To built on Ann Althouse’s comments, it’s amazing what a Drudge-lanche and what Althouse dubs a reframing of the issue via single photo can do to focus the mind:
Hilary Rosen stepped in last night on CNN; finally apologizes:
Amid a massive backlash from the American public and a stampeding retreat from her supporters, Democratic National Committee advisor Hilary Rosen backtracked from her words about Ann Romney last night on CNN, stating a few moments ago, “As a pundit, I know my words on CNN last night were poorly chosen … I apologize to Ann Romney.” The report of that statement comes from Jim Acosta at CNN.
Although as the Anchoress writes, Rosen’s apology is likely words, just words, as Rosen’s de facto boss would say:
Rosen seems to truly not get why people, especially women (both working and at-home) took offense at this. In Rosen’s shallow world, where formal credentials matter to an excessive degree, and “what you do” matters far more than the person you actually are, Rosen’s remarks were seen for the rather elitist, class-warfare cues they were, (those rich Republicans are so out of touch with the struggling proletariat) but more importantly they brought back memories of Hillary Clinton saying she wasn’t “some little woman standing by her man, baking cookies…” and of Teresa Heinz-Kerry’s wondering if Laura Bush had ever worked a “real” job and the understanding that Michelle Obama had a $300,000 a-year job created for her out of whole cloth, and then discontinued when she left for the White House.
One highly doubts that if either Bill Clinton, or John Kerry or Barack Obama had suggested he looked to his wife to get a sense of women’s economic concerns, Rosen would have for a moment thought those women lacked expertise in the realities of raising a family and earning a paycheck. And yet, Hillary Clinton, while she surely worked, had a governor’s mansion and a lot of help; she was never driving kids to soccer in a beat-up car; she probably never had to figure out how to stretch a pound of chopped meat through supper and the next day’s lunch while wondering if she had enough gas — at $4 a gallon — to get to work the next day; Teresa Heinz Kerry, of course, also had the help — the servants, cooks, chauffeurs — and Michelle Obama’s paychecks and circumstances hardly relate to the realities of most working women.
None of these women have lived the “reality” of most working mothers, any more than Mrs. Romney has. None of them.
Ace notes that Obama had laid the groundwork for Rosen’s botched attack:
Watch this video from Breitbart, where he talks about the woman who “advised me at the law firm where we met” (a knock on Romney’s statement that Ann is one of his advisers) and goes on to say “We didn’t have the luxury for [Michele] not to work.” And how it was hard for Michele Obama to “balance” the needs of work and child-rearing.
This is from last Friday, says John Nolte, who made this connection.
The Obama campaign would have us believe that last night on CNN Obama advisor and frequent White House guest, Hilary Rosen, spoke out of turn with her indefensible attack on Ann Romney and every woman who chooses to stay home and raise her family. But in a speech last Friday at “The White House Forum on Women and the Economy,” President Obama seemed to be laying the groundwork for exactly this attack.
It sure seems, then, like the White House cooked up this line of attack, and Hilary Rosen, who’s been there 35 times and advises Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (in order to help her “tone it down,” ironically enough), was simply delivering the Daily Two Minute Hate, as ordered by her bosses.
And in that case the White House’s and the Obamas’ and Messina’s and Axelrod’s claims of finding fault with the comment are, naturally, completely disingenuous.
By the way– Sandra Fluke? Hilary Rosen’s PR firm represents her.
Not to mention Rosen had been a frequent visitor at the White House:
Democrats were quick to insist that Rosen has no role at the White House, but Jim Geraghty reports that the rebuttal seems to be more of an issue of semantics:
White House visitor logs indicate that “Hilary Rosen” visited the White House thirty-five times.
Gen. David Petraeus, head of our efforts in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the current CIA director, nine times.
Meanwhile, see if you can guess who said this in 2008?
“You know essentially, you’ve taken on sort of the most sympathetic person in the candidate’s realm, the wife, who is taking care of the children, supporting the husband, doing everything she can because she loves him … [it’s a] stupid strategy.”
You get three guesses, and the first two don’t count.
And finally, hoping to reduce the tension in the White House, some comic relief (read: the daily epic fail) from Jay Carney:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bs_5CapvQOI
Update: Power Line’s Scott Johnson on Rosen’ “fulsome apology.”
More: Who Is Hilary Rosen?
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