An inside-the-beltway magazine recently published an op-ed by Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz arguing based on polls the GOP has no hope with women.
The article came just two weeks after Wasserman Schultz called Iowa Republican Senate candidate Joni Ernst an “onion of crazy” (I’m not even sure what her tortured phrase meant, but I know when some men want to put a woman in her place, they call her ‘crazy’) and just days before she said Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s agenda is a akin to “grabbing [women] by the hair” and giving them “the back of his hand.”
While Wasserman Schultz should apologize to Ernst and to victims of domestic violence, voters should now clearly see it’s the DNC and Democrats who have a woman problem and who will use women as pawns when their policies fail.
First, back to Wasserman Schultz’s polling argument and here she looks at recent data the same way she looks at women: as a monolithic set that allows for no contradiction, variation or nuance.
As a Republican woman working at the grassroots level, I see firsthand how GOP policies advance women. There is a gender gap, but the gap is not nearly as universal as the chairwoman would have readers believe. For example, the gap narrowed between the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections and, in statewide gubernatorial elections, GOP candidates have won the women’s vote by double digits. Wasserman Schultz should also know that today there are more Republican female governors and lieutenant governors than Democratic ones and that the GOP outpolls Democrats among married women.
Clearly, many women voters – and candidates – find the GOP appealing.
What is really behind Wasserman Schultz’s attacks? Fear.
Voters also saw this type of fear last month in Democratic House candidate John Foust’s attack on Republican Barbara Comstock in Virginia-10. Foust said Comstock, a public servant, mother and small business owner, never held a “real job.” Voters saw it again in Iowa where Bruce Braley’s first ad against Ernst alluded to the fact that she’s a “chick.” And they saw it back in 2012 too, when, unbelievably, Nancy Pelosi’s PAC ran an ad on behalf of Rep. Ron Barber in Arizona’s second district that suggested his opponent, Air Force pilot Martha McSally (who is running again this cycle), should stay in the kitchen because her policy “recipe” was the wrong one.
Where was Debbie Wasserman Schultz when these divisive attacks were made? Nowhere – she’d rather peddle fear than stand up for women.
Democrats are afraid not only because they’re up against strong, female candidates like Ernst and McSally, but because they realize on the issues women care about most, they’re quickly losing ground.
Democrats realize the president’s policies have reduced disposable income through higher taxation and more regulation.
They realize American moms and dads are angry Democrats broke their promise to allow Americans to keep their health care and their doctors – including their OB-GYNs – if they wanted to.
They realize President Obama has done nothing to reform our nation’s broken immigration system or protect our borders; that he’s done nothing to improve Social Security and Medicare so the programs remain for our children and grandchildren. And Democrats realize this White House has overseen a $7 trillion increase in the national debt, a fee our children will pay through higher taxes or a weakened military.
And speaking of our national defense, when it comes to geopolitics, Democrats realize American foreign policy is crumbling. Democrats say there is a war on women in the U.S., but let’s look around the world, in the places where women like Ernst and McSally fought not only to protect America, but to liberate their gender from oppression. Voters see the U.S.’s weakened position on the faces of women around the world who are losing their sons (and daughters), fathers and husbands to mad chaos and unrest because America is no longer the strong and respected country it once was.
That’s a real war on women.
As a Republican woman, I encourage my party to remain a big tent, to continue to debate how to best improve access to health care and expand economic opportunity. We are a vibrant party – the only one that refuses to treat women as uniform voting bloc.
We must never stop trying to bring more voters into our tent, women especially, and all Americans should also see Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s attacks for what they really are: the musings of a party leader who has herself attacked females running for office and whose party has no new or exciting ideas to advance our economy or excite American women.
Christine Toretti is founder of the Women Lead PAC and the Anne Anstine Excellence in Public Service Series. She is the RNC National Committeewoman for Pennsylvania, a former RNC Finance Committee co-chair, and former chair of the Committee of 200, an organization of the most influential female CEOs in the world.