Breaking down the Hilary Rosen Comment

A CNN contributor made the comment that 'Ann Romney never worked a day in her life'. Since then she has been vilified, and also the Democratic party by association, since she used to be a part of it. But let's analyze this with some intelligence, instead of blind partisan rhetoric and emotion.

Several networks have shown a Mitt Romney campaign speech from just this past January, in which he is advocating that women on welfare be required to "go to work", even if they have small children. He repeatedly uses the term "work" in this context, obviously advocating that they should get a job outside the home. Rosen is vilified because she seems to be saying that working in the home is not "work", but Romney used this term in the exact same way, and, to be honest, this is the generally accepted use of the term. Everybody works in his or her home; even those who live alone have plenty of work to do at home to maintain a household. So, perhaps we should rethink the vilification of Rosen, and acknowledge that the usual and accepted use of the term means holding down a job outside the home.

The second thing about this is that the comment was in response to Romney claiming that he consults his wife for advice on "what women care about". This is really the heart of the matter; that is, most women do not have the luxury Ann Romney has of staying home and taking care of a household, because they have to work for economic reasons. Most women are not fortunate enough to be married to a millionaire. To say that he consults his wife to find out what women want is an absurd joke for Mitt Romney, and the Rosen criticism is right on point.

A third point is that Rosen is a paid CNN contributor, not associated with either party though she once was a Democratic employee. The vilification of her by the right-wing fanatics seems silly when you realize that.

A fourth point is that at the same time this has been going on, a GOP congressman made the ludicrous claim that "78-81 Democratic congressman are members of the communist party". This outrageous claim has engendered little media scrutiny compared to the relatively innocuous Rose comment. Then we have the claim by a Romney supporter, Ted Nugent, that if Obama is reelected, he will be "either dead or in jail". He went on to make other inflammatory comments.

Our media is so biased toward the right that the relatively innocuous Rosen comment has been beaten to death, while the absurd, over-the-top comments of the right get a pass. Welcome to 2012 America.