Update 4/12 at 2 p.m. ET:
“My
career choice was to be a mother,” Ann Romney said late Thursday morning, addressing the controversy she waded into Wednesday
with her first-ever tweet. “I think all of us need to know that we need to respect choices that women make. Other women make
other choices to have a career and a raise family, which Hilary Rosen has done herself. I respect that. That’s
wonderful.”
Ann kicked off the discussion with Martha MacCallum on Fox News by mentioning that Hilary Rosen, the
Democratic strategist who said she has “never worked a day in her life” should’ve come to her house when “those five boys
were causing so much trouble. It wasn’t so easy.”
Rosen has since apologized in
a statement.
MacCallum mentioned a tweet from one of those sons, Josh Romney, who waded into the controversy
yesterday by tweeting that his mom is smart and hardworking, and could’ve done anything but chose to stay home and raise
him.
She went on to mention that Mitt has told her on many occasions that her job has always been more important than
his. “He would say, ‘My job is temporary. These things come and go but your job is a forever job that will bring forever
happiness.’”
One of Rosen’s criticisms of the Romney campaign is that Mitt Romney gets his information
about women and their struggles with the economy from his wife alone. Ann said this wasn’t the case, and that Mitt “listens
to a lot of different women…You should see how many women he listens to, and that’s what I love about Mitt. He has so many
women in his circle.”
“Look, I know what it’s like to struggle,” Ann said in response to criticism that she can’t
relate to women who don’t have a choice in whether to work or not. “If maybe I haven’t struggled as much as some people
have, I can tell you and promise you that I’ve had struggles in my life. I would love to have people understand that Mitt and
I have compassion for people who are struggling and that’s why we’re running.” Mrs. Romney has often discussed her struggles
with breast cancer and multiple sclerosis in public, and has said that if she becomes first lady she will work towards
finding a cure for breast cancer.
Mrs. Romney went on to say that she was happy that the controversy has spurred
discussion. She said, “I’m grateful for this opportunity to let women know that this is a very important
election.”
Original post:
Ann Romney joined Twitter Wednesday (handle: @AnnDRomney) and used her
very first tweet to take a stand.
Romney responded to criticism lobbed against her that she is unqualified to speak
about economic issues facing American women because she has “never worked a day in her life.”
The comment came from
Democratic strategist Hilary Rosen, who spoke on CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360” yesterday. She said, “Guess what, (Mitt
Romney’s) wife has actually never worked a day in her life. She’s never really dealt with the kinds of economic issues that
a majority of the women in this country are facing.”
Ann Romney responded with her new Twitter account, which
describes her as “Mom of five boys. Grandmother of 16. Out campaigning for @MittRomney. #Mitt2012.” She tweeted, “I made a
choice to stay home and raise five boys. Believe me, it was hard work.”
Within two hours of establishing
the account (which has since been verified by Twitter), she had garnered over 5,000 followers. By Thursday morning, she had
more than 14,000.
Later Thursday, Michelle Obama (@MichelleObama) tweeted a response to the controversy:
