Democratic operative criticizes Ann Romney for having 'never worked a day in her life' (updated)

Dem strategist Hillary Rosen evidently didn't get the memo from the 1990's about stay at home moms.

It's been a long time since a feminist has criticized a housewife for making the choice to stay at home and raise her kids. That kind of thing went out with burning bras.

But Rosen must have been asleep for the last couple of decades or so because during an appearance on CNN, she made this comment:

"What you have is Mitt Romney running around the country, saying, 'Well, you know, my wife tells me that what women really care about are economic issues, and when I listen to my wife, that's what I'm hearing.' Guess what? His wife has actually never worked a day in her life," Rosen said.

"She's never really dealt with the kinds of economic issues that a majority of the women in this country are facing, in terms of how do we feed our kids, how do we send them to school, and why do we worry about their future," Rosen continued, adding that Romney "just seems so old fashioned when it comes to women."

Ann Romney shot back on Twitter:

"I made a choice to stay home and raise five boys," Romney tweeted. "Believe me, it was hard work."

Some women don't have a choice and must work outside the home. But for those women who make the choice to nurture their children by being there for them, it is hardly "old fashioned" - an attitude that describes Rosen's caricature of a stay at home mother. Even radical feminists rarely express such an idiotic notion any more.

Criticism of Rosen is coming from both sides - as well it should:

Josh Romney posted that his mother "is one of the smartest, hardest working woman I know. Could have done anything with her life, chose to raise me."

The senior adviser to President Barack Obama's reelection bid also took to Twitter to distance the campaign from the comments.

"Also Disappointed in Hilary Rosen's comments about Ann Romney," David Axelrod wrote. "They were inappropriate and offensive."

Obama deputy campaign manager Stephanie Cutter posted, "Families must be off limits on campaigns, and I personally believe stay at home moms work harder than most of us do."

Several press aides to Romney's campaign - Andrea Saul, Ryan Williams, and Amanda Henneberg - posted links tying Obama to Rosen, such as her appointment as a DNC adviser and her appearance at a White House event.

Romney campaign strategist Eric Fehrnstrom wrote: "Obama adviser Hilary Rosen goes on #CNN to debut their new "kill Ann" strategy, and in the process insults hard-working moms."

Eric Erickson, a CNN political contributor and editor of a conservative website, appeared on the same panel as Rosen, and tweeted, "If raising 5 sons through breast cancer and MS isn't a real job, I'm not sure what is."

The comment drew criticism from a Republican member of Congress, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington, who posted, "Wrong. Being a mom is a full-time job."

Maybe Rosen can get a bunch of her friends together and have a bra burning party.

Update from Lee Cary:

Today she's probably working to walk back from those words and remove her foot from inside her mouth. 

In one fell swoop, Rosen managed to alienate millions of stay-at-home moms who change diapers, clean up spills, potty train, dispense medicine, feed, change diapers again, and generally undertake multiple chores in an average work day.  Like a Wisconsin dairy farmer, there are no days off in raising children.  And Ann Romney raised five boys to boot, while dealing with her own serious physical ailments. 

So who is Hilary Rosen, besides being a professional partisan who rendered her judgment on the absence of work in the life of all stay-at-home moms while being interviewed by Anderson Cooper on a partisan "news" network, CNN?

Rosen does know a little about raising children. She, and her partner, Elizabeth Birch, did, for a while, jointly parent twins - a boy and a girl.  But then they separated in 2006.  (BTW, Birch "chaired the board of directors of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force from 1992-1994. She served as the Executive Director of the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest LGBT organization, from January 1995 until January 2004.)

Back in 2004, Rosen was interim director of Human Rights Campaign, following in her partner's footsteps.

And, she's done stints as commentator on CNBC and MSNBC.

So her social and political inclinations are well-documented.  She's a LGBT, or GLBT, activist.

Today, Rosen is employed by SKDKnickerbocker.  Here's how SKDK describes itself:

"Led by a team of managing directors with experience at the highest levels of corporations, government, and campaigns, SKDKnickerbocker provides strategic advice, public relations, crisis communications, advertising, direct mail, and research to national and international companies, advocacy organizations, associations, leading non-profit organizations, and elected officials and candidates from the White House to State Houses across the country."  [Bolding in original]

Anita Dunn is one of SKDK's "managing directors," along with Rosen.  You remember Dunn.  She was the White House Communications Director who was a fan of Mao.

No one has yet suggested that Rosen is actually a plant from the Romney campaign dispatched to damage the Obama re-election effort by saying something really dumb that works to Romney's advantage.