Mommy wars: 2012 version

WILLIAMS: said, this is likely not a one-day story, and it's certainly not just a Washington story. As NBC 's Chris Jansing found out today, this one prompted talk all over.

CHRIS JANSING reporting: Maria Smith is a suburban Atlanta stay-at-home mom of three with a fourth on the way. She considers herself a liberal, but was shocked when she heard Hilary Rosen 's comments.

Ms. MARIA SMITH (Mother): I felt offended, I felt mad, I felt like this is someone who I thought was on my side, but actually really didn't understand me.

JANSING: Today, she discovered she wasn't the only one with a visceral reaction.

Ms. SMITH: I have talked about this today at preschool pick-up, I was at the playground talking with some moms about it, and I was kind of surprised at how many people have picked up on this story.

JANSING: A story that started out as a political discussion has revived a very different conversation, decades old, hitting an apparently still raw nerve about a woman's place. Lesley Jane Seymour has worked at women's magazines for 25 years and is now editor of More.

Ms. LESLEY JANE SEYMOUR (More Magazine Editor-in-Chief): Welcome to the mommy wars version 2012 . I bet you that every single woman on the train, my train home tonight is going to be talking about this. Somebody threw one little match in the -- in the pile there and the whole thing ignited.

JANSING: That's clear from impassioned posts on the comments sections of news and women's websites like our own iVillage.

Ms. KELLY WALLACE (IVillage Chief Correspondent): Women are not a monolithic interest group and...

JANSING: Kelly Wallace is chief correspondent for iVillage and a working mom.

Ms. WALLACE: This debate totally resonates. I think about this issue all the time because I, of course, feel conflict like I think so many other women. When I hear my little ones running around at the playground and I'm not there I think, 'Wow, I wish I could be there.' It doesn't get any more emotional I think than the mommy wars.

JANSING: On the Huffington Post , a columnist suggests that for the election the Hilary Rosen kerfuffle means absolutely nothing, but for women it's giving new life to an unsettled and unsettling debate. Chris Jansing , NBC News, New York.