Politics

Hilary Rosen apologizes to Ann Romney

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The Democratic strategist and frequent White House visitor who created a firestorm Wednesday evening when she said Ann Romney “had never worked a day in her life” apologized Thursday afternoon.

“As a partner in a firm full of women who work outside of the home as well as stay at home mothers, all with plenty of children, gender equality is not a talking point for me,” Hilary Rosen, a CNN contributor, said in a statement. “It is an issue I live every day. I apologize to Ann Romney and anyone else who was offended. Let’s declare peace in this phony war and go back to focus on the substance.” (EARLIER: Ann Romney fires back at Rosen)

Rosen said Wednesday evening  that GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s wife was not qualified to advise her husband on the economic issues facing American women because she lacks real-world experience.

“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,’” Rosen said on Anderson Cooper 360. “Guess what? His wife has never actually worked a day in her life. 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 how do we — why we worry about their future.’”

Rosen added, in her mea culpa, that her words were poorly chosen and directed people to view a more full version of her thoughts published Thursday afternoon.

“Let’s put the faux ‘war against stay at home moms’ to rest once and for all,” she said. “As a mom I know that raising children is the hardest job there is. As a pundit, I know my words on CNN last night were poorly chosen.”

“In response to Mitt Romney on the campaign trail referring to his wife as a better person to answer questions about women than he is, I was discussing his lack of a record on the plight of women’s financial struggles. Here is my more fulsome view of the issues,” she added, linking to a CNN post.

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