The dignity of work

Brilliant, if you ask me. Looks to me as though the Republicans have been mousetrapped.

I wanted to say nothing about the so-called "mommy wars" because the whole thing seemed like the sort of bullshit pseudo-issue that causes everyone to pretend to be upset as long as the cameras are running. But this current bit of nose-tweaking is just lovely.

After days and days of Republican argument that paycheck-free moms work just as hard as "working" moms, some Dem lawmakers have said: "All right. Let's take that as a given. Now: Welfare." Their proposed legislation holds that mothers with children under the age of four should be considered employed.

Romney has, as is his wont, gone back and forth on this issue over the years. At one time, he said that women with pre-schoolers should not have to work. Then he said that even two-years-olds could appreciate knowing that their mothers were experiencing "the dignity of work."

What he really means, of course, is this: Paycheck-free stay-at-home mothers deserve enormous respect only when married to men of means. In the end, this argument is about class, not sex.