# Ann Romney's "grown up" comment **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [September 1, 2012, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ann-romneys-grown-up-comment/633369 "2012-09-01T15:25:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sekigahara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e19adc/32.png) [@Sekigahara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sekigahara)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2012, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ann-romneys-grown-up-comment/633369/1 "2012-09-01T15:25:21Z")
I thought the comment by Ann Romney belittling Obama by saying voters wanted a “grown up” for President was a nasty cheap-shot. Of course this is a tough campaign but the guy is the President, he did take out Bin Laden, he did do some big things (healthcare for example, whether you agree with the outcome or not), and he did inherit a huge mess from Bush. I know she wants her husband to win, but man, this is just offensive. > **[Ann Romney: I hear that women want a “grown up” as President](https://cnnpressroom.blogs.cnn.com/2012/08/31/ann-romney-i-hear-that-women-want-a-grown-up-as-president/)** > > On Starting Point, Ann Romney reacts to Mitt Romney’s speech accepting the Republican nomination for President and gives her thoughts on what women voters are looking for in the next President. ---
**Author:** ![Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimmy_Gibbler)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2012, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ann-romneys-grown-up-comment/633369/2 "2012-09-01T16:26:32Z")
> [@Sekigahara](#): > > I thought the comment by Ann Romney belittling Obama by saying voters wanted a “grown up” for President was a nasty cheap-shot. Of course this is a tough campaign but the guy is the President, he did take out Bin Laden, he did do some big things (healthcare for example, whether you agree with the outcome or not), and he did inherit a huge mess from Bush. > > I know she wants her husband to win, but man, this is just offensive. > > [Ann Romney: I hear that women want a “grown up” as President](http://cnnpressroom.blogs.cnn.com/2012/08/31/ann-romney-i-hear-that-women-want-a-grown-up-as-president/) You have to feel sorry for Ann … for the first time in 63 years, the princess might not be getting what she wants! So naturally she isn’t handling it well. ---
**Author:** ![Shayna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shayna/32/17976_2.png) [@Shayna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shayna)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2012, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ann-romneys-grown-up-comment/633369/3 "2012-09-01T17:50:56Z")
Ann Romney is the epitome of condescending, entitlement mentality of the rich. They’ve “given” “us people” enough of their personal financial information, so we can just shut up now. She’s sure the Republican message “would resonate well if [Latinos] could just get past some of their biases.” _Their_ supporters are “here because they ‘get it.’” If women and Hispanics “that (sic) would naturally be voting for another party wake up and say, ‘You’d better really look at the issues this time.’” Yeah, “this time,” because they’ve been blind, ignorant fools every other time. They just need to “wake up.” [As Ruth Marcus of the Baxter Bulletin](http://www.baxterbulletin.com/article/20120901/OPINION/309010005/Ruth-Marcus-Ann-Romney-s-message-turns-out-bit-ham-handed) puts it, in reference to her pandering to women in her RNC speech, “I understand that the Romney campaign faces both a gender gap and an opposition that has gone overboard with the ‘Republican war on women’ motif. But, is the best way to counter this to turn women into another interest group that requires intensive stroking and assurances about how special they are? It was meant to be flattering. It came off, to me anyway, as objectifying and demeaning.” Yep, that’s Ann; objectifying and demeaning. You go, girl! ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2012, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ann-romneys-grown-up-comment/633369/4 "2012-09-01T17:57:33Z")
“Grown-up”, in this context, means cynical bastard who is only out for himself. ---
**Author:** ![Esox\_Lucius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/848f3c/32.png) [@Esox\_Lucius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esox_Lucius)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2012, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ann-romneys-grown-up-comment/633369/5 "2012-09-01T18:12:21Z")
You liberals are so damn naive. It takes a grown up to be a puppet of corporate interests. ---
