I realize I haven't posted in forever. Don't take this as an indication that it's going to be a regular occurrence or anything =P I've just got things jumbling around in my head, and I thought typing them out might help. What I have gleaned from my reading today is that : 1) Sarah Palin is horrible for NOT staying home with her children. 2) Ann Romney is lazy for staying home with hers. 1) Any support for Rosen's comments are just because Ann Romney is so rich. 2) Being a stay at home mother is a luxury and only rich people do it. 1) Ann Romney opens herself up for criticism by deciding to be in the public eye. 2) Sandra Fluke decided to be in the public eye but should not be criticized. 1) Rosen apologized, so everything should be hunky dory. 2) Limbaugh apologized, but that's not good enough. Let me start by saying I am no fan of Mitt Romney. He speaks with a forked tongue. If he IS a better president than Obama, it would only be marginally. I *may* vote for him, if it comes down to it, but only because he is a different evil, not because he is a lesser one. This stuff I've read today, though... wow. I am baffled. I know a lot of stay at home mothers, myself included. Yes, having more money would help smooth things out sometimes, but staying at home with kids 24/7 is a sacrifice and a struggle beyond financial hardships. The whole tit-for-tat thing is ridiculous. Each and every family has their own set of struggles, their own particular cocktail. I have heard it said that if everyone dumped their troubles in a big pile, we'd all see everyone else's and snatch our own back. Discounting what sacrifices and struggles she had to deal with just because she's rich is... I can't think of a suitable word right now. The idea that a woman who is "just a mom" can't speak intelligently about politics or the economy or any other subject she chooses is amazingly ignorant. Most of the stay at home mothers I know (or know of) understand a lot more about the economy than congress seems to. Mothers know that when they get to the end of the money, that's it, they don't get to just keep spending for the heck of it. They don't take their "salaries" first and give the rest of the family and household their leftovers. (Yes, I understand there are differences between a home and a government, and that there are times when deficit spending is required, but these clowns deficit spend ALL THE TIME with no regard for anything but their own pockets.) Neither side of the political arena has it "right", by any stretch. I do, in general, line up with one side more than the other. I also get terribly annoyed with the pundits who perpetuate the "us and them" mentality, with their "All liberals think XYZ!" and "All conservatives are this, that, and the other!" The blatant hypocrisy I've seen today, though...it just leaves me baffled and sad and shaking my head.