WASHINGTON — Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a possible GOP 2016 presidential candidate out to portray Democrats as insensitive, set off a firestorm Thursday when he tied birth-control pills to women’s libidos.
Speaking to a Republican National Committee luncheon in DC, Huckabee said Democrats tell women “they are helpless without Uncle Sugar coming in and providing them a prescription each month for birth control because they cannot control their libido or their reproductive system without the help of government.”
Though he meant to use the remark to slam Democrats, who have accused the GOP of running a “war on women,” the failed 2008 presidential candidate immediately took flak.
GOP consultant Ana Navarro tweeted: “Women who can’t control their libido? How about men who can’t control their mouths? Time to share ‘How to Talk to Women’ memo w/Huckabee.”
White House press secretary Jay Carney said the remark “sounds offensive to me and to women.”
Huckabee, who said he wants Republicans to launch their own “war for women,” has previously used a variant of the line on his weekend Fox cable show, “Huckabee.”
“For Democrats to reduce women to beggars for cheap government-funded birth control is demeaning to the women that I know who are far more complicated than their libido and the management of their reproductive system.”