On Tuesday’s edition of The View, the liberals were upset that White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders would tweet about a “war against women in the Trump administration.”
Joy Behar tried to turn that into a Planned Parenthood argument, and Meghan McCain lost patience with that: “The idea that Planned Parenthood is the number one women’s issue in America, all women...it’s false and I’m sick of this!”
The occasion was the swearing-in of CIA director Gina Haspel, just narrowly confirmed by the Senate:
WHOOPI GOLDBERG: Press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders tweeted that her appointment shows the, quote, Democrats are losing their war on [sic] women in the Trump administration.
JOY BEHAR: Oh please.
GOLDBERG: Oy gevalt! Who's being singled out based on their gender?
BEHAR: I mean, it's such a hypocritical statement. Trump just signed a bill that says we're going to be pulling back federal funds to places like Planned Parenthood that provide health services for women so who's creating this war against women? Not the Democrats! [ Applause ]
They had to correct Joy. It's a proposal about removing federal Title X funding from health care clinics that provide abortions, and it's not signed yet.
Meghan McCain was disappointed with both camps on this one. “I was just frustrated when I read this tweet because we as conservatives are railing all the time -- one of the tenets of the things that I believe in is that we should get away from identity politics, meaning like if you're a woman you automatically have to believe these things, if you're a man you automatically have to believe these things, et cetera.”
She cited quotes in the media from Hillary Clinton, Madeleine Albright, and Michelle Obama all saying women had to vote for women (i.e. Hillary). “Oh, my gosh, if I have a uterus I have to vote for a woman. So it's hypocritical for the administration on the other side to come out and say 'Gina Haspel is amazing because she's a woman!' We should be picking the best candidates, period, across the board for everything."
Sunny Hostin posited that “women should support women because the stats make it very clear that when women are in office, women’s issues are in the forefront.”
McCain shot back: “But again, a woman's issue for me is terrorism. We've talked about this many times on the show. For me, my women's issues are foreign policy, number one, two, three, four, five. But the idea that like, Planned Parenthood is the number one issue for women in America, all women...It's just false and I'm sick of this!”
Hostin replied "there are issues that are specific to women, and women legislators are more likely to introduce legislation that specifically benefit women, and that's just a stat." McCain warned: "If you go into the midterm elections with that message, it is not going to be the 'blue wave' you think it will be."
