Unlike a lot of others I do NOT agree that this week’s mini-firestorm over respecting mothers who stay at home was “manufactured” at all (and yes, I am in disagreement with MSNBC, some less partisan Republicans and almost all Democrats). I’ve known too many mothers (including my own) who raised children as not just a fulltime job but a fulltime job where they put in overtime that never ended. They never got even a one cent “raise” and many cases a sufficient thank you.
That being said, there is now evidence that (surprise) once again Mitt Romney and the GOP’s indignation was compartmentalized to be aimed at Democrats and ignored some assertions on the GOP’s own side.
Like this one from Mitt Romney. And also THIS.
Attention Democrats and Republicans: this IS the age of You Tubes, searches of file video, and Googling. If you take a strong position, project angry indignation, demand an apology or change from the other side and then did the same thing or virtually same thing, it is likely to come out. And likely to be used in political ads, be picked up by late night comedians and become a political narrative.
The question in 2012 will be which side does a better job of exposing the hypocrisy of the other side and convincing the voters that the other party’s hypocrisy and hypocrites are worse.
Romney more than Obama at this point seems a treasure chest of potential political riches in contradictory statements — particularly if he chooses try and inch back to the center. Moving to the center was much easier years ago than it will be today.
The question is whether this Romney clip goes beyond bloggers and whether he and the GOP will be asked to put this into context given the controversy this week.
But both sides need to realize: a political Etch a Sketch won’t work in 2012.
Meanwhile, leave it to Bill Maher to provide yet another example of how liberals who feel being politically outrageous morph into the Rush Limbaughs they supposedly don’t wish to emulate. All that’s different is a “l” rather than a “c” — and both make me think this.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.