Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney thought he had the gift that was going to keep on giving when Democratic strategist Hilary Rosen made her comment about Ann Romney, Mitt’s wife, “never having worked a day in her life.” Romney’s team and the media jumped on Rosen’s statement like hungry dogs would jump on a bone. Rosen’s statement was taken out of context and she eventually apologized for possibly offending mothers who stay home to raise their children.

Despite the apology from Rosen, Mitt knew that he could squeeze this scandal for all it was worth and he has since been parading his wife all-around getting her to make speeches to the National Rifle Association and any other organization that will listen about the importance of motherhood, especially the mothers who stay home to raise their children.

Only one problem, the truth about how Mitt really feels about mothers–just the poor ones, apparently–has come out. While Mitt has been crowing to the media about often he tells his wife that her job of raising their 5 sons (with plenty of household help) is more important than any job he has ever had, Mitt was telling poor mothers that they need to take their lazy behinds to work and get a real job. According to Mitt, poor mothers need to have the “dignity of work.”

Salon.com has the details on how Mitt has changed his tune since January of 2011:

Mitt Romney, however, judging by his January remark, views stay-at-home moms who are supported by federal assistance much differently than those backed by hundreds of millions in private equity income. Poor women, he said, shouldn’t be given a choice, but instead should be required to work outside the home to receive Temporary Assistance for Needy Families benefits. “[E]ven if you have a child 2 years of age, you need to go to work,” Romney said of moms on TANF.

…
“I wanted to increase the work requirement,” said Romney. “I said, for instance, that even if you have a child 2 years of age, you need to go to work. And people said, ‘Well that’s heartless.’ And I said, ‘No, no, I’m willing to spend more giving day care to allow those parents to go back to work. It’ll cost the state more providing that daycare, but I want the individuals to have the dignity of work.'”

No one is saying that women should not wait until they are financially, mentally, and emotionally able to bear children. No one is saying that there is a right for a woman to have as many babies as she wants, all while being supported by the gub-ment. What the Democrats and others are saying is that if motherhood is so important, if motherhood is just as much of a job as any other job, then mothers should be supported just like oil companies and agricultural subsidies are supported–with our money, and not just our words.

There have always been poor women. There will always be poor people. Mitt Romney’s argument seems to be that poor people should never had children, poor women should never give birth, and poor women who stay home to take care of their own children are not really working (but a poor women who plays nanny to a richer woman’s kids has a ‘real job’).

But hey, what can you expect from Mitt Romney on the subject of women? After all, Romney gets his advice about women and how they feel about the economy from his wife, who has admittedly never had a paying job outside of the home in her entire life.