Editor's note: Teri Christoph and Suzanne Haik Terrell are co-chairwomen of ShePAC, a "movement to support, honor and elect conservative women." Christoph is the co-founder of Smart Girl Politics, a nonprofit organization founded in 2008 to encourage conservative women to get involved in the political process. Terrell, an attorney, is a former Louisiana state elections commissioner and was a 2002 Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate.
(CNN) -- President Bill Clinton once famously said, "The most difficult job in the world is not being president. It's being a parent." As mothers, we both know this well, but we wonder if President Clinton's fellow Democrats share his respect for parents, particularly those who choose to stay home with their children?
Yesterday on CNN, Hilary Rosen, a Washington insider who has advised many prominent Democrats, made the ill-advised decision to attack a fellow parent, a stay-at-home mother, by accusing her of having "never worked a day in her life."
The stay-at-home mother targeted maliciously by Rosen has successfully raised five boys, who all have their own families now and constructively contribute to society. This particular mother has battled cancer and multiple sclerosis.
This particular stay-at-home mom travels the country and speaks up on issues of importance to her and for her children and grandchildren's future. This particular stay-at-home mother is also a Republican, her name is Ann Romney and her message is resonating. Therein lies the reason for Rosen's vicious attack.
After calls for her to apologize from both the left and the right, Rosen initially refused. But she caved to the building pressure today. In her apology she said, "Let's declare peace in this phony war and go back to focus on the substance."
We couldn't agree more -- so let's look at the substance, and the facts, which is what Ann Romney and many other women have been doing all along.
Comment on Romney's wife keeps campaign's focus on women
As her husband moves toward locking up the Republican nomination, recent headlines have screamed that Ann Romney is the "Romney that Democrats fear most." And for good reason. Pundits point out that she is passionate, attractive, charismatic and elegant -- all true -- but we would argue that what Democrats truly fear is her message and the impact it is having with women of all walks of life.
Recently, Romney made headlines when she said, "Women care about jobs. Women care about the economy, they care about their children, they care about their debt. They're angry, they're furious about the entitlement debt we're leaving our children." She is right.
Ann Romney's 'mom power' displayed
Buchanan: Response to Rosen 'despicable'
Obama: No patience for spousal attacks
Meanwhile, Democrats preen on about the phony "war on women" and are increasingly desperate to lure attention away from their disastrous policies. The women we know are smarter than this and realize this is merely a smokescreen meant to distract women voters from the true legacy of the Obama administration: failed economic policies that adversely affect women.
In her stunning comments, Rosen claims Romney "never really dealt with the kind of economic issues that a majority of women in the country are facing."
Moms all across this country look to the unemployment numbers, which have disproportionately affected women, and worry about their families' immediate future and security.
Moms look to record high gas prices as they begin to plan summer road trips. Women make 80% of all health care decisions in our country, so it's no wonder a consistent majority of them oppose Obamacare.
Moms know how to make and maintain a budget and are left wondering why it has taken Harry Reid over 1,050 days to pass a budget in the male-dominated, Democrat-led U.S. Senate.
Moms know the crushing legacy that debt can leave and are outraged that, as of today, each of our children owes $50,017.33 of the national debt. This is the legacy of the Obama administration, and this is why liberals like Ms. Rosen make personal attacks on mothers like Ann Romney, rather than debate the issues most important to women.
More and more women like Ann Romney are standing up and speaking out. Women are joining the political arena in droves, both as activists and as candidates. Moms like Mia Love and Martha Zoller have put their name on the ballot in opposition to the Obama agenda.
This November, we could elect five new conservative women -- Deb Fischer, Sarah Steelman, Heather Wilson, Linda Lingle and Linda McMahon -- to the U.S. Senate, ending the do-nothing-but-harm reign of Harry Reid. The tea party movement has been fueled and run by "just moms" like Amy Kremer who are scared for their children's future and are taking a stand.
The left's war on moms exposes their true feelings towards women -- that we are the victims, the proverbial damsels in distress waiting for Washington to come riding in atop its white horse named bureaucracy to fix our families, prescribe our medications and send our children the bill.
What the left will learn over the next seven months is that those women aren't victims, they are fierce warriors who fight for their principles. The election of 2012 promises to be fought on the issues and it will be won by women.
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The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the authors.
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