The other casualty of the 2014 midterms: The war on women

RIP (2010-2014)

Joni Ernst victory speech
(Image credit: (AP Images/Chip Somodevilla))

The so-called Republican "war on women" was never really a thing — and now it's not even a thing that works.

It's hard to pinpoint when the canard started (sometime around 2010) — but its maiden voyage might have begun in earnest the night of February 7, 2012, during a debate in New Hampshire, when, apropos of nothing, moderator George Stephanopoulos asked the Republican candidates a complete non sequitur: Should states have the right to ban contraception? Some later speculated that Stephanopoulos might have been helping Obama concoct that narrative. Whether or not this was coordinated, he certainly seems to have contributed.

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It continued into 2012. Who could forget how gaffes like "binders full of women" plagued Mitt Romney? Or, consider this from 2013. In a Washington Post survey that came out just before the narrowly-decided gubernatorial election in Virginia last year, the Republican candidate was actually winning the male vote, but trailing among women "by 24 points — 58 percent to 34 percent."

Having used the smear effectively in no less than three election cycles, Democrats went to the well one too many times in 2014, hoping the line could overcome the toxic political environment and save them from what happened last night. It didn't.

Over-reliance on the issue was transparently an act of desperation, and became easy to parody. When Ken Buck and Cory Gardner switched places (Buck was easily elected to the House last night, and Gardner will be Colorado's next senator), Democratic Sen. Mark Udall picked on the wrong cowboy. As The Washington Post noted,

Colorado Democratic Sen. Mark Udall has talked about contraception and abortion more than just about any other 2014 candidate. Roughly half of his ads are about women's issues. The focus has been so intense that Udall has been nicknamed "Mark Uterus," with local reporter Lynn Bartels of the Denver Post joking that if the race were a movie, it would be set in a gynecologist's office. In a debate between Udall and Rep. Cory Gardner last week, Bartels, who moderated, used the moniker to describe him. [The Washington Post]

There's a danger in running obviously false ads. Gardner actually campaigned for over the counter birth control, but that didn't stop NARAL from saying he wanted to ban condoms. This is silly, easy to mock.

The war on women meme was always a farce to begin with. Republicans are moms, sisters, and wives. The attack rings especially hollow in a year when Republicans have elected so many firsts. West Virginia Rep. Shelley Moore Capito and Iowa's Joni Ernst, for example, will both become the first female senators ever elected from their respective states. New York's Elise Stefanik last night became the youngest woman ever elected to Congress. And Utah's Mia Love became the first Haitian-American member of Congress. I could go on...

But while these Republican women were winning, there is an extra bit of irony:

Women's health activist Sandra Fluke lost her bid for a seat in the California State Senate.

Fluke, a Democrat who rose to prominence after conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh called her a "slut" for asking that religious institutions cover birth control and abortions, lost to Democrat Ben Allen in California’s 26th district. [Politico]

There's a phenomenon in sports whereby you lose your psychological edge and nobody is afraid of you any more.

That seems to be what has happened here. If you're looking for a date to mark the demise of the war on women, November 4, 2014, seems like a pretty good one.

Matt K. Lewis is a contributing editor at TheWeek.com and a senior contributor for The Daily Caller. He has written for outlets including GQ Politics, The Guardian, and Politico, and has been cited or quoted by outlets including New York Magazine, the Washington Post, and The New York Times. Matt co-hosts The DMZ on Bloggingheads.TV, and also hosts his own podcast. In 2011, Business Insider listed him as one of the 50 "Pundits You Need To Pay Attention To Between Now And The Election." And in 2012, the American Conservative Union honored Matt as their CPAC "Blogger of the Year." He currently lives in Alexandria, Va.