Getty Images
Ann Romney was in Ohio this morning, sounding a little desperate about the gender gap undermining her husband's campaign.
Her husband, Mitt Romney, is attuned to women's struggles, especially their economic struggles, and, Ann Romney said, "I know that Mitt will be there for you."
"Women, you need to wake up," she told the largely female audience at a "Women For Mitt" rally in Findlay, Ohio. "Women have to ask themselves who is going to ... be there for you. I can promise you, I know that Mitt will be there for you, he will stand up for you, he will hear your voices, he knows how to fix an economy, he's a can do kind of guy, he's a turnaround guy."
I can appreciate why Ann Romney comes across as overeager on the issue -- a recent CNN poll asked voters nationally which candidate is more in touch with the issues facing women, and President Obama led by 20 points. With the election less than nine weeks away, that's a problem.
But what Ann Romney may not fully appreciate is why her husband is struggling so badly with women voters. If her remarks today are any indication, Romney seems to think her husband will create jobs, women will get many of those jobs, ergo, women should vote for Romney. Never mind what Obama has done, or how progressive he is on gender equality; Romney's economic plans should be enough to win women over, notwithstanding the failures of those plans during his one term as governor.
There are a couple of key flaws to the pitch. For one thing, Mitt Romney's jobs plan doesn't really exist beyond vague platitudes and promises of tax cuts for the wealthy.
For another, Romney's difficulties with women voters extends far beyond just a conservative economic agenda.
Indeed, Romney's platform is a disaster for women's health; Romney doesn't have the spine to endorse the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act; Romney won't endorse the pending Violence Against Women Act; Romney took the coward's way out when Limbaugh targeted Sandra Fluke; Romney has offered support for a "Personhood" measure that's so extreme it would ban some forms of birth control; Romney intends to destroy the Affordable Care Act, which would be a huge setback millions of women; and Romney's running mate has one of the worst voting records on women's issues in Congress.
"Mitt will be there for you, he will stand up for you"? That's nice rhetoric, I suppose, but what does it mean, exactly, in the real world?
Ann Romney desperately wants women to "wake up." But what if women are already wide awake, and they're just not impressed with what their open eyes are seeing?
Leave a Comment:
If you outlaw contraception and abortion, that saves women just as much money as providing them for free, doesn't it?
/snark
In Ohio, you can't get much more Republican than Findlay. Call the thing "Women for Mitt" and I think you can safely say that Ann was singing to the choir.
So that's how Mitt will fix the economy.. I get it now!
Ann Romney does not get it. Taking away a women's choice regarding her health care, her reproductive rights impacts a woman financially. Not all working women have health care benefits, so who is going to cover the cost of prenatal care and the birth? Not all companies have maternity leave, smaller companies do not have to offer maternity leave under the Family Medical Leave Act. Here again who is going to cover her finances while she is having this child and what if she develops problems and is bed ridden?
De-funding Planned Parenthood is not supportive of women. This is where women who do not have the funds go for cancer screenings, birth control and other women's health issue.
If Romney cared about women, why is Robert Bork his Judiciary Advisers?
1. Bork detests Roe v. Wade (1973), a decision he says has "no constitutional
foundation" and is based on "no constitutional reasoning."
2. In a 1984 case called Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers International Union v. American Cyanamid Co., Bork found that the Occupational Safety
and Health Act did not protect women at work in a manufacturing plant
from a company policy that forced them to be sterilized -- or else lose their
jobs. Thus, as Public Citizen put it, "an employer may require its female
workers to be sterilized in order to reduce employer liability for harm to the
potential children."
3. Bork believes that the government is free to ban contraception outright.
4. Bork even thinks the government can outright criminalize sex. Taken from Think Progress 10/17/11:
With all do respect Mrs. Romney, you nor your husband understand the struggles of Mothers who work in the home and outside of the home. These women need the freedom to make their own decisions of what is best for their situation, not Mitt Romney or Paul Ryan. In addition, Mrs. Romney why do you bounce when you speak and you always sound like a "Valley Girl Cheerleader".
