Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) on Thursday blasted the Democratic Party for providing women with free birth control “because they cannot control their libido.”

His argument was that Democrats send a mixed message in accusing the GOP of a “war on women,” saying it is their party that isn’t standing up for women and that the birth control provision in ObamaCare isn’t aimed at protecting women. His statement quickly attracted controversy and provided ripe fodder for Democrats, who accused another GOP politician of making crass comments.

“It’s time Republicans no longer accept listening to the Democrats talk about a ‘war on women,’ ” Huckabee said during a speech at the Republican National Committee’s winter meeting in Washington. “Republicans don’t have a war on women; they have a war for women, to empower them to be something other than victims of their gender.”

{mosads}Huckabee instead said it is Democrats who are insulting women.

“If Democrats want to insult the women of America by telling them they are helpless without Uncle Sugar coming in and providing them for them a prescription each month for birth control because they cannot control their libido or their reproductive system without the help of government, then so be it,” he continued. “Let us take that discussion all across America because women are far more than the Democrats have claimed them to be.”

Democrats immediately pounced on Huckabee’s response as another example of GOP missteps in how they talk about women, especially after the 2012 election cycle, when Senate candidates Todd Akin in Missouri and Richard Mourdock in Indiana made comments on rape and abortion that got them in trouble and led to the loss of winnable seats for the GOP.

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