OK, so we’ve gone through a period of stupid feigned outrage over a Republican party official’s innocent “twaddle” mistake. Where’s the outrage when a rival campaign actually has no compunction about directly calling a female candidate for Congress, and sitting Virginia Delegate, a “Raging Bitch”?
We haven’t given Twaddlegate(tm) any coverage here, because it is truly a tempest-in-a-teapot manufactured into a scandal. RPV Treasurer Bob FitSimmonds yesterday on a Facebook post took exception to “sexist twat” being bandied about concerning why Republicans should support Barbara Comstock because she’s a woman. Yes, you read that correctly. He referred to the line of argument as “sexist twat,” not Barbara Comstock, and not any other woman. (In his apology, FitzSimmonds admits to having searched his mind for the word “twaddle,” a word for silly argumentation, before inexplicably landing on “twat”). You see, “sexist twaddle” is what FitzSimmonds thought of an argument about why we should vote for candidates on the basis of their gender. DESPITE WHAT YOU MAY HAVE HEARD TO THE CONTRARY, HE AT NO TIME CALLED BARBARA COMSTOCK, OR ANY OTHER WOMAN, THE “T-WORD.”
Nonetheless, Republican opponents of FitzSimmonds (he’s a Cuccinelli guy, and a strong backer of conventions over primaries) smelled blood in the water and saw an opportunity to at least embarrass FitzSimmonds. We cannot prove it, but I can imagine, given the individuals who had immediate first-hand knowledge, that calls were soon placed to the offices of the consulting firm formerly known as Marcus & Allen (of Boyd Marcus fame) and to certain well-known opponents of the so-called “Cuccinelli crowd” on the RPV State Central Committee. Thus, taken together with the breathless outrage of a few well-timed bloggers, a “scandal” was born, with successive waves of GOP heavies today making themselves look foolish for competing to come up with the best denunciation of the twat/twaddle mixup.
If Bob FtzSimmonds had actually called a woman the t-word, I might have agreed with the gnashing of teeth seen all over the internet and in the halls of the House of Delegates. But he didn’t. He was attacking a line of argument, but fell short in the dictionary department. Anyone who has taken the time to get the entire context of the remark is being intellectually dishonest if they say otherwise. The real problem with this, though, is not just the dishonesty, but that when FitzSimmonds’ opponents started lobbing molotov cocktails, he wasn’t the only one to get burned. We all pay the price for this nonsense.
Contrast that with the campaign of Rob Wasinger, the newly-filed candidate for the 10th district seat to succeed Frank Wolf. This morning, a person who has been Wasinger’s press secretary called a female commenter on The Bull Elephant a “Raging Bitch.” Later, when called out on it, this individual (who goes by various names apparently, but in this instance “Scott Weinberg”) had this to say about Barbara Comstock, widely regarded as the frontrunner for the 10th district race:
Later, called out again over that comment, Weinberg doubles down:
I admit it. I did use the word raging bitch to describe one of the candidates for Virginia 10. And I now wish to apologize to all raging bitches, globally (domestically and abroad); I did not mean to insult them by comparing them to Barbara Comstock
As it turns out, Weinberg was Wasinger’s press secretary when Wasinger announced his candidacy, but as of today claims he no longer is press secretary, though he appears to have an ongoing role with the campaign. What does the candidate, Wasinger, think about how Weinberg has been representing him online since his campaign’s launch? Well, when approached about it by a senior GOP official, Wasinger dismissed it–apparently because he thinks nobody reads blogs in Virginia:
John told me he met Wasinger. However, John told me Wasinger was aware of the behavior of Weinberg on the blog comment sections. Wasinger told John he figures only a 1,000 or so people read these blogs, so no biggie.

Rob Wasinger (R-KS)
Now, I will sit back and wait for the outrage factory to pick up on this. Surely we’ll get the House of Delegates to issue strenuously worded letters calling for Weinberg’s departure from the Wasinger campaign. I have no doubt senior party officials will absolutely trip over themselves to issue stinging press releases demanding that Rob Wasinger clean house. And we’ll definitely have a firestorm of indignation from paid consultants who will spin up all the Republican groups to call for Wasinger’s resignation from the State Central Committee.
Oh, wait. Wasinger’s not on the State Central Committee, and isn’t part of the “Cuccinelli crowd.” He’s only running for Congress. So, ya know, never mind.
UPDATE:
Last night, 10th District Chairman issued a gentlemanly letter urging 10th District candidates to keep it clean (h/t: BearingDrift.com):
14 comments
As if this campaign couldn’t become more ridiculous, it just has! http://jhpolitics.com/2014/03/virginia-wasinger-touts-endorsement-of-his-own-campaign-manager/
The “Eleventh Commandment” is a suicide pact for conservatism. Never does the left wing of the GOP respect it, yet they always demand it be respected with respect to themselves. Just watch how, when any serious conservative gets a nomination, leftists in the party defect and slam the GOP nominee.
What this party needs is some good tearing into each other, because pretending our differences aren’t material or don’t exist isn’t working.
[…] by people wishing to weaken and disadvantage Bob FitzSimmonds and his political allies, who (as we detailed here) oppose the so-called “Cuccinelli crowd†on RPV’s State Central Committee and their devotion […]
Interesting article on the subject of sexism in politics that mentions Senator Martin’s “host” comment:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/28/us/politics/outrage-over-sexist-remarks-turns-into-a-political-fund-raising-tool.html
I asked Mr. Wasinger about the whole situation directly this morning. Below is his exact response:
“i don’t have a press secretary; so not sure what you are talking about.
But thank you for your note, I will take your name off the list.
Cheers,
R”
Not even classy enough to capitalize the “i”
Nice.
Funny…his announcement press release said he had a press secretary (Jon Scott, aka Jonathan Scott Weinberg, using the same email address as the Scott Weinberg who has posted in comments here). So, it looks like Wasinger just wants to dodge the truth that this guy is still out there doing online work for his campaign. Pathetic. http://www.connectionnewspapers.com/news/2014/feb/26/feb-5-2014-fairfax-station-va-today-rob-wasinger-r/
While I’ve never thought much of the “Eleventh Commandment” — if Ten were good enough for the Lord our God, they should be good enough for us — you’re exactly right on virtually every point.
This Scott Weinberg needs to be drummed out of decent society. I only hope we don’t see or hear from him again.
Well, you won’t see or hear from him on this site again, unless he sneaks in from another IP address (other than the one from his home in Kansas). After yesterday’s lunacy, he has been banned.
This is a veritable shame, and he has demonstrated not to be fit for office. He should certainly be condemned, but why not let him pay the filing fee, spend his time and money campaigning, and let VA women show him what we think of candidates like him, on the trail and come election day. I personally cannot wait to see this character in person to give him a piece of my mind!
The first truthful article by a Va blogger. Good on you Steve. Young Republicans are witnessing the implosion of truth and decency over this manufactured outrage. This is how we help Democrats win..
Keep spreading the truth. Our party is badly in need of it. Thanks for all that you are doing.
Is he even running for Congress? His entire so-called “campaign” just seems like a massive trolling of Virginia conservatives.
I’m almost expecting to be the subject of some arthouse documentary in three years.
Great article Steve. Thank you