**Author:** ![charmstr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/53a042/32.png) [@charmstr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/charmstr)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2012, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ann-romneys-grown-up-comment/633369/6 "2012-09-02T03:29:35Z")
> [@Esox\_Lucius](#): > > You liberals are so damn naive. It takes a grown up to be a puppet of corporate interests. I guess congratulations are in order then. They are both officially grown ups. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2012, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ann-romneys-grown-up-comment/633369/7 "2012-09-02T04:17:34Z")
> [@Sekigahara](#): > > I thought the comment by Ann Romney belittling Obama by saying voters wanted a “grown up” for President was a nasty cheap-shot. It’s also a tired, worn-out rhetorical conceit, that she just lifted from [Dick Cheney](http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/04/14/8279)–and even Fox News, who [tried to imply the same thing about the Clinton Administration](http://www.salon.com/2001/05/23/vandals/) when Bush moved into the Whitehouse. I don’t know why everyone is praising her speech. She was about as weighty as a sponge cake. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2012, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ann-romneys-grown-up-comment/633369/8 "2012-09-02T12:16:15Z")
[hijack] > [@Sekigahara](#): > > he did take out Bin Laden I’m as hard core, anti-Repub, pro-Democrats as they come, but I’m tired of this one. I think it would have been better undersold. It wasn’t the royal fuckup of Bush’s Mission Accomplished, but yes, he authorized the assassination of the Most Wanted Guy.[/hijack] I think they should give Ann more talking time. She’s so far out of touch with the common woman, that sooner or later, she’ll say something even stupider. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2012, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ann-romneys-grown-up-comment/633369/9 "2012-09-02T13:14:44Z")
She’s a silly little bitch who isn’t handling the public spotlight very well. She needs to go back to being the spoiled CEO wife she was born to play. ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2012, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ann-romneys-grown-up-comment/633369/10 "2012-09-02T13:48:04Z")
I agree that she should get more spotlight time. She can’t avoid saying you people. She’s bound to continue to show how much better she believes the is than all the rabble. ---
**Author:** ![Untoward\_Parable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/51bf81/32.png) [@Untoward\_Parable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Untoward_Parable)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2012, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ann-romneys-grown-up-comment/633369/11 "2012-09-02T19:19:29Z")
Political success is mostly a beauty pageant. I picked Romney as the nominee a year ago since he was the most qualified to be a weather man. Her speech made them sound human, and that’s enough for some people. (Not that her comments about their tax returns aren’t horrifying but this one speech she did well politically) ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2012, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ann-romneys-grown-up-comment/633369/12 "2012-09-02T19:54:31Z")
> [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](#): > > You have to feel sorry for Ann … for the first time in 63 years, the princess might not be getting what she wants! So naturally she isn’t handling it well. What are you talking about? She used to eat tuna and macaroni off a ironing board in the kitchen of her basement where they had to live off Mitt’s stock portfolio. ---
**Author:** ![jshore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b5e925/32.png) [@jshore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jshore)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2012, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ann-romneys-grown-up-comment/633369/13 "2012-09-02T20:02:40Z")
The biggest problem with the comment is that it just about pegs out my irony meter! The idea that the current Republicans on the national stage are “grown up” is just too silly for words. Ann is quite gifted at pegging the irony meter though. I like this comment from her in the [Republican convention propaganda film on Romney](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruSi4K5KCq8&feature=relmfu): > [@](#): > > If you really want to know how a person would operate, look at how they’ve lived their life. If that is not an eloquent statement for why Americans deserve to have a full and open accounting of the tax returns of a person whom they are considering electing to be President, I don’t know what is. (Although, apparently what Ann actually meant is that we are supposed to look at the RNC-produced video of how Romney has supposedly lived his life, not look at anything that might be revealing of how he has actually lived their life, like how he has handled his finances.) ---
