Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II, D-Mo., condemned his fellow Democrats' rhetoric about a Republican "war on women" yesterday just minutes after Democratic National Committee (DNC) chairwoman made the attack.
"That is wrong," Cleaver, chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), said yesterday on CNN's State of the Union. "I condemn it. If it's a Democrat, if it's my cousin, it's wrong. And I think we need to stop that. It is damaging the body politic and it's further separating the people in this country." Cleaver issued the condemnation as part of a broader protest against overheated political rhetoric, including "absurd" charges that President Obama has "declared war on religion."
Earlier in that show, though, DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz defended the "war on women" rhetoric. "The focus of the Republican Party on turning back the clock for women really is something that's unacceptable and shows how callous and insensitive they are towards women's priorities," she said.
"We've got to quit exaggerating our political differences," Cleaver said later in the show.
