Senator Joseph McCarthy has been reincarnated. He's come back as a black freshman Tea Party congressman from Florida by the name of Allen West. A couple days ago at a local meeting of some sort, West claimed that "78 to 81 Democrats now in Congress are members of the Communist Party." Really? Far out, brother!
This rather bizarre statement drew some predictable comments from Democrats, but was greeted by deafening silence from the Republicans. They had nothing to say, but here's what they were thinking: "He's crazy, but he's one of ours. His clip will get heavy rotation on Fox News and we'll snag a few more of the moron votes."
Compare that under-reaction to the firestorm surrounding comments from Hilary Rosen of the Democratic National Committee. Mitt Romney has been trying to walk back all the pukey anti-woman rhetoric expressed (often by Romney himself) in the GOP primaries. He's trying to pivot away from talk of contraception, women's choice, and trans-vaginal probes. He's learned almost all he needs to know about damn near everything from his country club buddies, but "my wife Ann tells me what women really want, and she says women want jobs." ("Yup, at the club we don't know shit about females. Why would we? So I just get Ann to explain it all for me.")
In a perfectly reasonable response, Hilary Rosen said, "No offense intended, but Ann Romney has never worked a day in her life. She's never worried about how to feed her kids, or how to send them to school." Translation: Ann Romney is a pretty poor barometer with which to gauge the concerns of the average American woman.
Well, no offense intended but plenty taken! And coming from all corners. The R's: "OMG, the bitch is attacking the sanctity of American motherhood! We are outraged -- do you hear me? Outraged!!" The D's: "Ms. Rosen shouldn't have said that. She didn't mean that full-time mothers don't work." Michelle Obama: "All mothers work hard."
The normally speechless Mrs. Romney volunteered that she had proudly "made the career choice to be a mother." Career choice? Time out! Would that we all could make such a proud choice! How clueless can the Romneys get?
Parenthood, either version, is most definitely noble work, but it is not a career choice. Most mothers I'm acquainted with have jobs, both in the workplace and at home. The same is true of most fathers. Mostly, this is of necessity. And such real working parents possess at least the same amounts of love and care and make at least the same effort as do the privileged, choice-laden few like Ann Romney.
Rosen apologized. She shouldn't have.
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