Ann Romney's father was a wealthy manufacturer and mayor of Bloomfield Hills

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

26. So you agree that Ann Romney's credibility and background should be examined?

You seem to agree that Ted Nugent's background is fair game as is the background of any other supporter. Ann Romney has taken on the role of a supporter. But you just don't base your decision to vote on their opinion as you are just voting for the candidate. Is that correct?

I don't vote just for the candidate as a person and how they part their hair but for the candidate's ideas. I can only judge those ideas in the context of the times and the nature of the people and institutions who had an effect on those ideas or support them. Like in a courtroom, a series of expert witnesses is called upon to either challenge or reinforce a candidate's ideas. Conservative economists are heard in the media, reassuring Americans that Romney's plans for the economy are sound. Liberal economists give us contrary opinions. Conservative experts on national security speak out on how Romney would do a better job handling Iran. If those experts are neocons and took us into a terrible war like Cheney, we need to know. Those challenges or reinforcements can be very persuasive, depending on the expert's credentials and credibility. Ideally, the media should cross-examine those experts to enable us to judge the soundness of their opinions. Ann Romney is also an expert witness. She offers us unique insight into the character of Romney and the campaign is using her opinion aggressively as a sword. She tells us Mitt Romney is a regular guy who isn't out of touch and who has been through hard times in his youth. We are right to want to know something about how hard a life Ann and Mitt had after college. She tells us that Mitt has empathy and a sense of humor, good character traits, and she spent several days telling us that he was a fun-loving guy in his youth. We were exposed to quite contradictory evidence this past week. Ann tells us that the Romneys are just regular folks and she's a normal stay-at-home mom, in a very obvious effort to try to rehabilitate her husband's image with the female vote. We have a right to information that contradicts this opinion, such as how may dressage horses she owns and works out during her "normal" stay-at-home-mom day, how many maids and butlers and gardeners and nannies and chauffeurs she has helping her, how many Imelda Marcos--like shoe collections she has at her various mansions, etc.

Ann Romney, like any expert witness called upon in a court of law should be subject to cross-examination in the press. She isn't saying these things to get elected. She's saying them to show her husband in a favorable light and to get her husband elected. If the favorable opinions of a candidate's supporters including the wife didn't help, we wouldn't have candidates running across the country seeking endorsements from political figures, business leaders, newspapers, and a variety of institutions. I believe they have a great impact. I believe that Ann Romney's active participation in the campaign should subject everything she says and does in support of her husband's election goal to scrutiny including her credibility.