Ann Romney wants us to know that she and her husband have compassion for the people who struggle.
"Look, I know what it's like to struggle. Maybe I haven't struggled as much financially as some people have, but I can promise you that I've had struggles in my life. And I would love for people to understand that Mitt and I have compassion for people that are struggling, and that's why we're running."
Let me say out the outset that I have compassion for a struggle that I know she's had—living with Multiple Sclerosis, a monster of a disease. For that struggle, Ms. Romney you have my empathy.
But when you talk about economic struggle? Let's just be absolutely clear as to what the Romney-Ryan budget would do to women who do know what it's like to struggle financially. The budget your husband has embraced will shred every bit of support women and their families need through every stage of life.
- At least $291 billion will disappear from WIC, nutrition assistance, Head Start, child care, job training, Pell Grants, and more programs that support struggling families.
- $134 billion from SNAP, or food stamps, will mean something like 8.2 billion meals not served, in a single year; food out of the mouths of children and the elderly, a disproportionate number of which are female.
- $2.4 trillion from Medicaid and other health services will mean mothers will have a harder time finding medical care for themselves and their children, and for their elderly parents, again which are disproportionately female.
- 56 percent of Medicare beneficiaries are women, and the Romney-Ryan voucher plan will make them pay more and more each year out of their own pockets, to try to keep their medical care.
If Mitt Romney really has compassion for the people who struggle, for women who struggle, he'll not push policies that will make their lives demonstrably and horribly worse. There's not an ounce of compassion in this plan he's endorsed.