GOP lawmaker's wife: Blame Obama if Republicans shut down government over Planned Parenthood

Former MTV The Real World cast member -- and wife of Republican Rep. Sean Duffy (WI) -- Rachel Campos-Duffy said on CNN Sunday that President Barack Obama is so determined to fund Planned Parenthood that he will "shut down the government" to do it.

In a discussion with CNN anchor Fredericka Whitfield and Democratic strategist Maria Cardona, Campos-Duffy was asked what she believes will be on newly appointed Speaker of the House Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI)'s agenda.

Campos-Duffy replied that Ryan intends to "decentralize" the Speaker's role in crafting House policy and give more power to the individual Republican members.

Ryan, she said, is "a great communicator" who will help the general public understand more of the complicated goings-on within the House of Representatives.

Cardona countered that Ryan was actually very muddled in his responses to recent interview questions, particularly as to whether he would consider shutting down the U.S. government in order to defund Planned Parenthood. She went on to say that Ryan is showing signs of "not listening" to the the far-right Freedom Caucus wing of the House.

Attacking Planned Parenthood, Cardona continued, is a terrible idea on the GOP's part, calling it "a wildly unpopular idea."

"Wrong," said Campos-Duffy. "(Paul Ryan) was very clear even before he saw these horrific videos that somehow Maria seems okay defending -- the sale of body parts, late terms..."

"You mean the edited videos?" Cardona asked, referring to the fact that the videos in question were heavily and misleadingly edited.

"They are not edited," Campos-Duffy insisted, "and you can go online and see them."

"You mean those videos that aren't actually from Planned Parenthood?" said Cardona.

"The unedited versions are online and they are just as gruesome," the former reality TV star turned anti-abortion activist said.

"Let me just make my point," she went on. "My point is that, the, uh, the House Republicans, all of them -- and Paul Ryan was very clear, even before these gruesome videos, that he was against the taxpayer paying for other people's abortions."

No federal tax money pays for abortions at Planned Parenthood clinics.

"We know that those funds are fungible and this is a fiscal issue as well as a moral issue," Campos-Duffy said.

"I want to challenge the premise of the question," she continued, becoming increasingly agitated.

Republicans don't want to shut down the government to defund Planned Parenthood, she said, "That is not the correct way to say it. They will send a budget. The budget will not include funding for Planned Parenthood and it will be up to the president to decide whether he wants to expire the budget based on funding for Planned Parenthood."

"Good luck with that, Rachel," quipped Cardona, perhaps remembering when Sen. Ted Cruz attempted to blame President Obama for the Republican-led government shutdown in 2013. Reporters scoffed in the Tea Party senator's face.

“I think it was absolutely a mistake for President Obama and Harry Reid to force a government shutdown,” said Cruz to ABC's Jonathan Karl.

“No, I mean, but come on,” Karl replied. “I mean we’re a couple months away from this, the only reason why this happened is because you insisted, Republicans insisted that Obamacare be defunded as a condition of funding the government."

Watch the video, embedded below: