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Vice President Joe Biden said Thursday the Republican Party's "war on women" is real and will "intensify" with appointments to the Supreme Court in the next presidential term.
"I think the war on women is real," Biden said in an interview with MSNBC's Ed Schultz. "And look, I tell you where it's going to intensify. The next president of the United States is going to get to name one and possibly two or more members of the Supreme Court."
Biden, interviewed during a visit to New Hampshire to promote President Barack Obama's proposed Buffett rule for the wealthy, defended the administration's jobs record. Presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney in the last two days has claimed the war on women's real antagonist is Obama, because of an economy that has taken a toll on female jobs.
When asked by Schultz about Romney's claim that 92 percent of people who lost jobs during Obama's presidency were female, Biden criticized Romney and his party for their attitudes toward women.
"This guy had -- these guys had the social policy on contraception that takes you back to the '50s," Biden said. "I mean, when asked the question, do you think this legislation passed mandating that your son and daughter doing the same work will have to get the exact same pay, the Lilly Ledbetter law, they couldn't answer."
Biden's Ledbetter reference was to a question HuffPost's Sam Stein asked during a Romney campaign phone conference Wednesday on whether Romney supported the equal pay act. Romney's campaign later confirmed the former Massachusetts governor wouldn't repeal the law if elected.
Biden also touched on the controversy surrounding Democratic strategist Hilary Rosen's comments that Ann Romney "never worked a day in her life." Biden said it was "an outrageous assertion" to criticize Ann Romney for not having a career outside of raising her family.
"My daughter happens to have a master’s degree," Biden said. "She’s a social worker. She’s getting married. If my daughter wants to be able to say, 'I’m staying home and raising my kids,' no one should question that."
Biden wouldn't predict whether women would vote overwhelmingly for Obama, as recent polls have suggested. But he said the president's record indicates how women may vote in November.
"Look at the record of who's promoted women’s health, who’s promoted women opportunity, who’s promoted the opportunity to have people in the Supreme Court that recognize that women are absolutely, thoroughly, totally equal in every way as men," Biden said.
He continued: "All I’m saying is I think the case that we can make, Barack’s policies are past our expectations. Our dreams for women, contrasted with the Republican agenda as it has been and continues to be, relative to women, I don’t think it’s a close call."