Lorr
I agree with what you say except for one thing. Ann Romney doesn't sound like a Valley Girl. I am a Valley Girl and she doesn't sound anything like me. I will however agree about the cheerleader part. ;-)
Sorry about that Maria.
If they wanted to prove that they aren't the hypocrites that they actually ARE, then under this stupid way of thinking, condoms should also be outlawed since it is also considered a form of birth control. But I doubt that would happen because after all, this has nothing at all to do with "personhood", it has to do with controlling womens' sexuality, while allowing men to keep theirs.
All hail her Mormontological Majesty, Queen Ann of Stepford.
Ann Annoys Me People
Has anyone told her yet she doesn't get to be Queen of the United States - only First Lady?
Au contraire. It is Ann 'Antoinette' Romney and I'll take that cake now please.
Merely sharing a common chromosomal arrangement doesn't mean that Mrs. Romney actually understands the female experience in America, and it's been well desmonstrated that that lack of understanding is what she's working from.
Dear Ann Romney,
Hate to break it to you, but both you and your husband are out of touch with women. Neither of you actually have a clue that women who are working outside the home, may not want or be able to afford to "have as many babies as the Lord gives them". You also may not be able to understand that divorce & death do happen to married women and they should have the protection of "equal work, equal pay"! And if a woman is raped, NO she should not be forced to carry the rapists baby, nor should she be violated by an ultrasound or subjected to mental evaluations because she chooses to terminate her pregnancy.
And while you know and love your Mitt, he comes across as robotic, unfeeling (remember Shamus), and entitled, and you my dear come across as a Stepford wife - with a more expensive wardrobe.
Did I write this ?
"Eyes they have, but they see not / Ears they have, but they hear not." (Psalms 115) -- They do not get it, they will not get it.
Marie-Anne Antoinette-Romney: "Let them eat cake."
I seem to recall that in the 1930s fascists used the slogan "Wake Up!" or "Awake" to warn of the dangers posed by Jews to the Aryans.
Also "Kirche, Kuche und Kinder" (Church, Children, Kitchen) as the "proper interests" of women.
Wow, it only took 6 posts for Godwin's Law to go into effect.
BTW, did you know that "Forward" was the name of a Hitler Youth song?
Okay, you've got your snark fix - so, what do you think of Ann Romney's actual point that her husband is better on women's issues than Pres. Obama?
Well, well… looky here:
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Job+17%3A9&version=NLT
http://www.biblegateway.com/resources/commentaries/Matthew-Henry/Heb/Hebrews-Urged-Go-Forward-Back
http://www.biblegateway.com/resources/commentaries/Matthew-Henry/Ezra/Leaders-Forward-Building
Had a feeling you'd be interested in these verses about going forward.
Besides which, she is misrepresenting Godwin's Law. Those on the right and weenie liberals like to do that.
Just responding to the previous snark.
I think Romney is better on issues that affect ALL Americans, which would include women.
Sorry, but Obama's tax & spend ideas are not exactly "forward thinking", and I see nothing Biblical about borrowing from China to pay for his pet programs.
What part am I misrepresenting?
Godwin's law (also known as Godwin's Rule of Nazi Analogies or Godwin's Law of Nazi Analogies[1][2]) is an argument made by Mike Godwin in 1990[2][non-primary source needed] that has become an Internet adage. It states: "As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches 1."[2][3] In other words, Godwin observed that, given enough time, in any online discussion—regardless of topic or scope—someone inevitably makes a comparison to Hitler and the Nazis.
fedupwithliberals: Are you aware the word "Forward" is on the Wisconsin State Flag. In addition: "State Motto: "Forward" Reflecting Wisconsin's continuous drive to be a national leader, the state adopted "Forward" as the official state motto in 1851". Not to mention it is on their State Coin.
fedup -
1. Obama has not raised your taxes or mine. If he has, please provide some proof.
2. The Constitution gives the power to tax and spend to one branch of government. Which is it? (Hint: not the Executive branch)
3. We never borrow money from China. They just have the money to buy our Treasury bonds; there is no decision on anyone's part on whom those are sold to. China only owns about 8% of those, and most of that was done during the Bush years.
