Top Democratic Strategist Mom-Shames Ann Romney

Imagine if Rush Limbaugh said women’s opinions on the economy are worthless if they’re stay-at-home moms. Imagine if he said that women who raise children to adulthood “never worked a day” in their lives.

I’m sure we’d all be flipping out and calling for boycotts and what not. If being mean to a law student who wants birth control provided to her at no cost is a no-no, certainly going after mothers is bad, right?

These sentiments weren’t offered by some independent radio host, however. They were offered by top Democratic strategist Hilary Rosen. Here’s what Politico wrote about the imbroglio:

Democratic strategist and DNC adviser Hilary Rosen took a swipe at Mitt Romney‘s wife on CNN tonight, claiming that Ann had “never worked a day in her life” — a statement that led to criticism on Twitter from not just Ann but from the Obama campaign as well.

”I made a choice to stay home and raise five boys. Believe me, it was hard work,” Ann wrote in response to the comments Rosen made earlier in the evening on CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360.

”I could not disagree with Hilary Rosen any more strongly. Her comments were wrong and family should be off limits. She should apologize,” Obama campaign manger Jim Messina tweeted. ”Also Disappointed in Hilary Rosen’s comments about Ann Romney. They were inappropriate and offensive,” Obama strategist David Axelrod added.

But Rosen isn’t backing down.

In fact, even after two other top Democratic strategists rushed out statements condemning her remarks, she stood by them.

Here’s the video showing the context of remarks (You can see that her mom-shaming was intended as wealth-shaming):

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vrE7DG1OWc?version=3]

What’s perhaps most alarming is that Rosen is herself a mother. I’m in the unique position of being both a working mother and a mother who stays home full-time. I love my work and I believe it’s important for a variety of reasons. It is also difficult. I would say the exact same thing about raising children. Of course, we don’t get pay, bonuses or accolades for our work raising productive members of society. That’s why it’s particularly important that this work is valued by others.

Rosen stepped in it. And she’s having a hard time admitting she misspoke. Hopefully her friends in Democratic circles can get her to apologize for her disparaging remarks against Ann Romney.

Motherhood is a 24/7 job, and Romney — by all accounts — did a wonderful job raising her five boys. She’s done this while fighting a debilitating disease, too. This is not work that should be shamed or denigrated. Whether you’re a Democrat or Republican or something else, hopefully we can all agree that this rhetoric doesn’t help women.

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