The Chronicle

     SPOKANE - Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers appeared on NBC's "Meet the Press" television program Sunday, April 29, to dispel the perceived Republican war over women.
     McMorris Rodgers, who previously represented Okanogan County in the 5th Congressional District, was part of a roundtable discussion that also featured Hilary Rosen, Rachel Maddow and Alex Castellanos. The county moved to the 4th District under state redistricting.
     Rosen, a Democrat strategist, came under fire in recent weeks for blasting Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's wife, Ann, saying the stay-at-home mom had "never worked a day in her life."
     Rosen has since apologized, but her statement remains controversial.
     "The reason that it caused such a controversy, though, is that it exposed that the 'war on women' is really a myth, that it has been created by the Democrats in an effort to distract Americans, once again, from the real issues," McMorris Rodgers said on the television program Sunday.
     The roundtable also took up the perceived Republican "war on women," something McMorris Rodgers argued is being manufactured to keep Americans from paying attention to the "real issues" this election year.
     "Let's look at the real issues that face all Americans, including women. And it's the economy," she said. "Women make the majority of the purchasing decisions. They're out there. They understand the price of gas right now. It has doubled under this administration."
     According to McMorris Rodgers, women make 85 percent of health care decisions for their families and they are mostly opposed to Obamacare.
     "They are frightened by the idea of the federal government coming in and taking away their ability to make those decisions," she said.