Ohio GOP To Rep. Betty Sutton: Vote Her Out Of The House 'Put Her Back In The Kitchen'

GOP operatives in Medina County, Ohio recently sent around the Spring 2010 edition (.pdf link) of their newsletter which encouraged their constituents to help "take Betty Sutton out of the House and put her back in the kitchen."

"I'm not sure that it was intended -- in fact I'm positive that it was not in intended to be sexist," Medina County Bill Heck told Talking Points Memo.

"We are just trying to get the attention of the voters," Heck continued. "It is rhetoric that I think is very common in all elections, of sending people somewhere -- either to the House or back from the House. And we certainly apologize for any offense that anyone would take from this."

But EMILY's List disagreed, and on Thursday the group launched a fundraising campaign to tell Republicans that a "woman's place is in the House." (That's "House" with a capital "H").

As Think Progress points out, this isn't the first time that the GOP has been accused of exhibiting behavior that is offensive to women.

• Last year, a 2009 National Republican Congressional Committee press release encouraged Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal to put Speaker Pelosi "in her place," to which Pelosi shot back ""I'm in my place. I'm the speaker of the House -- the first woman speaker of the House."

UPDATE:

Rep. Sutton responded to the mailer Friday, calling the wording "an insult to all women regardless of whether they work within the home raising families and managing households or work beyond the home, providing for themselves and others."

"The comment made in the flyer not only devalues women and all that they contribute to the strength of our nation, but it is also an unconscionable statement of belief about the potential of our girls and young women," Sutton said in the statement.

Read the full statement here.