Remember Bob Fitzsimmonds, the Republican Party of Virginia Treasurer who infamously wrote that he hated “sexist tw**,” a comment which Virginia Republican leaders condemened as “offensive and hav[ing] no place in mainstream society or our political discourse?” Well, he’s at it again on his Facebook page, this time completely fabricating a nasty “quote” by yet another woman he clearly has contempt for – Nancy Pelosi.
Sounds really bad, right? Sure, if it were true. Which of course it isn’t, this being a far-right-wing nutjob we’re talking about who’s making the fallacious claim (e.g., see FitzSimmond’s interview in which he said “I’m not a big fan of contraception, frankly”). Not surprisingly, FitzSimmond’s far-right-wing Facebook “friends” automatically assumed the “quote” must be accurate, responding with ridiculous and/or disturbing comments like:
*”What can we say about folks who do not value human life? Folks like Pol Pot, Hitler, Stalin and Mao Tse-tung.”
*”She really said that????! How…grasping(?!) can a person be for power?”
Yep, that’s what the Republican Party of Virginia Treasurer’s Facebook “friends” think of one of the most important Democratic women in the country. Oh, and just for the record, what Nancy Pelosi actually said was reported by Politico:
At Planned Parenthood’s annual gala last night, attendees and your PULSEr stopped laughing at comedian and emcee Tig Notaro just long enough to watch Nancy Pelosi receive the Margaret Sanger award for her work defending abortion rights. In her acceptance speech, Pelosi slammed abortion opponents, especially criticized the “personhood” laws some of them are pushing and said the struggle for reproductive rights will continue whatever SCOTUS decides on the contraception mandate.
–“When you see how closed their minds are or oblivious or whatever it is – dumb – then you know what the fight is about,” Pelosi said. “Whatever happens with the court…we must remember these battles will not be the end of the fight,” she added.
So, Pelosi was specifically talking about people who push “personhood” laws which would outlaw all abortions (even in cases of rape, incest, or where the health or life of the mother is in danger) and many forms of contraception, plus embryonic stem cell research. What adjective you use to describe people like this is your call, but I’d personally opt for “extreme.”
P.S. Actually, the “really sad thing” is that anyone would vote for someone who supported theocratic, extremist “personhood” legislation in this country.
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