Full time spin

In a moment where she stepped in stupid, Teresa Heinz Kerry told USA Today that she couldn't remember a real job that Laura Bush had had since she has been a grown up. I will curl up and cry at the state of politics if this becomes the talking point for the next two days.

Unfortunately for me, Hanna Rosin at the Washington Post is trying to do just that. She quotes Teresa Heinz-Kerry's apology in full (my emphasis):

"I had forgotten that Mrs. Bush had worked as a school teacher and librarian," she wrote in a statement, "and there couldn't be a more important job than teaching our children. As someone who has been both a full-time mom and full-time in workforce, I know we all have valuable experiences that shape who we are. I appreciate and honor Mrs. Bush's service to the country as first lady, and am sincerely sorry I had not remembered her important work in the past."

Then Hanna steps in a little something herself:

Again, she was repeating that Laura Bush only had a job when she had a paying job, and not during all those years she was raising the twins, or supporting her husband, or being first lady, or all those other things one is not allowed to define as the opposite of job.

I've always thought calling someone a "full time mom" implied that raising kids (and the President, for that matter) was a "job" of sorts. And since Karen Hughes seems to disagree with me, I know I'm right.

I guess a bigger question is how these articles get published in the first place?

*UPDATE* Thanks, Laura. I still won't vote for your husband, but the honesty is refreshing:

"She apologized but she didn't even really need to apologize," Mrs. Bush told reporters at a coffee shop before attending a rally for President Bush. "I know how tough it is and actually I know those trick questions."