Romney's weird 'if' statement about women in the workforce

"Anderson? Anderson? I recognize that Michele may need to leave this debate early."

"Anderson? Anderson? I recognize that Michele may need to leave this debate early."

Mitt Romney's "binders full of women" comment perfectly (and hilariously) captured his archaic approach towards dealing with women in the workforce, but this line from Tuesday's debate really bothered me—and still does.

I recognized that if you're going to have women in the workforce that sometimes you need to be more flexible.

It's not just that Romney's definition of flexibility—giving women enough time to go home and cook dinner—ignored the fact that both men and women need flexibility to manage their family responsibilities, it's also the fact that he seemed to think there was some sort of question about whether or not women should be in the workforce to begin with. What other explanation is there for his weird "if" statement?

You don't hear President Obama bragging about how he believes that "if" women are going to work that they need to be able to go home early in order to make meals and change diapers and clean house—because he not only knows that women do work, but he knows that they deserve equal pay for that equal work. And he's got a record to back that up. Meanwhile, all Mitt Romney has is a fake story about binders full of women.