Ann Romney: 'We need to respect choices that women make'

Ann Romney cut to the heart of the flap over what Hilary Rosen said about the candidate's wife never having worked "a day in her life" in a Fox News interview this morning, saying, "We need to respect choices that women make."

Rosen, a Democratic strategist, made the comment on CNN last night, adding that Romney has "never really dealt with the kind of economic issues that a majority of women in the country are facing."

The clear idea was to highlight that Romney has had different experiences as someone whose husband was a high income earner — but the remark ended up sounding like an attack on non-working moms that devalued the intensity of raising kids.

(See Also: 10 things about Hilary Rosen)

"She should have come to my house when those five boys were causing so much trouble," chuckled Romney, when asked her gut reaction to the comment. "It wasn't so easy."

She added, "This is what's so interesting about this. My career choice was to be a mother. ... We need to respect choices that women make. Other women make a choice to (have careers and motherhood). ... I think Hilary did that [as well]. ... I respect that, that's wonderful. There's other people that have a choice."

The line about choices is one that Democrats often point to as they have slammed Republicans on issues like contraception and abortion.

She added, "Lemme give a shoutout to all the dads at home raising kids. ... This is obviously an awesome responsibility to raise children."

When asked point-blank about the suggestion that she couldn't relate to the struggles of working women, or working-class women, she said, "Look, I know what it's like to struggle and if maybe I haven't struggled as much financially as much as some people have, I can tell you and promise you that I've had struggles in my life. ... Mitt and I have compassion for people that are struggling and that's why we're running. We care about people that are struggling."

It was a reference, at least in part, to her health struggles with MS and breast cancer.

She pointed to the number of times her husband would tell her, "Ann your job is more important than mine. ... He would say, my job is temporary, ... your job is a forever job."

She added, "Mitt respects women that make those different choices. ... Hilary needs to know this because I've been on the campaign trail for one year and guess what women are talking about. ... They're talking about jobs and they're talking about the legacy of debt that we're leaving our children."

(PHOTOS: Ann Rommey)

As for the suggestion that Romney doesn't understand women's problems, she said, "That does bother me. That is not correct at all. You should see how many women he listens to and that's what I love about Mitt. He has so many women in his circle. ... Mitt Romney is a person that admires women and listens to them and I am grateful that he listens to me" as she talks about what women care about.

Of the polling gap with President Barack Obama among women, she said, "It's just too early. ... People haven't had a chance to listen to us or hear us."

Mitt Romney, she said, is a "can-do guy that's been able to turn things around in his life."

Maggie Haberman is senior political reporter for Politico.