4. The Bible is not a book that applies to the United States. It was written (yes, even the New Testament) long before anyone from Europe even conceived of sailing the ocean to see what's over here.
Those are four areas where you misrepresent, I did it without Godwin, and I didn't even bring Romney into it yet. Wanna go for more?
Interesting. Romney promises to repeal "Obamacare "- this would mean some of the younger people around me would lose their health insurance (they are currently insured under their parents' plans, and because of pre-existing conditions, would probably remained uninsured for quite a while - they would either be denied, or the premiums would be out of reach). Repealing it also means that women will lose our access to low-cost and even free, preventive care. Plus, repealing the ACA would mean adding in the neighborhood of $109 billion to the deficit, and losing the $1 trillion in projected deficit reduction - how is that better for Americans?
"Restoring" the $716 billion in Medicare cost savings would also mean going back to overpaying insurance companies and letting Medicare fraud run amok. How is that better? And how is it better for women that Romney chose as his running mate a congressman with one of the worst records on women's issues, and who sought to redefine rape into forcible/not forcible categories?
Would Romney's plan to let the auto industry slowly wither have been better for Americans? His plan depended on private capital coming to the rescue - there was no private capital available, yet Romney had no plan B. How would the loss of hundreds of thousands of auto industry-related jobs have been better for all Americans?
You mention "borrowing from China," but Romney/Ryan surely would have to do that in order to make the Bush tax cuts permanent - they still haven't explained how this would be paid for.
Re: spending -- Pres. Obama has actually lowered the rate of spending, and reduced the deficit - those are all measureable good things for all Americans.
What has Romney accomplished that's even comparable? He brought Massachussetts in 47th out of 50 nationally in job creation and left office with a low approval rating and not much love lost, and as a candidate, he's run a breathtakingly dishonest campaign. What does he offer that inspires your confidence in him?
Is 'Fedup..' a troll? A moron? Can't figure this out. Is it both?
fedup is indoctrinated into thinking in terms of "all" as those that are like them. Except for maybe LGBTQ folks and whomever else they deem insufficiently as equal as themselves, you know "them".
The only thing is, Republicans use categories as deciding factors in planning election rigging.
Santorum said blah people are on welfare, so… you know
http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2012/01/rick_santorum_says_hes_against.html
WI...,
A troll, definitely.
By the way, Godwin's Law is neutral about whether or not comparisons to the Nazis or any individual Nazi are valid. Those on the right like to unjustly compare non-conservatives to the Nazis, but they tend to get quite indignant when one of them is compared. I am quite confident that the troll was unhappy that the comparison was made at all and was not really remarking on when it ocurred.
" . . .he knows how to fix an economy, he's a can do kind of guy, he's a turnaround guy."
If Romney's plan for women is anything like his plan for those businesses he "turned around," he's probably planning to grab their pension money, cut their pay and benefits, and outsource them to China.
Yes, turn it around a go backwards.
Mitt and all of his croonie's are alway's saying : he knows how to fix the economy !
HOW? We are still waiting for you to tell us ! We are still waiting for them tax returns !
We are still waiting for you to make a sound decision to take just one stance and stick to it !
pretty pathetic really. I don't how these people sleep at night.
Soundly. If you don't have a conscience, there's nothing to keep you up at night.
Talk is cheap and plentiful. Ann just doesn't understand what women who don't have a "staff" go through. Her husband is not equiped to understand the American people. It isn't his fault, it's just that he was born with "a silver foot in his mouth".
"Wake up! Mitt's got your back, he's a turn-around-and-stab-you-in-the-back-kind-of-guy!"
-Ann Rmoney
Awww, is Ann Romney throwing a "tantrum"???? Is she upset with all the attention Michelle Obama got?
Don't all "you women" have any respect? After all that money Ann paid for her speech and for her dress???
"Wake up!" I swear, going around shrieking those words all the time seems to be one of the diagnostic criteria for ODS.
Reading over Lady Ann's remarks, I cannot help but think of how good and kind God was to allow Lady Ann and Prince Willard to get married to one another so as to make only two people miserable instead of four.