**Author:** ![Esox\_Lucius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/848f3c/32.png) [@Esox\_Lucius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esox_Lucius)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2012, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ann-romneys-grown-up-comment/633369/14 "2012-09-03T16:52:05Z")
> [@charmstr](#): > > I guess congratulations are in order then. They are both officially grown ups. ☹ I don’t know where you get that. Obama didn’t rubber stamp the Keystone XL pipeline and he wants stiffer regulations on the finance industry. He works with corporations because they’re a major part of the economy, but he certainly doesn’t kowtow to their excesses like Romney will. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2012, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ann-romneys-grown-up-comment/633369/15 "2012-09-03T18:53:20Z")
Ann Romney needs to go back in the kitchen and tell her chef or maid to make me a sandwich ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2012, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ann-romneys-grown-up-comment/633369/16 "2012-09-03T19:44:32Z")
[The transcript of Ann’s speech.](http://www.colorado.edu/AmStudies/lewis/film/gdhwife.htm)😃 Oh, hell, it’s out of copyright: > [@](#): > > The Good Housewife > > The following is excerpted from an actual 1950’s high school Home Economics textbook: > > **How to be a Good Wife** > > HAVE DINNER READY: Plan ahead, even the night before, to have a delicious meal–on time. This is a way to let him know that you have been thinking about him and are concerned with his needs. Most men are hungry when they come home, and having a good meal ready is part of the warm welcome that is needed. > > PREPARE YOURSELF: Take fifteen minutes to rest so that you will be refreshed when he arrives. He has just been with a lot of work-weary people. Be a little gay and a little more interesting. His boring day may need a lift. Greet him with a smile. > > CLEAR AWAY THE CLUTTER: Make one last trip though the main part of the house just before your husband arrives, gathering up children’s books and toys, papers, etc. Then run a dust cloth over the tables. Your husband will feel he has reached a haven of rest and order, and it will give you lift too. > > PREPARE THE CHILDREN: If they are small, wash their hands and faces and comb their hair. They are his little treasures and he would like to see them playing the part. > > MINIMIZE ALL NOISE: At the time of his arrival, eliminate all noise from the washer, dryer, or vacuum. Encourage the children to be quiet. > > SOME “DO NOT’S”: Don’t greet him with problems and complaints. Don’t complain if he is late for dinner. Count this as a minor problem compared to what he might have gone through that day. > > MAKE HIM COMFORTABLE: Have a cool or warm drink ready for him. Have him lean back in a comfortable chair or suggest that he lie down in the bedroom. Arrange his pillow and offer to take off his shoes. Speak in a low, soothing voice. Allow him to relax and unwind. > > LISTEN TO HIM: You may have a dozen things to tell him, but the moment of his arrival is not the time. Let him talk first. > > MAKE THE EVENING HIS: Never complain if he doesn’t take you to dinner or to other entertainment. Instead, try to understand his world of strain and pressure and his need to unwind and relax. > > THE GOAL: TO MAKE YOUR HOME A PLACE OF PEACE AND ORDER WHERE YOUR HUSBAND CAN RELAX IN BODY AND SPIRIT. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2012, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ann-romneys-grown-up-comment/633369/17 "2012-09-03T21:06:47Z")
Ann Romney is a liar. Are we really supposed to believe that “all these women who never voted for a republican before” are coming up to her in droves and exclaiming the exact message the GOP is trying to sell? Horsehit. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2012, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ann-romneys-grown-up-comment/633369/18 "2012-09-03T23:11:03Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > [The transcript of Ann’s speech.](http://www.colorado.edu/AmStudies/lewis/film/gdhwife.htm)😃 Oh, hell, it’s out of copyright: Sigh. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2012, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ann-romneys-grown-up-comment/633369/19 "2012-09-03T23:23:47Z")
> [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](#): > > Sigh. Yeah, I know. The good ol’ days. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2012, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ann-romneys-grown-up-comment/633369/20 "2012-09-03T23:24:04Z")
Ann? Adults pay their taxes here if they want to live here. Adults acknowledge their privileges. Adults have empathy for others. Adults don’t tell lies about being poor when they were not. Adults don’t take glee that others don’t have the same luck they do. The adults are the Obamas not you and that greedy, power hungry, right wing moobat nut you married. STFU and go back to New Hampshire or California or wherever else you have a house. You’re embarrassing even for a Republican Stepford Robo-First Lady candidate. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ann-romneys-grown-up-comment/633369.md?page=2)