Last week, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus got himself in a little bit of trouble when the GOP’s “war on women” came up. The party chair told Bloomberg Television that the entire concern isn’t to be taken seriously because “it’s a fiction.”
Priebus added, “If the Democrats said we had a war on caterpillars and every mainstream media outlet talked about the fact that Republicans have a war on caterpillars, then we’d have problems with caterpillars.”
This morning, the Republican party chief appeared on msnbc and was offered a chance to walk it back. He didn’t.
“I’m not going to walk back; I’m going to double down on it,” Priebus said. “This war on women is a fiction the Democrats have created.” He went on to call it a “fiction” several more times.
The RNC went on to say “there is no war on women,” adding that there is a “real war on women” being waged, inexplicably, by President Obama. For the record, Republicans at the state, federal, and presidential-campaign level have pushed in recent months for restricting contraception; cutting off Planned Parenthood; state-mandated, medically-unnecessary transvaginal ultrasounds; forcing physicians to lie to patients about abortion and breast cancer; abortion taxes; abortion waiting periods; forcing women to tell their employers why they want birth control, and going after prenatal care. There’s nothing fictional about it, and the fact that the Republican National Committee chairman looks back at his “war on caterpillars” comments as worth “doubling down” on is absurd.
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