Gag me: Mitt Romney's secret weapon: Wife Ann, and her lessons of MS

[cali]

By Susan Page, USA TODAY

SANTA ROSA, Calif. – Some Republicans see her as Mitt Romney's secret weapon, his wife of 43 years whose warmth and humor can make the sometimes awkward presidential contender come across less corporate and more human.

Ann Romney also has a story of her own to tell: Her 14-year battle with multiple sclerosis, an experience that first crushed her, then forced her to re-examine her priorities and sense of self — and in the process, she says, opened a window into the lives of those who face hardships of all sorts.

"It's really chiseled and shaped me, almost like a wine press would, or an olive press," she said in an interview with USA TODAY, sitting in the sun-splashed garden of an inn in California's Sonoma Valley, where she headlined a campaign fundraiser a few hours later. If her husband is elected in November — as she says she is certain he will be — that experience will help define her role in the White House. Her goal: "reaching out, giving people a helping hand" when they face troubles beyond their control.

<snip>

http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/story/2012-07-02/ann-romney-interview/55966990/1

Sickeningly glowing piece on this woman who has never earned a penny in her life from working, who has lived a life almost unimaginably privileged, who has really suffered no great tragedy such as losing a child. Yes, she has MS and I'm not saying that that can't be a challenge but this woman can in no way relate to those who suffer an illness with no financial resources. I've been on crutches for almost a year and because medicaid doesn't pay for crutches, I've had to super glue and duct tape them. (Finally after my last surgery the hospital gave me a new pair of crutches)

[BumRushDaShow]

1. FLOTUS Michelle Obama's father died from MS.

He was only 56 years old. Anne Romney is 63 and counting...

K&R

[russspeakeasy]

2. The article won me over. Now I have to vote for Willard.

[davidpdx]

3. I'd bet most people can guess where this is going

The RW will try to play up sympathy for Ann Romney while attacking Michelle Obama as a socialist American hater.

[spanone]

4. yes, didn't her charm and warmth tell the american people it was 'their turn' to be president?

[Brickbat]

5. "Almost like a wine press would, or an olive press."

[GoCubsGo]

7. Yeah. Can't wait to hear all the people who called Pres. Obama "pretentious"...

...over his "arugula" comment are going to react to that one.

Crickets...

[Chiyo-chichi]

15. Not only an elitist analogy, also a poor one.

Wine and olive presses don't "chisel" or "shape" one... well, OK... they "shape" you if the shape is "flat." I think they are designed to
flatten you and squeeze the juices out of you.

[Tom Ripley]

18. That jumped out at me; she just can't help it, can she?

[TeamPooka]

25. Even their "empathy" smacks of 1% elitism.

WTF?
Wine press?
Really?
Ever hear of a simple Waring Blender Ann?
Everyone else in America has but they don't know a freaking olive press.
criminey!

[Bluerthanblue]

32. I think this was purposely done to

pander to the religious right.

The wine press and the olive oil being used as an analogy for the 'refiners fire' kind of thing.

I heard similar idiom/metaphors in my evangelical days.

[Brickbat]

40. Ooo, good call.

I find that interesting.

[GoCubsGo]

6. Did the article discuss Super Hit?

And, how Saint Ann had him pumped full of drugs in order to screw over the people to whom they sold him?

[magical thyme]

37. not to mention was too cheap to retire the broken down horse that she rode into the ground

after competing him while drugged.

[ecstatic]

8. Actually, her own health problems make me wonder why she doesn't support

universal health care for all. Why does she want to strike down a law that helps people (like her) with pre-existing conditions? Maybe she did support healthcare at one point (when her husband was governor of MA), but now she's flipped. She doesn't inspire me, she disgusts me!

[Marrah_G]

10. Because she is filthy rich and doesn't have to worry about health insurance

She WRITES off twice what I earn a year on her HOBBY. SHe doesn't live in our world. She lives in her own little privileged world and is incapable of feeling compassion for people outside her own peer group.

[Marrah_G]

9. She is just as much a heartless scumbag as he is

I just can't find it in me to shed a tear for her.

[maryellen99]

14. She's Barbara Bush on steroids nt

[WI_DEM]

11. typical Susan Page fluff piece. I'm sorry Ann has MS but she doesn't come across to me

as human but just as mechanical and unfeeling as Mittens himself.

[blindersoff]

12. I have MS...

and I don't think that her having it should be an issue. I would never vote for Mittens.

[Mojorabbit]

38. I have it also and I agree with you. nt

[uponit7771]

13. He needs it, he's getting his ass kicked off Bain commericals in swing states...keep it up

...Obama!!!

[EC]

16. She sounds as out of touch

with regular people as her Mittens does. A wine press or olive press, give me a break, how many regular people would use those as a description of something shaping their beliefs? I wonder what she considers a helping hand?

[EC]

17. If you have a local St. Francis store

call them about crutches. They used to give them away to people that needed them. Now they may have a small charge, don't know. But call them.

[Tom Ripley]

19. Riding Barbie Horse is great therapy!!!

[archiemo]

20. How many people do you know who's lives have been "chiseled and shaped...

...like a wine press or an olive press"??????

[Marcia Brady]

21. I think there are better arguments

to make about voting against Mittens than to attack a woman who has overcome one devastating illness (breast cancer,) and has to deal with the effects of another devastating and debilitating illness every day of her life. Sorry, there's no amount of $$ that would make me want to trade my life for hers.

