naturalpatina asks: Isn't it unfair to compare those photos of Romney & Obama watching their wives speak? I may not be a fan of Romney at all, but, there's a big age difference between the kids in both photos. From personal experience, if I were any of the younger ones, I'd be completely disinterested in what was going on. To use their facial expressions in one photo to gauge how Romney's overall viewing experience was is unfair. Obama's kids are older, and better able to understand the significance of the speech.
» SFB says: We just thought it was intriguing that there were intimate photos of literally the same type of moment. We didn’t add anything to it other than the phrase ”Who had the better viewing experience?” Why overthink it? You can talk yourself out of anything by overthinking it. We decided to talk ourselves into posting the two photos side-by-side. — Ernie @ SFB
EDIT: And to be fair to Mitt, though that post was a reblog, there were other pics, like this Getty Images shot:
Ann Romney … looked to me like a corporate wife. The stories she told about struggles — eh! It’s hard for me to believe. I mean, she’s a very rich woman, and I know that, and America knows that.Fox News contributor Juan Williams • Following Ann Romney’s Tuesday night speech at the Republican National Convention, widely received in conservative circles as one of the most effective speeches ever delivered by a politician’s wife, during post-speech coverage with fellow hosts Bret Baier, Brit Hume, and Megyn Kelly. Given his history of troublesome rhetoric, his co-hosts gave Williams a chance to explain. When asked by Kelly to clarify his “corporate wife” comments, Williams replied that Mrs. Romney’s clearly did not accurately represent a “tremendous” number of women. “She did not convince me that, ‘You know what, I understand the struggles of American women in general,” added Williams. So, do you think he went too far? source (via • follow)
» Not making an appearance? Joe Biden: Days after the Democratic vice president scheduled a politically-unprecedented visit to Tampa to coincide with the other party’s convention, he cancelled it “due to disaster preparedness and local security concerns” regarding the potentially-damaging Hurricane Isaac, according to the Obama campaign. The convention is still on despite the oncoming hurricane, by the way.
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At 10:30 on Monday night, Ann Romney is scheduled to take the stage at the Republican National Convention, in Act 1 of her husband’s four-day introduction to the nation. But tens of millions of people will not be able to watch.
CBS plans instead to show a rerun of “Hawaii Five-O,” its hit police series. Viewers of NBC will see a new episode of “Grimm,” about a homicide detective with the supernatural ability to sense evil. And ABC plans to show “Castle,” a series about a best-selling mystery novelist who helps solve crimes.
Misplaced priorities, or is this speech not that big a deal?
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Oprah interviews the Romneys: Miss Winfrey took a trip to Massachusetts this weekend to talk with the Republican presidential candidate and his wife. The interview will run in her “O” Magazine. She remains a strong Obama supporter — an endorsement she first made in 2008, after years of keeping her political views of her media empire. Why haven’t we seen her campaign as hard as she did four years ago? “I will not be out there because I’m trying to fix a network.” source
obitoftheday asks: About the Rosen-Romney debate: As a stay-at-home parent with four kids (fine, homemaker) I wasn't insulted with Rosen's comment. Yes, I'm a dad but ask any parent who stays home and takes on a job, they never say they are taking a second job. They say they are "getting a job" or "going BACK to work." Yes parenting and taking care of a home is work, sure but it is not the same as having (having, not wanting) to work 9-5 and then coming home and taking care of kids. It's just not.
» SFB says: A fair counterpoint to our point on Hillary Rosen. — Ernie @ SFB
During an appearance on CNN Wednesday night, Democratic commentator Hilary Rosen questioned whether Ann Romney was qualified to be talking about women’s economic issues since she’s “never worked a day in her life.” The Romney campaign responded quickly with a series of tweets attacking the Obama campaign and Democrats for not respecting Ann Romney’s decision to be a stay-at-home mother.
Again, WaPo’s Storify of the key tweets following these comments.
And here’s Rosen’s response to the backlash this morning (spoiler: she’s not backtracking).
Our take: Rosen, who you might remember as the longtime mouthpiece of the RIAA (during the Napster era, no less!), is in the wrong here, and her comments just make Obama look bad. Which is why Obama’s aides were quick to back away from her comments.
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