MR. PRESIDENT YOU WILL LOSE IF...
You do not stand up for the lies the right is making on the National debt.
They are accusing you of spending $5 TRILLION during your term.
I know for a fact that they are all GOP policies that caused it.
Fixing the GOP screw ups is not your spending is theirs.
Stimulus to save the GOP screw ups are LOANS not spending.
INTEREST on the GOP TRILLIONS of debt is NOT yours to be responsible for.
MR. President,
The $16 TRILLION is GOP Policies of the past 32 years.
Stand up for your record and denounce those accusations.
Use their debt clock against them.
Let's add up the debt under Reagan and the Bushes.
We can't blame Reagan for the debt's increase until his first budget took effect, October 1, 1981. Then, for 12 years until Sept. 30, 1993, the Republicans ballooned the debt. Later, George W. Bush took over.
Under Reagan and Bush: $3.4 Trillion increase in the debt.
Under George W. Bush: $6.1 Trillion.
Total: $9.5 Trillion. (without counting interest)
But wait, there's interest on that debt ...
The debt went up during Clinton's years only because of $2.2 Trillion interest on the Reagan-Bush debt. Otherwise Clinton would have paid off most the remaining WWII debt. G.W.Bush got sand-bagged by Reagan.
Just like a mortgage, the debt earns interest, and so the Reagan-Bush-I debt grew during the Clinton years. The average debt interest rate in those years was about 6.5%, which would increase it over 50% without compounding, but with compound interest the total debt – including interest – increased by $2.2 trillion.
Total Republican debt from above: $9.5 trillion
Interest on Reagan-Bush debt under Clinton: $2.2 trillion
Interest on $11.7 trillion after G. W. Bush: $0.3 trillion
Grand Total Reagan-Bushes Debt: $12 trillion (as of Sept. 30, 2010).
If the Republicans had not run up this $12 Trillion debt, we could easily have pulled out of the Great Recession.
The rest on the debt have been the ongoing and "unbudgeted" tax discounts, GOP created wars, corporate loopholes, etc.
And, the INTEREST per year for those GOP generated TRILLIONS.
PASS THIS TO OBAMA.
I agree, but I think the debates will be a good place for Obama to state the facts, but I am sure he needs to try to avoid blaming Bush for it all. Just the appearance is not wise, but the facts can be stated as facts.
But yes, Congress has been throwing wrenches into the economic recovery and I despise and denounce them for doing that. I have people close to me hurting. We are helping them and we cannot spend much because we help them.
The interest alone on the prior debt is horrific, but cutting jobs would be devastating and who was going to step in and buy GM? Nobody, that I can see. So add another million jobs to the Great Recession that teetered on the edge of Great Depression.
Ann, you are a good wife and mother, but telling women to wake up and snap out of it? You really have no idea how they struggle. Women believe that they have dominion over decisions about their own bodies. Not all women believe or think the same as you do. That is the wake up call.
I know many female couples that are good wives and mothers, deciding to have children. Yes, Ann… they are good mothers and take care of their children and each other together. They are a family just like any other family.
All Obama has to say is that history must not repeat itself.
That would not be blaming Bush.
Poor Ann. She's been ordered to go out there and get Mitt some women votes. But she can't because the Republicans have become so anti-woman, there is literally nothing she can say to appeal to female voters. I mean, wake up? Really? And I suspect, given her previous support of Planned Parenthood, that she's not exactly thrilled with her party's position herself. No wonder she looks like she's been sucking on a lemon.
If the women in that audience really did "wake up!,: they would vote for Obama.
Ha. On one hand, you have the lovely, hopeful, endearing, brilliant, humble Michelle Obama who makes an emotionally poignant yet substantive pitch for why her husband will have women's backs (not to mention the numerous other women speakers and surrogates who have BO's back).
On the other, you have a woman with no particular story to tell and no substantive pitch other than "hey come on, vote for my husband! Why are so many of you voting for that...other guy? What's wrong with you? Come oonnnnnn!!!"
It's a real mystery why Obama's beating Romney like a drum with women voters. A real brainbuster.
