One of the greatest rules in life is “Never get in a fight with a pig - you both get dirty and the pig likes it.” In the South there is an equal axiom: “A dog can usually whip a skunk but the stink ain’t worth it.” I’ve used both pearls of wisdom ever since I started voicing an opinion because anybody who goes out on a limb on any issue will find there are always some folks out there who are eager to cut that limb off.

Several days ago a CNN pundit - Hillary Rosen -- was speaking about women’s issues with commentator Anderson Cooper and the conversation drifted to presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s claim that President Barack Obama has been bad for women since he took office.

Rosen was quick on the trigger as she blurted that Romney “doesn't connect on that issue, either. What you have is Mitt Romney running around the country saying, 'Well, you know my wife tells me that what women really care about are economic issues and when I listen to my wife that's what I'm hearing.' Guess what? His wife has actually never worked a day in her life!:

Rosen, later identified as a liberal Democrat strategist and a gay-rights activist, said, “(Ann Romney) has never really dealt with the kinds of economic issues that a majority of the women in this country are facing in terms of how do we feed our kids, how do we send them to school, and why do we worry about their future.

“(Romney) just seems so old-fashioned when it comes to women,” Rosen continued. “I think that comes across and I think that that's going to hurt him over the long term. He just doesn't really see us as equal."

While I’m not about to call Rosen a “pig” or a “skunk,” I’ve got to admit I had never heard of the woman until she bashed Romney’s wife and, like I always do when any mud-slinging ever starts, study both combatants and generally side with which one takes the higher ground. Romney’s wife tweeted a sensible reply, “I made a choice to stay home and raise five boys. Believe me, it was hard work,” but our lusty national media, rather than let the inane topic die, ramped it up to the point that some Democratic leaders are said to be “distancing” themselves from Rosen’s loose cannon. Hillary, realizing her mea culpa had just morphed into what is better called “a mea maxima culpa,” has since tried to stamp out the fire.

"I apologize to Ann Romney and anyone else who was offended," Rosen finally said. "Let's declare peace in this phony war and go back to focus on the substance." But by then President Obama’s stay-at-home wife (or her political handlers) had gotten involved and tweeted to the delight of the muckrakers, “Every mother works hard, and every woman deserves to be respected."

To make matter even worse, the President of the United States then took his mind off the millions who are out of work, the war in Afghanistan and the still-sluggish economy to add, “I don’t have a lot of patience for commentary about the spouses of political candidates.

“My general view is those of us who are in the public life, we’re fair game. Our families are civilians,” he told a Cedar Rapids TV reporter. “I haven’t met Mrs. Romney, but she seems like a very nice woman who is supportive of her family and supportive of her husband.

“I don’t know if she necessarily volunteered for this job so, you know, we don’t need to be directing comments at them,” he added. “I think me and Governor Romney are going to have more than enough to argue about during the course of this campaign.”

I agree that families of politicians are, indeed, civilians and should be treated more kindly than those actually running for public office, but why even worry about Hillary Rosen? Consider the source and move on. She is perfectly entitled to her opinion and is guaranteed freedom of speech but when somebody like that pops off on national TV, I just change the channel. Hillary Rosen’s opinion means about as much to me as mine does to her. But don’t you see the lesson? The media has brought her into the spotlight, created a fight, and now that everybody involved is muddy, “the pig likes it.”

Trust me, “it ain’t worth the stink.

royexum@aol.com