DNC chair: Jeb ‘would be a disaster for women’

by Mark Hensch - 05/16/15 6:36 PM ET

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) said Saturday that former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) would make a poor president for American women should he ever enter the White House.

“He was a terrible governor for Florida women,” Wasserman Schultz tweeted. “Would be a disaster for women across the country.”

Wasserman Schultz, who is also the Democratic National Committee (DNC) chairwoman, was responding to an article she encountered online.

{mosads}That Medium story, titled “Jeb Bush really is his own man,” argued Thursday the potential 2016 GOP presidential candidate has “extreme positions” on abortion and women’s rights.

“This is a candidate who will stop at nothing to win,” author Stephanie Schriock wrote of Bush.

“And at the end of the day, while Jeb’s right-wing rhetoric might make him stand out from his family, in 2016’s ultra-conservative GOP field, Jeb’s positons will just make him blend in.”

Schriock is also the president of EMILY’s List, a political action committee.

EMILY’s List advocates for the election of pro-choice, female Democrats to public office.

Wasserman Schultz also taunted Bush for a recent string of gaffes in the media.

“It’s been a rough five months, really,” she tweeted in response to a Washington Post article claiming Bush had “the worst week” in Washington.

Bush has struggled with questions over the 2003 invasion of Iraq since clips from an interview about his stance on the conflict first aired last Sunday.

He initially said during that interview broadcast Monday he would support the controversial military invasion authorized by his older brother, former President George W. Bush.

“I would have [authorized the invasion] and so would have Hillary Clinton, just to remind everyone,” Bush told Fox News host Megyn Kelly on “The Kelly File.”

“And so would almost everybody that was confronted with the intelligence they got.”

Bush walked back that remark Thursday, reversing his position.

“I would not have engaged, I would not have gone into Iraq,” he said.

CBS released footage Friday of former Defense Secretary Robert Gates admitting questions about Iraq were “inevitable” for Bush.

“That’s one question where I would have thought he would have had an answer figured out before he got into the middle of this,” Gates told host Bob Schieffer in an interview that will air on “Face the Nation” Sunday morning.

The unpopular 2003 invasion would likely present a major campaign issue for Bush should he seek the Oval Office in 2016.

Bush has not yet publicly declared whether he will seek the nation’s highest office next year.

Tags Debbie Wasserman Schultz Jeb Bush