Salon

Monday, Jul 20, 2015 8:20 PM UTC

Hillary Clinton shuts down Mitch McConnell on women’s rights: He “doesn’t understand what our lives are like”

The Senate Majority Leader has already resorted to sexist attacks to dismiss Clinton's candidacy

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Topics: 2016 Elections, GOP, Hillary Clinton, Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Sexism, ,

Hillary Clinton shuts down Mitch McConnell on women's rights: He "doesn't understand what our lives are like"Mitch McConnell (Credit: Reuters/Joshua Roberts)

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell reportedly suggested that Hillary Clinton’s presidential candidacy lacked a sufficient rationale, warning that “the gender card alone isn’t enough.”

According to local reporters, McConnell made the remarks today while he was speaking before the Bullitt County Chamber of Commerce where he claimed there’s not “a dime’s worth of difference” between Clinton and President Barack Obama:

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During a Facebook Q&A today, Huffington Post political reporter Laura Bassett asked Clinton about McConnell’s comments. Clinton, apparently unaware of McConnell’s remarks, took the opportunity to castigate the entire Republican party as she has grown fond of doing in recent weeks:

Wow. If that’s what he said, Mitch McConnell really doesn’t get it. There is a gender card being played in this campaign. It’s played every time Republicans vote against giving women equal pay, deny families access to affordable child care or family leave, refuse to let women make decisions about their health or have access to free contraception. These aren’t just women’s issues, they are economic issues that drive growth and affect all Americans. Anyone who doesn’t get that doesn’t understand what our lives are like.

The only other woman running for president, former Hewlett-Packard executive Carly Fiorna, has also brought up the tired “gender card” phrase to dismiss Clinton’s candidacy as rooted in the appeal of a first woman president while holding herself out as uniquely qualified to challenge Clinton as a woman:

I think that if Hillary Clinton were to face a female nominee, there are a whole set of things that she won’t be able to talk about. She won’t be able to talk about being the first woman president. She won’t be able to talk about a war on women without being challenged. She won’t be able to play the gender card.

Sophia Tesfaye
Sophia Tesfaye is Salon's Deputy Politics Editor and biggest Golden State Warriors fan in Brooklyn. You can find her on Twitter at @SophiaTesfaye. More Sophia Tesfaye.

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