That's for certain...

as she began riding, or returned to it, to help treat her MS symptoms.

I don't see that as a bad thing and if its helping her health, that's a double good thing.

windsurfing a bad, elitist thing. Well, dressage is even more elitist (in the sense that the horses are extremely expensive -- I know that you can actually ride dressage and not be rich).

it's just riding horses in a pretty manner for the judges.

from way back when. Its damn difficult to do and as much of a sport as fencing (another ancient battle skill).

They say that the RMoneys strapped that poor horse to the roof of the boat....!!!!

This horse, Rafalca, that we've been hearing about, is being ridden by someone else, not Ann. It's no different than owners of race horses hiring jockeys to ride their horses. And, that is even more "elitist" than doing dressage oneself.

Yes, I do realize she rides, too. But, business of buying horses and paying someone else to ride them in competition goes beyond "riding as therapy". For that reason, it gripes the hell out of me, too.

was that it requires physical fitness and athleticism. There have been many places that I have vacationed where all you need to windsurf was for rent along the beach. The truth was that if it would have been Bush, who liked to windsurf up in Maine at the family compound, he would have been hailed for his skill and being the most physically fit Presidents in decades.

In this sports obsessed country, sports have always been a plus. However, in 2004, the media tried to hide that the candidate who played 4 sports in high school and college was the Democrat. Imagine if the high school cheerleader had been the Democrat. We all know where that would have gone. The fact that none of this had anything to do with who should be President does not mean that it was innocent that the media allowed the Republicans to get away with making windsurfing look like it required no effort or skill - just floating in the wind.

To get them to the top levels.

I've bred and raised horses that went to top dressage levels - not while I had them but after I sold them. I did not get a lot of money for the horses but once the buyers put years of work into them, the horses were worth a lot. And those horses were not professionally trained - the best one I ever sold was trained by her owner who was in college at the time she bought the horse from me. ten years after I sold the horse (as a weanling) the young woman was was competing successfully against Olympic caliber riders. It took ten years of training, riding nearly every day, to get that horse to that level.

Some people will pay a lot for a horse that is already well started with its training, but I respect the riders who take their horses along the way themselves.

That is not a problem for me at all.

My issue is with Romney and his ilk (and I understand that it IS him and his ilk that support the dressage riders). I do not want to hear about his sermon for the common man or woman and how out of touch Obama is.

I mean, really...

mouths would be "He's politicizing her illness"

And as Dems don't do that sort of thing, largely, Dems won't mention it. (I will, tho, as I'm not a professional Dem!)

about the amount of money it takes to do this dressage stuff seriously.

there would be an outragious outcry about how America is suffering and this must not go on.

They'd not only claim that he's politicizing her illness, and that they're "elitist" and spending all that money while "America is suffering", they would make up all sorts of other shit, too.

are you, like the MSM, bringing up this sort of one sentence, completely unrelated to president-ing, and entirely un-important bullshit?

Honestly how can any DU Dem complain anymore about the shallow coverage of MSM with this exactly same BS on here?

group that's not in the 1%.

It's just a small and really insignificant remark compared to his plans for his presidency. I repeat what I typed above. Focus on what matters and quit being like the MSM going after normal snark as though it's some meaningful representation.

To ignore or dismiss it is to condone it. I doubt very much it will be discussed as the election approaches, but TODAY, it is "news". Let's not trivialize it.

And be ashamed of the hypocrisy of DUers who are outraged at the shallow MSM while being exactly the same.

It was a snark, a bad snark, but a snark. Ridiculous to blow it out of proportion when there are so many substantive, not snarky things to jump on.

I don't watch tv so I didn't see it, but let me ask this. If this comment was the only one you could glom onto, I fear that the interview must've gone pretty well and he didn't make any substantive mistakes. That sucks.

Last edited Sun Jun 17, 2012, 02:03 PM - Edit history (1)

la vie.

This comment, singularly, could be dismissed as a faux pas. Treating something serious a joke. It
is the bigger picture, one brick in the wall. It, along with many many other comments paint a bigger
picture of this man. No compassion or empathy - in my opinion.

Character matters and is not trivial to most people. I happen to think it is the most important quality, but obviously you disagree. Be careful swinging that axe of poutrage at the media and the public's response. I think it is double bitted.

about which we all can and will differ.

And if people can't see that empathy and character matter when it comes to making decisions to cut programs that could benefit the less fortunate, well...

a level of desperation to be picked upon. I don't think Dems need to respond desperately on such small strokes.

