Ann Romney wants to "throw out" the public education system.
Ann Romney and First Lady Michelle Obama were interviewed for the November issue of Good Housekeeping magazine, just out. Our First Lady, of course was charming, positive and well-informed.
Mrs. Romney? Well . . .
Among her talking points, this:
I've been a First Lady of the State. I have seen what happens to people's lives if they don't get a proper education. And we know the answers to that. The charter schools have provided the answers. The teachers' unions are preventing those things from happening, from bringing real change to our educational system. We need to throw out the system.
Good Housekeeping
Mrs. Romney, of course, is not an educator and has no experience as a teacher. Other than as a candidate's wife (if then), she's probably never even set a well-shod dainty foot inside a public school. She went to private school; so did her husband and children. And the "answers" the charter schools are providing? As mysterious as her tax returns. I guess we'll just have to take her word for it.
And as is said at the end of every useless infomercial – but wait! There’s more.
Why do you think your husband is the best person to be President?
I'd say because of his life experience, starting with the example [his father] George Romney set of being successful in his family and business and then serving in a political sphere. . . . The formula from his perspective was, you never get involved in politics unless you're financially secure and your children are raised. So when our children were older and Mitt had made a bit of money, there was his father's example that you find ways to serve and give back.
(
Note:
Poor people! Women with children! Young people! Stay out of politics!)
And yes, she said "a bit of money." How much? Well, we people have no business asking.
Anyway, it isn’t important, because having made "a bit of money," Mrs. Romney states, all serious, "Mitt gave up everything."
(Whither the car elevators at the $10 million beach house? But I digress.)
Mitt decided to take on the 2002 Olympics because:
It was just a little square inch of light that you walk into saying, "I think this is the right thing to do." You get that confidence from intuition and prayer...all of those things where no one's going to give you a blueprint of how life is going to turn out.
And we will all experience that "little square inch of light" if Mittens is elected, because he will be able to improve the economy instantly and thusly:
Just his election itself is going to instantly turn up the gas and get people more optimistic.
And if that doesn’t work, there is also:
[F]ive things that are simple for people to understand: One is to get rid of regulation; one is to start using our natural resources; one is to turn to human capital, which is education, and get that working again; and...oh, I'm not sure on the last two! (Laughs)
(
Note:
Yes! I’m laughing, too!)
Good Housekeeping editor Rosemary Ellis had a few questions about that "regulation" thing.
RE: A couple of years ago, we created the Green Good Housekeeping Seal as a way of helping consumers figure out what products are truly green versus what are just greenwashing claims. Are green issues something you think about?
AR: Everyone wants clean air and clean water. I mean, of course we all do. And then if you go to a country like China —
RE: Where there is no regulation...
AR: Where there is no regulation, and you see what's wrong there and how people are dying younger there. And the pollution and the air quality is just abysmal, and people are having to live in that.
(Horrifying, yes, but Ann catches herself . . . )
You understand how important it is, but you also have to recognize that we have to balance those things.
Yes,
balance. Dead people, sad; dead and sick people and environmental wreckage disrupting plutocrats' profits, though, well, whatever.
(Now I am going to interrupt this for a minute to say that I would not wish a devastating illness like Multiple Sclerosis on anyone. That having been said, being ill with endless financial resources is a whole lot easier than being ill with none.)
And having said that, I will also say that I was speechless (as much as anyone could be while reading) when I read what Mrs. Romney had to say about what her husband had to say when she was diagnosed:
"I don't care if you're in a wheelchair for the rest of your life. I don't care whether you make dinner; I can eat cold cereal and toast. As long as we're together, as long as you're here, we're going to be OK."
His chief concern was her inability to make dinner? Seriously?
Yes.
So, to summarize:
(1) We will solve our nation’s problems by throwing out the public school system and electing Mittens.
(2) No one should enter politics until they have a net worth of more than $200 million.
(3) If you contract a life-threatening illness, it is ok if you do not make dinner.
There was, though, one more thing.
RE: As you know, Good Housekeeping is famous for the Good Housekeeping Seal. Tell me a moment in your life when you felt like you'd earned the Good Housekeeping Seal.
AR: Seeing my last son get married — the fifth son — was, like, wow. It was a moment of pause and gratitude. It felt like I got my gold star! (Laughing)
Yes, Mrs. Romney, because heaven knows you will never have to endure receiving the other kind of
gold star.
But why serve? As Mrs. Romney said on The View last week, Mormon missions are the equivalent of military service:
My five sons have also served their mission. None served in the military. None served in the military, but I do have one son that feels that he’s giving back to his country in a significant way where he is now a doctor, and he is taking care of veterans. So we find different ways of serving, and my five boys and my husband did serve missions, and did not serve in the military.
"I sent them away boys, and they came back men," she added.
Mediatite
So many real "gold star" Moms would have been so very grateful to have had their sons "come back men" -- or to have had them come back at all.
It seems to me that Governor Romney’s entire campaign is based on his belief – and his wife’s – that he is somehow entitled to be President.
He isn’t.
Let’s do everything we can during these next critical days to re-elect President Barack Obama.
Vote early if you can.
Canvass.
Make some calls!