Is Romney Using Women To Woo Men?

HOME POLITICS NATIONAL NEWS WORLD ECONOMY SPORTS ENTERTAINMENT Joe Conason Carl Hiaasen Connie Schultz E.J. Dionne Gene Lyons Jonathan Alter April 20, 2012 THE BIG STORY, BY CONNIE SCHULTZ Romney Strategy: Use Women To Woo A Certain Kind Of Man Before we move on from the dust-up over Hilary Rosen's comments about Ann Romney, let's be clear on what's really going on here. Neither Ann Romney nor stay-at-home moms were ever the point. What is increasingly apparent is Mitt Romney's strategy to rally his base of narrow-minded men who couldn't care less about women or, worse, blame us for all that is wrong with their lives. Rosen unwittingly gave him a perfect opportunity. READ MORE MONEY Read The Tax Returns From Karl Rove's 'Dark Money' Group One of the election season's most talked-about "dark money" groups released its tax returns yesterday, showing it raised almost $77 million from fewer than 100 donors over 19 months. Most of the money spent in its first year went directly to political ads or grants to other groups. Still, Crossroads GPS, also known as Crossroads Grassroots Policy Strategies, retained plenty of mystery -- namely, the donors' identities. On the returns there are no donor names, no clues as to whether they are individuals, companies or trade groups, and no hint as to whether there are repeat donors from year to year. READ MORE WAR AND PEACE Clinton Wants Tougher U.N. Move On Syria U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton called Thursday for the U.N. Security Council to adopt a global arms embargo and other tough measures against Syria to reinforce existing Western embargoes if the country fails to abide by a cease-fire designed to end 13 months of bloodshed. Clinton stopped short of calling for outside military intervention in Syria -- for which there is little or no foreign appetite -- but said it is time to impose more consequential measures on Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime. READ MORE SOCIAL SECURITY AND YOU Benefits For Little Ones Cause Big Stink A few weeks ago, I wrote a column in which I answered a question from a retiree about the benefits due to his wife and children. Many readers were shocked, and some irritated, to learn that a retiree's children and his younger wife could qualify for monthly Social Security checks on his account. READ MORE Just 3 Days Until Earth Day EPA's New Fracking Rules: Limited And Delayed The Environmental Protection Agency issued the first-ever national air pollution regulations for fracking on Wednesday. First proposed in July 2011, the final rules have been welcomed by environmental groups as a much-needed initial move in reducing pollution and protecting public health from the toxic chemicals involved in the oil and natural gas drilling process. But many cautioned this was just a first step. "It sets a floor for what the industry needs to do," said attorney Erik Schlenker-Goodrich of the Western Environmental Law Center. "The reality is we can do far better." READ MORE ANOTHER NEW LOW Ted Nugent Clings To Guns, Religion, And... The Secret Service '70s rocker and conservative activist Ted Nugent, who made headlines when he told NRA members "I will either be dead or in jail by this time next year" if Barack Obama is re-elected president, met with the Secret Service Thursday to explain himself. But he didn't break a sweat, telling a radio talk-show host that "the Secret Service are my buddies" (and that he hangs out with former agents at NRA rallies anyway). READ MORE CARTOON OF THE DAY   (c) 2012 Eastern Harbor Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved. 28 West 27th Street, Suite 502 New York, NY 10001