I'm damned fine with a little pig wrestling.

that they are expressing and shouldn't be belittled for it.

Stop telling people what they are "allowed" to be interested in.

I say this comment GOES DIRECTLY TO CHARACTER. If you can't see that, well, whoop-dee-doo! I say you are the one with the big blind spot.

Use the HIDE THREAD option and stop scolding people. This is a DISCUSSION board for everyone, and all their views, serious to silly, and not a policy wonk web meeting.

Feh. Meh. And all those other expressions of exasperation and disdain...

tyvm.

Now back to that stupid, insensitive thing Romney said...

This isn't MEET THE PRESS or FACE THE NATION and good thing, too.

An asshole, that's who.

I wonder if his family really thinks he's funny or if they figured out that it ends faster if they humor him?

...to money, to power, to control, to bullying and putting down!

Be nice if he had an addiction to losing elections--he might be able to buy his next thrill...

[font color="red" size="24"]NOT[/font]

make more sense to some.

if Obama had said this it would be a 'gaffe' because he 'joked' about the serious disease of addiction.

is filled with bugs and glitches.

would say something like that.

No empathy even for her.

He's made so many.

He is so out of touch.

Very creepy.

If someone less stilted and robotic said it, like a next-door neighbor or other normal person, it'd be seen as humor. With him and the staccato way he talks, it sounds like his programming had a line saying "Insert attempt at humor here."

This is his worst yet. I need to see it.

... to negate the beer bottle assault from the audience.

It's like a lifelong virus. Most people recover fully, but like some viruses, occasionally someone becomes a carrier. Once it's in your blood, it is there to stay.

What was more important in the interview was the dodging and not giving straight answers to questions, from what I've read of it (don't get CBS, can't stand rMoney so wouldn't watch if I did).

It said "Poverty is owning a horse." I live in a very right-wing area of the state that is full of wealthy horse owners, who play polo, do dressage, and the like. The owner of the car was almost certainly someone who would vote for Romney this fall. Her car? Why, a BMW, of course. I wish I was that poor.

My ex was a huge bingo fan...she didn't have a gambling problem, but she loved to play bingo with her friends. I used to joke all the time that I was going to have her committed for her bingo habit, or tease her about having to get her bingo fix. She did the same with me about golf. Married couples say this kind of stuff all the time, joking and teasing each other.

There is plenty of real stuff to go after him about, this isn't one of them, IMO.

There, you can argue that it is a dumb joke, but something said and then immediately forgotten.

Would you have said this at some larger community event - where there are possibly people who have dealt with alcoholism, drug abuse, depression or an eating disorder. For any of those things, it is a very serious step for the family to take the step of someone getting the help needed - it is intensely emotional and very expensive. Romney would not joke of anyone having a chronic physical disorder or disease.

Around friends and family and at social gatherings. Neither of us were in the position of speaking to large groups of people in a formal setting, nor did we give media interviews. But in all honesty, I wouldn't have thought twice about it - it was a joke between spouses, and that's how we took it.

Sorry, I don't think that indicates that she or I have a huge character flaw, nor does it indicate that we don't care about people with real addiction problems.

very wrong with him.

discontinued FTN right after the Rmoney interview (eastern Kansas).
The next thing I saw was a the beginning of a one-half hour
promo for "Prosvent" or some such thing to treat enlarged prostates.
Older white men were being interviewed with their wives
sitting silently beside them...WEIRD.

Did anyone else in other areas of the country have a similar segue?
I'm rather curious.

Thanks.

Just like many other married couples do.

about my "addiction" to DU, cooking magazines, etc.

Not to mention, for people who have needed places like that, it is NOT a joke or something that should be used as a joke. They and the people who love them, not Ann Romney, are the people who should be unhappy with this comment. It is incredibly insensitive to their very real problems that are being cavalierly dismissed.

This again falls in the category of Romney not being able to connect to people who have problems that he personally never had to deal with.

We'll just agree to disagree.

Named for a First Lady who made her struggle with addiction known in order to help others with the same addictions.

The difference between the Fords and the Romneys is stunning...

I don't mind her having an expensive hobby if she is helping keep an ancient tradition alive. Good for her.

They beat me up, I keep going back because I love them so much. For me, having horses is an addiction. Even now, when I can't even lead a horse down the barn aisle, I can't imagine living without at least one.