A graphic circulating online claims that Mitt Romney said that Michelle Obama should be called “First Woman” instead of “First Lady.” Is this true or false?

It’s not true.

Let’s first take a look at the meme which has been circulating heavily in January 2015.

“It’s false advertising to call Mrs. Obama the First Lady. First Woman, maybe, but certainly not a lady. Ann Romney is an actual lady.” – Mitt Romney, the Laura Ingraham Show 1/12/14.

Origin

The meme above was posted to the Facebook community “Stop the World, the Teabaggers Want Off” also known as “Stop the Tea Party.” That page posts a variety of outlandish memes with fictional political quotes. As of this writing, the page has about 40,000 likes. It appears that Romney, Michelle Bachmann, and Mike Huckabee are among the page’s favorite targets. The Romney meme above has been posted several times to this page.

Laura Ingraham

The date cited in the meme above – January 12, 2014 – was a Sunday, and the show’s archive of guests confirms that there was no show on that date, nor was Mitt Romney shown to be a guest at all that month. No reputable news sources have attribute such a quote to Romney.

Bottom Line

The quote attributed to Mitt Romney in which he allegedly said that Michelle Obama should be referred to as “First Woman” is not real. It was posted by a Facebook group known to publish memes containing outlandish, fake political quotes.