RNC Chair “doubles down” on caterpillar comparison

>> the chairman of the republican national committee joins me now. it's great to have you now. as i was talking to alice and that sound bite of rick santorum calling romney the worst republican, how does the rnc along with governor romney alleviate any concerns from senator santorum and his support supporters to coalesce and get behind the inevitable candidacy that is mitt romney ?

>> by the way, good morning, thomas . i think what you do in a party situation, you come together and unify like your previous guest just did, you have the candidates that come together, you have to have a great spring and summer together, a great convention, showing an unified front. this will be a referendum on barack obama . just like hillary clinton and barack obama came together and the democrats were splitting each other in half four years ago, that's not been the case here in our party but you do come together and you do the things that you saw yesterday and what you just had on your show, i think you'll see that in the republican party . you'll see a totally unified front. republican, conservative, tea party , everyone in between, come together to help save this country and defeat barack obama .

>> when you talk about the coalescing and people uniting, everybody behind mitt romney , let's talk about the candidate potentially for vice president, is that going to send a big signal to the voters? mike hu mike hucabee or sarah palin ?

>> i don't hear that, thomas , i think more and more you're going to see some of that go away. i think mostly when you do these contrasts between the candidates during the primary you get more of that. as people come together, you get less than that. as far as the vp sweep stakes go, that's a lot of fun debating. quite frankly, i don't know who will be the vice presidential candidate . i don't know for sure. i'm not involved in those talks. i see the same things that you do, thomas . i see the same stars on the list and it's interesting for me as well. i think ultimately, though, it can play a pretty key role.

>> sure.

>> i think sarah palin played a key role four years ago and created a lot of excitement.

>> she still plays a key role today?

>> she does and people debate that role all the time. the fact of the matter is, i think she was -- she provided a real spark plug that we needed in our process last time. i think vice presidents can matter a whole lot.

>> chairman, on the record about something, leadership is all about casting vision, you created a visual with a war on caterpillar, the war on women , you called the war on women a fiction , obviously the war on caterpillar comment created a lot of headlines, is that something you want to walk back or clarify?

>> i won't walk back i'll double down. this war of women is a fiction that the democrats have created. the real war on women is the war that this president has put forward on the american people by not following through on his promises. by having women dispor portion portionately affected by the economy.

>> chairman, how can you say it's a fiction if you stand on the record on what the republican party has done? all three remaining republican candidates are planning to eliminate federal funding for family planning ? 90% antiabortion laws have been signed into law. after state governor ships swung back to the republican side . how do you say it's fiction when these laws exist on the book now?

>> because it's a fiction , thomas . it's a fiction because, because number one, there is no war on women , it's a fiction . if you believe that all women are pro-abortion, maybe in your own world --

>> i think the term is pro-choice.

>> the fact of the matter is, our party, our party believes in life for everybody. and the fact of the matter is, the real war on women , the actual things that i think most women in this country are most concerned about which is a good job, a good family, being able to live the american dream , provide for your kids and your family, that war on women is being perspetuated by barack obama . who has put our economy on the wrong track.

>> the fiction that you talk about, the phrase war on women is now being uttered by republicans. take a listen to this.

>> a talk about war on women . the real war on women has been waged by the obama administration's failure on the economy.

>> all right, it sounds like you got the messaging going there from romney . it's the exact same phrasing.

>> we're just borrowing your messaging. this war on women fiction that democrats have tried to perpetuated on us, a war, when you look at what matters most to americans, which is the jobs and economy, it's a war that the president is losing. women in the country know that the most important thing in any family is a good job.

>> you can't discount the fact that we almost took the government to the brink of closing over planned parenthood . did we didn't we?

>> the world will continue.

>> you say it's a fiction and you don't want to walk back the fact that the war on caterpillar, that is fine. how can you still say it's a fiction ? 90 different anti-abortion calls coming across the state legislatures .

>> you and i are never -- going to be on the same page as long as you believe that if you're pro-life you're anti- women . we're never going to be on same page. i happen to believe that life begins at conception and you don't. so, since you don't believe that --

>> this isn't about what i believe or don't believe. i'm asking you about the republican national committee and your leadership.

>> i don't buy your argument. i believe that you can be pro- women and pro-life. and you don't. the that's the problem, thomas . the most important issue in this country, the most important issue in this country is the economy. the issue that you and president obama don't want to talk about because it's an issue in regard to the economy that this president has been an absolute failure on. as long as he has been a failure in the economy he's going to lose the women vote in november. he hasn't full field the promises to the americans.

>> we shall see. the gender gap is women under 502 to 1. nice to see you.

>> have a great day.