(UPDATE: He’s reportedly offering his resignation. On second thought….no he’s not! (“I have no plans to resign now or in the future”) – promoted by lowkell)
When it comes to RPV Treasurer Bob FitzSimmonds, apparently, he doesn’t believe in following the eternally helpful advice that if you’re in a hole, the first thing to do is stop digging. As we pointed out yesterday in breaking the story of FitzSimmonds’ bigotry towards Muslims, Sikhs, Animists, Jainists, etc., this is the same guy who made the infamous “sexist tw**” comment, as well as many other crazy comments in this interview. Yet the guy doesn’t seem to learn that when he opens his mouth, insertion of his foot is almost certain to follow, as night follows day and summer follows spring. Now, he’s chiming in yet again on his Facebook page (see screen shot), this time defending his bigoted remarks by claiming that “Muslims were not around in the 1700s” to help “build the very fabric of our nation,” as President Obama said. Of course, President Obama didn’t specify the 1700s, and of course it’s beyond moronic to claim that the fabric of our nation was only built in the 1700s. So, my Jewish immigrant ancestors, who arrive here in the early 1900s, didn’t help build the fabric of our nation? And all the Irish immigrants who arrived here in the late 1800s? And all the immigrants from all over the world, of all different races and religions, who’ve arrived here for hundreds of years? Gotcha, Bob. Ugh.
As for his specific point about there not being any Muslims in American in the 1700s, in fact “an estimated 10% of the slaves brought to colonial America from Africa arrived as Muslims,” although “Islam was stringently suppressed on plantations.” So yeah, Muslims (and also many animists, which a lot of Africans were at that time) helped build the very fabric of our nation, through their blood, sweat and tears, even if Republicans like Bob FitzSimmonds won’t acknowledge their contribution.
Meanwhile, why has the Republican Party of Virginia booted this guy out yet? Because: a) they agree with him; b) they’re afraid of offending the bigots who DO agree with him; c) they’re utterly incompetent; or d)) all of the above?
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