MSNBC host Rachel Maddow opines that
the Hilary Rosen gaffe shows Republicans can no longer “feel safe
anymore being all that anti-gay.”
Rosen, an openly lesbian Democratic
pundit, drew criticism after she stated that Mitt Romney's wife, Ann
Romney, the mother of 5 children, has “never worked a day in her
life.” Rosen apologized for the comment the following day.
Maddow noted that Republicans attempted
to turn “a single, maybe a double, into a home run” and “in
their excitement they have screwed this one up, too.”
She pointed to a tweet from the
Catholic League which suggested that Rosen's role as a mother was
less worthy than Romney's because her children were adopted.
“Lesbian Dem Hilary Rosen tells Ann
Romney she never worked a day in her life,” the tweet read.
“Unlike Rosen, who had to adopt kids, Ann raised 5 of her own.”
When RNC spokesman Sean Spicer defended
Rosen – “The @catholicleague should be encouraging adoption, not
demeaning the parents who are blessed to raise these children” –
he stepped into the new reality of gay rights for Republicans,
because the tweet made it appear as if Spicer was endorsing gay
adoption, which Mitt Romney does not support.
“That is not what I said,” Spicer
messaged after being thanked for endorsing adoption rights for gay
couples.
“Oh no, this was going so well,”
Maddow said mocking Republicans. “How did we get in this mess?”
“They had a solid single here and
they tried to turn it into a home run and now it's all falling
apart,” Maddow said.
“The Republican Party's spokesman is
horrified by the Catholic League being so anti-gay in tone but he has
to clarify that he's not so horrified on the Catholic League being so
anti-gay in substance. I mean this is a mess. Gay rights and
Republican politics right now are a mess. At least they are a
minefield if you are trying to get across this issue.” (Watch
the entire segment at EqualityMatters.org.)