Turner Accuses Assembly Dems of 'War on Women'

Throughout the 2012 election cycle, Democrats have accused the GOP of trying to roll back women's rights. 

Seems the shoe is on the other foot now — at least in New York. 

Conservatives from all over the state have been hammering Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver for his handling of Assembly member Vito Lopez's

U.S. Rep. Bob Turner, R-Forest Hills, came down hard on Silver, demanding that he relinquish his leadership role in Albany and at the Democratic National Convention.

"New York Democrats must take action against Mr. Silver. If he will not resign as Speaker, he should be removed by his Assembly colleagues who voted him into the position," Turner said. "And he must be replaced as New York's chief representative in Charlotte."

Turner added another twist of the rhetorical knife. 

"Every day Mr. Silver remains Speaker constitutes a war on women in Albany. The silence among the Democratic delegation is cowardly and unconscionable. Democrats of good conscience must speak out." 

Turner is far from the only conservative using Silver's recent actions as ammunition. Republican Senate candidate Wendy Long has also started to tie her opponent, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, to the Speaker.

"It’s time for Senator Gillibrand, self-anointed protector of women’s rights, to get 'off the sidelines' and call on Speaker Silver to step aside while investigations by JCOPE and Staten Island District Attorney Donovan proceed,” Long said in a statement earlier this week.