JMHO.

[cali]

23. bullshit. she did NOT have breast cancer.

and MS varies wildly in severity, Marcia dear.

[Marcia Brady]

29. I think you are wrong about the breast cancer, cali,

and a simple Google search proves it. And, while I know that MS can vary greatly from patient to patient, there isn't really a kind anyone would just love to get. Those particular illnesses are no respecters of person or class.

Ann Romney was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) in 1998, and with early-stage breast cancer in January 2009. Ann Romney has been very open about the impact MS has on her, for instance leaving body parts numb or compromising her ability to think clearly.
The breast cancer is in remission, but her MS is the common relapsing-remitting type, which means it can flare up unexpectedly. [/blockquote
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/235929-ann-romney-takes-center-stage-in-new-solo-interviews]

[cali]

36. she had a non-invasvive lump which was removed. that's it.

"Ann Romney, wife of presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, was diagnosed and treated for early stage breast cancer in 2008. Soon after her diagnosis, she released a statement saying she had been diagnosed with ductal carcinoma in-situ (DCIS), a non-invasive type of breast cancer that is considered to be a precancerous form of the disease.

After a routine mammogram, the then 59-year-old underwent a lumpectomy, followed by radiation therapy. While DCIS is not life threatening, when left untreated, in some cases it can become invasive. According to the American Cancer Society, 1 in 5 cases of breast cancer diagnosed are DCIS.

<snip>

http://cancer.about.com/od/celebritiesandcancer/a/Ann-Romney-And-Breast-Cancer.htm

I'm trying to write this very carefully.

I'm sure it was scary to get her diagnosis, but it was what's called "stage zero" breast cancer It was never life threatening and fortunately for her she didn't have to undergo grueling chemotherapy. She didn't need reconstructive surgery.

[Marcia Brady]

39. So you admit it was breast cancer?

But it was the fun kind?

Did she have to have surgery? Radiation? Have you ever had radiation? I have. Easier than chemo (which I also had) but it has its own set of serious problems. Including a higher risk of secondary cancers.

But Hell she has money so her cancer was probably as much fun as a trip to Disneyworld.

[notadmblnd]

30. we're not talking about trading lives with her.

I'm sure most of us wouldn't. Just the thought of sleeping with the plastic man, repulses me.

[Ship of Fools]

22. Wine press? Olive press? REALLY?

What kind of descriptor is that?

I wouldn't know what an olive or wine press looked like if I fell over one.
Maybe some would say that her words don't matter, but they do. This woman
doesn't even come close to Michelle Obama in the humanity department.

[CTyankee]

24. Secret weapon, my ass Susan Page!

The horse and the two caddies and several houses put her out of the running IMHO. The gap between her and the American voter is just too huge...

[notadmblnd]

26. "It's really chiseled and shaped me, almost like a wine press would, or an olive press,"

I don't know, maybe I'm just being nitpickey here? But this quote makes no sense to me. Wine and Olive presses crush and squeeze, they don't chisel and shape. I'm not sure why this bothers me, but I think it says something about her.

[Siwsan]

28. Maybe her personal trainers are name Wine and Olive Press

That way it makes sense.

[Riley18]

27. A wine press? An olive press? Really Ann?

What are they talking about? How would she like to worry about paying for treatment for herself? Even harder is when your kid had a broken femur and his ortho surgeon refuses to see him after the operation because you do not have insurance. That experience will flatten you like a steamroller. Fuck her

[magical thyme]

31. and then the equestrian fine art of dressage saved her. And she was so grateful to one of her many

very expensive horses that after she rode the unsound horse into the ground, keeping him going on drugs that are illegal in recognized competition, she was too cheap to allow that horse, who had so generously given his health and comfort to her, to retire to pasture with dignity.

Instead, she and her trainer Ebeling -- who now has the honor of representing the US at the upcoming Olympics -- drugged that poor horse with a potentially lethal combination of sedatives and analgesics, and pawned him off for $125K on an unsuspecting client.

She was dropped from the lawsuit at the last minute, and her partner Ebeling settled out of court for the so-called "frivolous lawsuit."

The US Equestrian Team vet who testified on behalf of the defrauded buyer stated in all his years of practice (including 38 years with the USET) he had never seen such a combination of drugs in a toxicology report.

What a vile, despicable piece of pigshit that woman is.

[jenmito]

33. It shaped her "almost like a wine press would, or an olive press"? Yeah, she sounds

like she learned how to relate to "regular" people.

[spanone]

34. all i can think of is how these cretins have treated Michelle Obama...i'll hold my tongue

[333maxwell]

35. It's like this..

It's like this,.,.


Ann Romney (bless her heart) has MS.
THOUSANDS of people are finding true relief from medical cannabis to treat their MS, they are able to get off strong prescription narcotics as a result in many cases, which is ALWAYS a good thing.


Mitt was in Denver last month when he was asked by a reporter (Colorado has been getting beat up by the Feds over Medical cannabis) what HIS thought were on medical cannabis (totally fair question).

Mitt Romney smirked into the camera and said 'Medical marijuana? Don't you have anything of importance to talk about instead'? Then he ended the interview, climbed into a big SUV and drove off via entourage.



So, Ann Romney has MS.. Don't we have anything important to talk about instead?