I disagree with most of what Matt Lewis says in his post The triumph of political games: 7 reasons to reject ‘Rosengate’:
The flap over Hillary Rosen’s comments disparaging stay-at-home-moms like Ann Romney has gotten a lot of play. I’ve been on the record (okay, on Twitter) mocking the feigned Republican outrage. Something about it just didn’t sit well with me.
This, of course, puts me at odds with the Republican “team” who sees this as a huge win (it is) for their side. It may be smart politics, but it’s still damned depressing. It took me a while to figure out my visceral disgust at this issue. It turns out, there are a lot of things to hate.
Lewis then goes on to list the seven reasons, which I will list with my commentary after the subtitle:
1. It’s a victim mentality. No, it’s a firmly held reaction to Hilary Rosen’s demeaning comments which were part of a long history of attempts to marginalize conservative women. Defending against the Obama campaign’s phony “war on women” campaign theme, implemented through liberal communications operatives like Rosen, is not playing the victim. It’s standing up for what is right and just, and if we do not stand up for Ann Romney, then we don’t stand up for ourselves. Have we learned absolutely nothing from the vicious attacks on Sarah Palin, in which many Republicans acquiesced? No more.
2. It’s identity politics. See response to No. 1.
3. Media “surrogates” aren’t necessarily representative of anything.
Hilary Rosen is no mere surrogate, she is as tightly tied into the Democratic messaging machine as anyone.
4. It’s pandering. See response to No. 1.
5. It’s the triumph of partisanship games. See response to No. 1.
6. It’s phony, feigned outrage. See response to No. 1.
7. This obscures real issues. The belittling of conservative women is a real issue.
Rosen touched a nerve for a reason grounded in history. A history we don’t want to see repeated daily through November 6.
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