds, “Actually, @hilaryr, if the federal government ran its budgets like most mothers do, we wouldn’t have a $900bn structural annual deficit.”
Dana Perino scoffs, “The problem with saying something explosive on a network no one watches is that everyone hears about it and few hear the hollow apology.”
Moe Lane notices, “Hey, do you know what Hilary Rosen considers real work? Pushing copy-protected CDs. That’s right: she was a RIAA lobbyist.”
Ryan Williams, Romney spokesman, notices a report from the Wall Street Journal from February 16: “Obama advisers have occasionally told [DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman-Schultz] to ‘tone it down’ . . . She agreed with them to enlist . . . Anita Dunn and Hilary Rosen.”
Chelsea Grunwald: “Question for Hillary Rosen, Michelle Obama is technically not employed right now, is her input on female economic issues invalid too?”
Drew M. asks, “Does she have to report her CNN appearance to the FCC as an in-kind contribution to the Romney campaign?”
How bad did it get?
Obama campaign manager Jim Messina, 10:42 p.m. eastern time: “I could not disagree with Hilary Rosen any more strongly. Her comments were wrong and family should be off limits. She should apologize.”
David Axelrod, 10:48 p.m. eastern time: “Also Disappointed in Hilary Rosen’s comments about Ann Romney. They were inappropriate and offensive.”
Oh, by the way:
Hilary Rosen, the chairman and CEO of the Recording Industry Association of America, will leave the organization at the end of 2003. Rosen had worked for the RIAA — the trade group that represents the sound recording creators, manufacturers and distributors — for seventeen years and served as the organization’s CEO since 1998 . . . In a statement, Rosen expressed a desire to spend more time with her children as a motivating factor in her decision to resign.
So, when Rosen did that . . . did she stop “really dealing with the economic issues that a majority of the women in this country are facing” as she believes Ann Romney did?
Do only working mothers have views on economic issues and economic pressures?