McConnell calls GOP's 'war on women' a 'manufactured' issue

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) shrugged off the idea that Republicans are waging a war on women, calling it a "manufactured issue."

"Talk about a manufactured issue," McConnell said in an interview with local Louisville, Ky., radio station WHAS on Monday.

He said his female Republican colleagues in the Senate would agree with him on that.

"There is no issue. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison [(Texas)] and Kelly Ayotte from New Hampshire and Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe from Maine, I think, would be the first to say — and Lisa Murkowski from Alaska — ‘We don’t see any evidence of this.' "

Democrats have increasingly lobbed the "war on women" charge since Republicans strongly resisted an Obama administration rule requiring certain religious organizations to provide contraceptive coverage to employees. Democrats took Republicans' opposition to the rule and spun it as the latest example of a long list of efforts to disenfranchise American women.

GOP Sens. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Olympia Snowe (Maine) both voiced opposition to Republican efforts to overturn the Obama administration's rule.

On Sunday, Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.) said the charge was something of an exaggeration.

"We’ve got to quit exaggerating our political differences," Cleaver said on CNN's "State of the Union."

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