Top Republicans: Michelle Obama Must Denounce 'Sexist, Anti-Mom' Tactics Used By Michigan Democrat She Is Campaigning For This Week

Top Republicans: Michelle Obama Must Denounce 'Sexist, Anti-Mom' Tactics Used By Michigan Democrat She Is Campaigning For This Week

Top Republicans are demanding First Lady Michelle Obama denounce what they are calling a “sexist, anti-mom” campaign from Democratic Rep. Gary Peters’ Senate campaign and Democratic allies.

Peters’ GOP opponent Terri Lynn Land’s campaign points to a series of comments that were made by different media outlets across Michigan, Peters’ own campaign operatives, Democratic Party and other Democrat lawmakers’ staffers and far leftwing political operatives to argue, according to Land spokeswoman Heather Swift, that Peters is “waging a sexist anti-mom campaign against Terri Lynn Land, and they need to be held accountable.”

As Michelle Obama began an event with Peters at 9:30 a.m. in Detroit, Land’s campaign held a conference call with Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) and Michigan’s Republican National Committeewoman Ronna Romney McDaniel–Mitt Romney’s niece–in which they called on Michelle Obama to buck Peters’ campaign’s and the other Democratic operatives’ anti-motherhood comments.

“Gary Peters went too far but I’m not shocked by this,” Land said on the call. “I worked my entire life in public service and helping our citizens here in Michigan.”

Land then ticked off a series of accomplishments for women and moms she’s achieved in her time in state and local government–all while starting a family with her husband after college.

“By the time I left there, we had more women managers than when we started,” Land added.

Now she is running for the U.S. Senate, and Peters and his allies are attacking her for noting her motherhood in some answers on the campaign trail.

Land told Breitbart News after the call that the “Washington Boys Club” that Peters belongs to is aiming to “divide women” using “offensive rhetoric” to win the election.

“I believe Gary Peters and his allies are waging a campaign to divide women and use offensive rhetoric to try and win this race,” Land said. “This is from the Washington Boys Club who forced ObamaCare on us, causing Michigan women to lose their family health plans and lose their doctors, and this is from the man who pays the women in his office just 67 percent of what he pays male staff.”

On the conference call, Sen. Ayotte and Committeewoman Romney McDaniel ripped into Peters and his allies for the remarks they made–and called on Michelle Obama to disown them.

“I wanted to be on this conference call today because I understand the First Lady Michelle Obama is in town, and this is an important issue about what it means to be a mom–not only public service but when I learned about some of the anti-mom campaign that is happening against Terri not only from the Peters campaign but other Democratic operatives and it’s troubling that some members of the media are taking part in this, I wanted to be on this call,” Ayotte said. “With the First Lady in Michigan today, we certainly think of Michelle Obama as a great mom for raising her daughters under unimaginable pressure. We believe and I certainly believe that Mrs. Obama would not condone the rhetoric that we’ve heard that’s being used against Terri Lynn Land in terms of her role as a mom and how that would inform her decision-making in the U.S. Senate.”

I fully support Terri. I think she’ll make a great senator because of her experience at the local level and state level in Michigan,” Ayotte continued. “I wanted to be part of this because I’m a mom in the U.S. Senate and because frankly we don’t have enough–we have 20 women in the U.S. Senate, we don’t have enough people who have the experience in the Senate who have children and can bring that experience to the U.S. Senate. I think we need more moms in the Senate and people who would make the country better and safer for future generations of Americans.”

“Like Sen. Ayotte I think we need more common sense moms who have a record of making government work like Terri in the United States Senate. Recent attacks from the Peters campaign and even the media are absurd and sexist,” Romney McDaniel added.

Romney McDaniel likened the comments to SKDKnickerbocker’s Hilary Rosen’s attack on her aunt Ann Romney’s motherhood in the 2012 election. 

“This is not the first time a strong conservative woman has come under fire from the left. In 2012, my aunt Ann Romney was criticized by Democratic strategist Hilary Rosen for being a stay-at-home mom choosing to raise five boys,” Romney McDaniel said. “Democrats and media alike were quick to condemn these attacks and distance themselves from Rosen’s comments. I am calling on the Michigan press, Gary Peters and First Lady Michelle Obama to condemn the attacks on Terri for being a mom. It is troubling to see Gary Peters claim over and over that he is an outspoken supporter of women only to have him remain silent as Terri is attacked. Does Gary Peters believe that moms have no business caring about foreign affairs, healthcare or earning a paycheck?”

Ayotte also compared this attack on Land to the attacks on Ann Romney.

“To see stereotypes being pushed, or to see Terri criticized for referencing her experience as a mom and how that will inform her decisions as a policymaker–I can’t believe we’re even here. That we’re even on this call,” Ayotte said. “This is really shocking how this issue is being framed, and the comments that are being made. Ann Romney said it best in 2012 when she faced troubling criticisms about being a mom. It’s moms who drive the economy.”

Ayotte also discussed how she talks about her motherhood in political context frequently–and how it is the reason why she even decided to run for office in the first place.

“I’ve got a first grader, Jacob, and I’ve got a fourth grader, Kate. One of the driving reasons I ran for the U.S. Senate are my children–because I know that if we don’t solve the challenges facing our country, it’s about all of our children,” Ayotte said. “It’s about all of us in the future of this country that all of us deserve for a strong economy and a safe country. That’s actually what drove me to run for the Senate. So when I ran, and I continue to talk all the time about the experience of being a mother–what that means to make decisions in Washington.”

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