Jehmu Greene: Right-wingers behind Mitt Romney, not his wife

Political commentator Jehmu Greene, a liberal Fox News contributor, drew surprised murmurs on Thursday morning when she appeared to take a shot at Mitt Romney's wife Ann during a speech to the Democratic women's caucus.

"Behind every man - what is it that they say? - there's a good strong woman. A great woman," Greene said. She paused for effect, then said: "Let's talk about what's behind Mitt Romney."

Disapproving "oohs." Surprised murmurs. She continued:

"This man - he's a good man, like President Clinton said last night, he's a good family man, he cares. But behind him, he has made it clear who sets his agenda. When they attacked Sandra (Fluke), he made it clear who sets his agenda. He didn't say 'not in my party.' When they decided they wanted to redefine rape, where was his voice? He didn't say 'not in my party.' Behind every good man is a great woman, behind Romney are a bunch of great cons right-wing ideologues who want to take us back not to 1950 - 1910."

Moderate applause. Then Greene appeared to realize she may have overreached. She concluded:

"And I'm sure Ann Romney is a great woman behind him, but we have to be clear about who is pullin' his strings, who is settin' his agenda. And his agenda is not our agenda."

Ann Romney gave a well-received speech about her husband at the Republican convention last week. Many women in the audience on Thursday did not view Greene's riff as an attack on her.

"I think what she was really saying was, 'Who are the people that are influencing Romney?'" said New Jersey's Carol Watchler.

"Maybe it's not that woman who has good family values and a beautiful background and what she brings to her family, but that he's being packaged - that people are feeding him the lines. I think that's what she was saying: behind him, there's a whole mega-money-machine that is trying to skew America."