Nancy Reagan's pet project was just say no to drug's.Hillary Clinton's was health care.Michelle Obama's is childhood obesity.Ann Romney's would be to promise a silver tea service and bridge table in every household.
Ann has a point, but is speaking to the wrong audience. Wake up after voting for Mitt and you might have a vaginal probe and a bill, neither of which you requested.
Why do people give Ann Romney any kind of pass. She is an official surrogate, a go-to in Romneys terribly run campaign. She refers to us as "you people", and she milked the absurd Hillary Rosen saga for every drop of umbrage. The FLOTUS is a real human being, who does not talk down to anyone. What a contrast...
The last line is EXACTLY it. I AM awake, thank you very much Mrs. Romney. Your husband is not worth voting for.
Ann,
When confronted by FOX about his helping women, your husband's response was that women should look at what a wonderful thing Romneycare is and how it helped women. That was just over a week ago.
Of course he's also stated that he's going to repeal Obamacare.
Can't imagine why any woman might be confused.
Women are you people, my friend.
with thrust of a finger point
THE POWER OF ESTEE LAUDER RED LIPSTICK AND MRS CLAIROL.. Ann Romney looked lovely last Tuesday night. Notwithstanding, her entire Speech was a hard sell to Middle and Lower Income Women in both Parties... especially coming from a Billionaire Woman wearing a $2,500 dollar dress designed by Oscar de la Renta. Our issues are not the same.. and to remotely reply that they are is ridiculous! The Costco's Shirt Lie insults America's intelligence.. particularly when Mrs. Romney arrived recently to an interview on ABC wearing a T-Shirt by designer Reed Krakoff which costs over $1,000 dollars! That single T-Shirt represents a Mortgage Payment and Food for a Low and Middle Class Family for a month.
Mitt and Ann Romney consciously chose their vehicle to wealth and fame. That vehicle was Bain Capital. This Corporation has divisions that are good, however a large portion of Bain Capital business practices lacks Principles and Morals... a lot like prostitution... but hey somebody has to do it! Bain Capital closed Companies and outsourced manufacturing jobs across America by ladening them down in debt, bankrupting them, and firing thousands of hard working Americans... but not before a Hundred Million Dollars which included Pension Funds was plucked from these workers clinched "HANDS" and stuffed into his Sons accounts. It goes further, "Mitts Millions" were then perfidiously shuffled through tax loop-holes and off-shore bank accounts, ironically Mrs. Romney wasn't laughing when she boldly told both Republican and Democrat Voters they will "NOT" see anymore of Former Governor Mitt Romney's Tax Returns!
Astonishingly, Ann Romney's core advice to Women was to find a Man to make you laugh...well I'm not laughing .. in fact, I found it implausible and inconceivable that with issues pledging the Republican Party like Legitimate Rape... Limiting the availability of Contraceptives.. No firm stance on the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, or The Violence Against Women Act... Abolishing a Womans Right To Choose.. Repealing The Affordable Care Act... Defunding Planned Parenthood, and Issuing Vouchers to our Moms... that she is remarkably oblivious that her husbands Policies are the Punchline of this Joke! I'm sure Reince Priebus among others will attempt to translate Mr. Romney's record on Women differently... but the hard facts remain! The lesson here is "You Just Can't Put Enough Lipstick On This Political Pig" ....
RACHEL !!!!!!!!
WTF????
Every idiot I talk to thinks Obama is responsible for the $16 TRILLION debt.
FIX THIS ASAP!!!!!!
THE RNC's Debt Clock brainwashed people.
Economic Downturn, Financial Rescues and Legacy of Bush Policies Drive Record Deficits.
http://www.cbpp.org/research/index.cfm?fa=topic&id=29
Rachel?? Dude what planet do you live on? It says the Maddow blog but she does not blog here!! Get a clue!
WI DunOwner
I hope the moniker DunOwner doesn't mean you literally own dun (Old English spelling) as in poop. Just because Rachel doesn't actually physically blog here doesn't mean her presence isn't felt. I mean how many hours in a day do you think she has to work?