Via cartoonaday.com

Today’s L.A. Times letter to the editor, because our voices matter:

Calling all moms

Re “Romney is facing larger problem with female voters,” April 13

We need to get real about Democratic strategist Hilary Rosen’s comment that Ann Romney “never worked a day in her life.” [Ed. Note: I did, here]

Rosen wasn’t saying anything derogatory about stay-at-home moms; she was speaking the truth that Ann Romney has never had to worry about paying the bills, putting food on the table, buying clothes and the cost and quality of her kids’ day care.

Mitt and Ann Romney are in the lucky percentage of Americans who don’t know how hard many in the working class have it. They are clueless as to how financially-strapped families are dealing with today’s crisis.

Bernadette Armstrong
Sherman Oaks

Oh, and let’s not forget this: Romney Book: ‘Nonworking Parents’ Produce ‘Indolent And Unproductive’ Children. “If nonworking mothers on welfare produce “indolent and unproductive” children, then why doesn’t the same hold true for other women?”

Video recovered yesterday shows that Romney said in January that he wants to “increase the work requirement” for mothers who receive welfare. “Those parents [need] to go back to work,” he explained.

As we’ve posted repeatedly, Ann Romney chose, because she was able to choose, to be a full time mom, but so many women (including single moms) are not given that choice, and have to either be the sole earner while managing a family, or take a job to add to what their significant other makes.

Those indolent sloths and their “unproductive” little brats!

And let’s not forget that this all started because Willard considers Ann, who has never answered to an employer or had to confront the same economic issues as most Americans, to be the perfect economic adviser. Her input is welcome, but come on, she’s no expert on working families.

Photo credit: Chronicle of the Horse

Via Lalo Alcaraz, creator of La Cucaracha

There is no Mommy War. Everyone loves and respects moms, nobody has disparaged them, and for this Hillary Rosen “controversy” to get this much media attention tells me a few things:

• Republicans are really good at making something out of nothing, creating their own news, and turning it into a meme that in turn becomes a 24/7 headline.

• Hillary Rosen’s remarks made total sense to me until the “news” [sic] media and punditiots told me, “Be offended, be very offended!” I hadn’t misconstrued her words to mean mothers are worthless or less-than, I understood exactly what she meant, and have been stunned to see her intent turned upside down.

• Democrats are shamefully distancing themselves from Rosen’s comments instead of using them to their advantage. She made a good point that was twisted into an unrecognizable attack on moms, who, by the way, do not have the hardest jobs in the world. If they do, then, using that logic, President Obama’s killing of Osama bin Laden, foreign policy efforts, economic challenges, health care reforms, et al, are easier tasks than raising kids. I’ve raised twins, and I have a hunch Pres O works harder than I do/did.

• More often than not, cable “news” is embarrassingly inept at covering real news. The commercialization of news has led to shoddy coverage, inferior fact checking, and a quest for ratings and profits at the expense of thorough, investigative, objective reporting. It’s entertainment enhanced by real information.

• To spend this much air time on a weak, but persistent, accusation about a CNN commentator’s (no she does not work for Team Obama) opinion, ignoring the full context and intent, is destructive.  Rosen’s point was clearly that Ann Romney has never had a boss, a paycheck, nor the responsibilities of a job outside the home, and therefore, doesn’t have the economic chops to advise a presidential candidate. She was able to choose to stay home, but most of us can’t afford to do that. She made that choice. (Although freedom of choice doesn’t extend to other women in other ways, does it, Ann and Willard?) To spend days accusing Rosen, and by extension the president (again, she does not work for the DNC or the Obama campaign ), of hating moms is a frivolous waste of time and highly insulting to her, the president, and people who want to be truly informed.

• News outlets are dying for the actual War On Women that the GOP has waged to morph into a Democratic political hot potato so that they can whip up viewers and add ratings points. Creating phony outrage benefits them, not us.

I don’t see the same harrumphing and clucking over the many GOP lies and trumped up smears on the president (which speak volumes about the character of Republican candidates) as I do over this non-issue.

Now, if some of the Sunday talk show hosts were my kids, then maybe I’d have the toughest job in the world.