I know some of our readers don’t like New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd.
But sometimes you have to — begrudging as it may feel to some — give credit where credit is due.
Starting with the title of her Times column today, “Phony Mommy Wars,” even our conservative friends will have to agree that they are phony — no one would dare go to war against our own Moms.
Then, Dowd’s very first two sentences:
“Ann Romney is a good mom.” Of course she is.
“She’s also a good pol.” Of course she is. Nothing wrong with that and more power to her and to the Romney campaign.
Dowd then praises Ann Romney’s people skills, they “are far superior to Mitt’s, it turns out that Ann is just as capable as her husband of turning an advantage into a disadvantage.”
Recalling Hilary Rosen’ clumsily worded remarks on stay-at-home mom Ann Romney, Dowd admires how Ann Romney’s first tweet on Rosen’s remarks made “shaken Democrats [dive] for cover” and throw Rosen under the bus.
Now, that’s a “good pol.”
To be frank, Dowd doesn’t seem to be as complimentary to Mrs. Romney when discussing Ann’s gleeful comments during a fund-raiser at a private home in Palm Beach, Fla., the night before her 63rd birthday. Ann said:
It was my early birthday present for someone to be critical of me as a mother, and that was really a defining moment, and I loved it.
In my opinion, nothing wrong with that. Ann Romney is a “good pol.”
Dowd then turns her sights on Mitt Romney.
Something about a “phony,” “secretive and shape-shifting” Romney being overheard saying something about eliminating Departments of this and that when he is elected — nothing wrong with that — and something about “ways he might close tax loopholes for the affluent … to pay for his cuts in tax rates.” Good stuff!
Finally, Dowd returns to the phony wars on Moms recalling Mitt Romney’s January clarion call to give stay-at-home moms the opportunity to savor “the dignity of work.” What a noble thought.
It is here where Dowd becomes quite colorful, calling “this latest kerfuffle… piffle,” calling Mitt “a tycoon who has been swathed in an old-fashioned cocoon” and calling the Romneys “affluent, soon-to-be owners of a car elevator in La Jolla and members of the horsey set.” A little dramatic, but that’s Maureen.
But back to Ann Romney. Yes, she is a “good pol.” But she may have been too good when she told Dianne Sawyer that “[the Romney dog] ‘loved’ 12 hours in a crate on top of the car or that it’s ‘our turn’ to be in the White House.”
Read it all here and decide for yourself whether Ann Romney is indeed a “good pol.” And whether Mitt Romney is indeed a phony, secretive, shape-shifting pol.
