Martha MacCallum Interviews Ann Romney & Advances Hilary Rosen Connection To DNC

Given that Fox News has rallied its internet and radio content around Ann Romney, it wasn't surprising to see Ms. Romney being given the opportunity to address the multitudes via Fox's morning "news" show "America's Newsroom." This morning, in addition to providing a sweet and supportive platform for Ann Romney, Martha MacCallum was able to advance the Romney/GOP/Fox meme that Hillary Rosen, whose comment about Ann Romney has become a weapon in the Romney/GOP/Fox arsenal to be used against the Democrats, is connected to the DNC. She was also able to use the interview as a campaign ad for Mitt Romney. So, it was all good....

Alleged "news" anchor, Martha MacCallum immediately advanced the DNC connection and framed the narrative with her opening report that the RNC is calling for an apology after a "firestorm" over "controversial comments that were made by a DNC advisor about Ann Romney." The chyron reinforced the message: "RNC Calls on DNC Chair to Apologize for Advisor's Comments About Ann Romney." Hillary Rosen works for Anita Dunn whose firm has a contract, with the White House, for media services. So she doesn't directly work for the DNC; but you wouldn't know that if you read Fox News material and watched Fox News which is advancing the meme, started by the Romney campaign, that Rosen is directly tied to the DNC. MacCallum continued the Romney/GOP/Fox defense of Romney with her comment about how Rosen "took a swipe" at Romney. After playing Rosen's comments, MacCallum said "oh boy."

In introducing Ann Romney, MacCallum claimed that she knows how it feels when "these things are said." In response to MacCallum's question about her reaction, Romney laughed as she commented that Rosen should have come to the Romney house when the boys were causing trouble and that it wasn't easy. Non stay at home mom MacCallum agreed and said that the Fox tweets were full of similar stories about the difficulty of being a stay at home mom. After MacCallum read a tweet from Romney son Josh about how Romney chose to stay home to raise a family, Ms. Romney stated that women have choices and she respects all of these choices. (Does that include the choice to have an abortion?) She gave a "shout out" to dads raising kids and noted that her husband said that her job was more difficult than his. She claimed that the women whom she has met on the campaign trail are talking about how the economy affects them.

MacCallum played more recent video of Hillary talking about how many working women don't have the same kind of life experiences and choices as Ann Romney did. Romney asserted that she, too, has had struggles and she and Mitt "have compassion for" those who are struggling and that that the national debt will be a huge problem for their children. She added that folks are worried about their jobs in the "tepid recovery" and the "legacy of debt." (GOP talking points alert).

MacCallum's video of Rosen's "telling" comment that Mitt Romney being"old fashioned" was more opportunity for more Mitt Romney promotion focused on how Mitt Romney has always been surrounded by competent women and how he admires women. MacCallum talked up Ann Romney's volunteer work which allowed Ann to promote goals as a possible future first lady. To MacCallum's question about Romney's problem with women, Ann said that women just haven't had an opportunity to hear them and went through a litany of reasons why women should vote for him.

Ann Romney was cheerful and polite. She didn't attack Rosen. But thanks to Fox News she was able to promote her husband's candidacy which, among women, is trailing badly. It reminds me of that saying about life, lemons, and lemonade. And interviewing Romney, Fox was able to link Hillary Rosen to the evil DNC. So, for Fox, it was just more sweet Kool-Aid. It was all good....

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commented 2012-04-12 23:08:43 -0400 · Flag

I’m sorry but this entire hooplah has been extremely offensive to me. Hilary Rosen’s comments, that Ann Romney has never worked a day in her life, were actually quite accurate. Particularly when understood in the context with which they were stated – that Mitt Romney has a serious problem understanding the economic issues working women face and just asking his wife about them does not alleviate the problem. Mitt Romney’s statement that his wife is his source of information on women’s economic woes is itself quite offensive if you think about it for more than a moment.

Rosen wasn’t denigrating stay at home mothers, or even stay at home mothers who have a lot of money and household help, as the Romneys did and do. Rosen was saying that Ann Romney has no frame of reference to talk about what it’s like to work a full time job and also have to take care of your children, who your job is feeding. Romney has never had to work a full time job while supporting multiple children. She has never had to figure out how to stretch a paycheck to accomodate the needs of several people to eat and have a roof over their heads.

My mother worked full time to take care of my brother and myself, and would still come home to cook a meal almost every night of the week. She did not have any nannies, maids or any other help. (If anything, my brother and I were the ones cleaning the home and taking care of everything we could while my mother paid the bills.) This is a life experience Ann Romney never had – it’s something that on its face would be foreign to the Romneys.

Telling Hilary Rosen to apologize for a slight she did not make is one of the most craven and shameful acts I have seen liberal pundits commit.

commented 2012-04-12 19:28:56 -0400 · Flag

Also, did Ann talk about having to disappoint the kids with a smaller-than-expected Christmas because Dad didn’t get the Christmas bonus he expected? Did Ann talk about having to go to the Food Stamp office because Mitt found himself out-of-work for months on end? Did Ann talk about having to go with the “generic Frankenberry”* because they couldn’t afford the name brand or did she have to choose “ground meat” instead of ground sirloin? Did Ann talk about having to hold off buying new clothes for herself so that the kids could get some new clothes? (For that matter, did she talk about having to buy her clothes, and her kids’ clothes, at the local thrift shop instead of going to Penney’s or Sears? Frankly, I’d be surprised if Ann Romney’d ever set foot in either Penney’s or Sears.)

I honestly don’t think that Ann has the slightest idea of what it’s like to be a “middle-class stay-at-home” mom where choices like that HAVE to be made. When even middle-class working moms face a life where the preceding paragraph is part of a typical day, it’s really tough for anyone (other than the GOP, the FoxNoise bobbleheads and their batch of gullible followers that is) to sympathize with poor Ann Romney’s “struggle” as a “stay-at-home” mom.

*From an episode of “Roseanne”

commented 2012-04-12 19:16:56 -0400 · Flag

Well, after Ann made that crack about Rosen’s coming by when the boys were “making trouble,” did she happen to discuss what kind of punishments she doled out? Did she talk about making the boys spend time outside mowing the lawn or pulling weeds or maybe making them handwash the dishes?

I mean, it’s all well and good that she was a stay-at-home mom, but, then again, so was Carol Brady and we all know what happened when Alice wasn’t around. (Granted, most of the time, Mr and Mrs Brady and the Brady kids went out of their way to over-dramatize how much they really needed Alice but even the one time when Alice left to “care for her sister,” Alice still got someone to fill in temporarily until the Bradys could hire someone full time.) And, according to the Brady backstory, Carol was a college graduate (though I don’t think there was any mention of what her major was)—just like Ann. (And Carol Brady had SIX kids to deal with.)