As the walls crumbled in on the Democratic Party, with huge losses in Colorado, Iowa, North Carolina and other places, ABC analyst Donna Brazile stubbornly clung to the idea that prosecuting the "war on women" meme is a good one for Democrats. Late on election night, George Stephanopoulos gingerly offered, "Donna Brazile, a lot of people think that the Democrats overplayed this war on women."
Speaking of the Democratic senatorial candidate in Colorado, Brazile denied, "No. I don't think they overplayed it. Maybe that's the only focus that people thought that Mark Udall had." Of the Republican, she insisted, "Mr. Gardner changed his position on the Personhood Amendment." [MP3 audio here.]
Seeming to blame the voters, Brazile whined, "Unfortunately, voters wanted to talk about equal pay. They wanted to talk about the economy. They wanted to talk about other issues. But the only thing they thought they heard was Mark Udall talking about one issue and that was abortion."
A transcript of the ABC exchange is below:
10:19
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: One way thing we saw, Nicolle Wallace, Cory Gardner came in, replaced a more conservative Tea Party candidate and ran a very optimistic, sunny campaign. That worked for him.
NICOLLE WALLACE: It did and he did something really smart. In the last three cycles, Republicans have allowed abortion rights to get tangled up with access to contraception. I think the numbers are about 90 percent of American women have used birth control at some point in their lives. So, by being perceived against access to birth control, Republicans were really struggling with women. Cory Gardner was very smart. He proposed putting, or at least studying putting birth control pills over the counter and I think that if the night goes his way, it may be an important lesson to take to national Republicans.
STEPHANOPOULOS: That is going to be the lesson. Donna Brazile, a lot of people think that the Democrats overplayed this war on women.
DONNA BRAZILE: No. I don't think they overplayed it. Maybe that's the only focus that people thought that Mark Udall had. Mr. Gardner changed his position on the Personhood Amendment. Mark Udall tried to make that an issue. Unfortunately, voters wanted to talk about equal pay. They wanted to talk about the economy. They wanted to talk about other issues. But the only thing they thought they heard was Mark Udall talking about one issue and that was abortion.
