Wasserman Schultz says she used words “shouldn’t have” in her attack against Walker. DNC chief walks back Walker 'words'

Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz says she used words she “shouldn’t have” in her attack against Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, in which she said he “has given women the back of his hand.”

“I shouldn’t have used the words I used,” Wasserman Schultz wrote in a statement on Thursday. “But that shouldn’t detract from the broader point that I was making that Scott Walker’s policies have been bad for Wisconsin women, whether it’s mandating ultrasounds, repealing an equal pay law, or rejecting federal funding for preventative health care, Walker’s record speaks for itself.”


The DNC chairwoman slammed the Republican governor and the GOP during a round-table discussion in Milwaukee on Wednesday. Her remarks quickly sparked outrage.

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“Scott Walker has given women the back of his hand. I know that is stark. I know that is direct. But that is reality,” Wasserman Schultz said, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

She continued, “What Republican tea party extremists like Scott Walker are doing is they are grabbing us by the hair and pulling us back. It is not going to happen on our watch.”

Penny Nance, the president of Concerned Women for America, said the congresswoman crossed the line.

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“Wasserman Schultz owes an apology to all victims of abuse. It is degrading and outrageous to make false personal accusations rather than discuss real and complicated issues of economic policy,” Nance said in a statement on Thursday. “She erroneously conflated physical violence with a political disagreement.”

Republican Sen. Deb Fischer also fired back at Wasserman Schultz, calling the chairwoman’s remarks “cheap.”

“I am tired of these cheap, dishonest scare tactics being used to try and intimidate women to vote one way or another. Women are strong, women are smart, and women deserve better than this garbage,” the Nebraska senator said in a statement. “Moreover, I am disgusted that the nation’s leading Democrat would compare legitimate policy disagreements to an instance of domestic violence.”

While Wasserman Schultz walked back her controversial rhetoric, the Florida Democrat continued to rip Republicans for opposition to the Violence Against Women Act.

“As for the issue of domestic violence, it’s unacceptable that a majority of Congressional Republicans opposed this critical legislation, of which I was a proud cosponsor, after blocking its reauthorization for more than a year,” Wasserman Schultz said.

Mary Burke, Walker’s Democratic opponent in his bid for reelection this summer, distanced herself from Wasserman Schultz’s attack on Wednesday.

“That’s not the type of language that Mary Burke would use, or has used, to point out the clear differences in this contest,” Burke’s press secretary told the Sentinel.