Virginia Republican Party Treasurer Bob FitzSimmonds is drawing rebuke for a Facebook comment that used off-color language in reference to a female GOP legislator.
The episode unfolded Tuesday night during an online discussion of a JH Politics blog article about donor activity in the hotly contested Republican nomination process for the 10th Congressional District in Northern Virginia.
The race to replace retiring U.S. Rep. Frank Wolf has drawn considerable GOP candidate interest, including from Fairfax County Del. Barbara Comstock and Prince William County Del. Bob Marshall.
It was Comstock’s name that elicited FitzSimmonds’ online ouburst.
Responding to a female commenter who voiced support for Comstock and touted the strength of GOP women voters, FitzSimmonds posted “I have nothing against Barbara Comstock but, I hate sexist (expletive).”
One definition for the word he used is a vulgar term for female genitalia. An image of the comment is posted below.
FitzSimmonds later deleted that post amid criticism from fellow Republican commenters and apologized:
“I posted something earlier and used an inappropriate word. I would not have used such a word deliberately and I apologize for anyone who was offended,” he wrote on Facebook Tuesday evening. “I was trying to say that I don’t appreciate sexist stereotypes and apparently used one myself. I have removed the post.”
FitzSimmonds did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment Wednesday morning.
Nor did Comstock respond to an e-mail seeking her reaction.
An attempt to reach state Republican officials for comment was unsuccessful — state GOP chairman Pat Mullins has endorsed Comstock for Congress.
In addition to his role as state GOP treasurer, FitzSimmonds is chief deputy clerk of Prince William County Circuit Court.
Poor Bob Fitzsimmonds. For starters, let me say I wouldn’t vote for Mr. Fitzsimmonds for any amount of money. He opposes everything I believe in politically. On the other hand, I also don’t believe the guy called Ms. Comstock a “twat.” Yea, that’s the word. Quite a stretch from the word “twaddle.” His smartphone probably went dumb, for God’s sake.
In the first place, “twat” isn’t a word men his age usually use. Most people using that term are women or younger men. When women use the term it’s not even considered vulgar. Not sure you would say it in front of your mother, but 100% less vulgar than a few other terms I can think of. Younger men have so many other terms they can use that most women don’t use because of the vulgarity factor.
I am willing to cut Mr. Fitzsimmonds a break. I think he is far too much of a goodie-2-shoes to ever call a woman a “sexist twat.” Meanwhile, all those Republicans out there need to stop calling for the guy’s resignation. Stop devouring your own.
Meanwhile, the Republican Party continues to entertain. What’s next? Hints for Mr. Fitzsimmonds–spend less time on anti abortion activism and more time checking your vocabulary before hitting send.
Mr. Fitzsimmonds’ boss is trying to stir up stuff over same sex marriage. Stay tuned folks.
Moon, I’m flabbergasted. I actually agree 100%.
Twat is pretty gender neutral to my generation. It’s not often used, but when it is it’s in reference to a stupid person. When we want to be sexist, we drop the C bomb.
Isn’t a “twat” a female “twit”?
Moon–the “word” has been around for nearly 400 years and in general use for nearly 100 years. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/twat And I would not give Bob FitzSimmons one inch of slack—he knew full well what he was saying–it was not a spellcheck error or a mistype.
@George S. Harris
I have never heard an older man use the term. They have other words they use. (see Cato’s remarks).
Do you know Mr. Fitzsimmonds?
I’d be willing to bet he was on a smart phone and the auto complete did him in.
Or spell check checkered him. What he said doesn’t even make sense anyway.
Something similar happened to me. I was trying totell someone that I had spent the Christmas vacation photographing exotic dUcks. Spell check did me in. It switched vowels on me. Made a big difference in what I was trying to say, for sure.
I agree with Moon. With the Republicans going after their own like they do, it will be a while before they hold a state office.
Who’s to say he was not referring to definition #3 in George’s link? A foolish or despicable person.
If he can explain some scenario where he didn’t mean to type that, I’d probably believe it, because the phrase makes no sense.
So he says he thought it meant the same as “twiddle”. Which makes sense, because that word when placed in this context would actually make sense linguistically. So, I believe the guy.
He’d have to have been fairly insane to have gone on Facebook and knowingly posted the t-word. That’d be indiscretion of Anthony Weiner proportions.
@Rick,
Did you intentionally say ‘proportions?’ Remember what Jon Stewart said about going to the beach with him…he would have remembered.
I first heard of the word at a delicate young age. i was a St. Louis Cardinals fan, and they caused a small furor in some airport that they were stuck in for hours, circa 1978. Some of the players had rearranged the letters T W and A into a new configuration, and TWA Airlines was not happy about it; it lead to a few editorials questioning whether the players were out of control.
Bwaaahahahahahahahahaha
I remember hearing that now–actually the only time I have actually heard men that age use the expression. I am sure they picked it up from their sisters.
Home office used to be St. Louis for TWA also, didn’t it?
When women use the expression, meaning the body part, it isn’t even vulgar, just a little indelicate. I never heard my husband, sons, brothers fathers, boyfriends, or male friends use the word. A couple other ones, yes…but not that one.
You are correct, St. Louis was a TWA hub. So the team had plenty of experience with the airline.
The other big baseball scandal that occurred in that time frame was when some pitcher – Frank Tanana I think – told a reporter that women’s looks weren’t all that important, because “they all look the same when the lights go out”. There were a lot of angry moralists out there disgusted that a baseball player would say that.
“I was trying totell someone that I had spent the Christmas vacation photographing exotic dUcks.”
Did anyone asked to see the photographs? 😉
No one asked. Actually I got some pretty decent DUCK pics from Duck, NC.
Funny, Steve, funny!
I met Bob many times when I first came to PWC. I was involved with a group over at Heritage Hunt, working on land use and the Gainesville Sector Plan.
Bob seemed perfectly fine, super conservative, but decent enough. When he ran again in state election 2007, immigration was the hot button issue and he sent out the most offensive flyer, showing unkempt and dirty Latino men climbing fences and decrying the scourge of illegals and criminals, somehow blaming Chuck Colgan for it all. I was disgusted and I told Bob as much. He tried to make excuses and I said his flyer was simply despicable and below his supposed Christian values he so frequently brags about.
I am trying to see the connection here between typos and Latino men?
I clearly stated I could never vote for him while at the same time don’t think he called any of the candidates a “twat.”
In defense of Bob Fitzsimmonds, I received the following joke in email this morning:
@Wolverine
Hahaha!
He probably did mean “twaddle”. It would make sense in context. But there is a problem with people who don’t know the difference.
Beyond that, there is a problem with people like FitzSimmonds that goes beyond malapropisms. He represents everything that is wrong with the Republican Party in Virginia – it’s almost dumb animal level fascination with bumper-sticker phrases and catchwords, its fiscal and financial imbecility, its impatience with competent governance skills, its fascination with incompetent candidates when we live in a state teeming with intelligent, competent ex-military, academic, and business types, its meaningless Mesmerism about anyone or anything self-labelled “conservative”, et cet. FitzSimmonds is a caricature of almost everything that is a failure about State Republican politics in Virginia. For that reason he a hundreds of others should go do macrame or something and leave politics to devoted public servants.
Still, it’s not asking a lot for people to know the difference between twat and twaddle.
I am trying to think of something horribly clever to say…and it just isn’t happening.
I don’t disagree with you about FitzSimmond’s politics. I think he has bad autocomplete. So do I. That’s why I don’t post from my phone.
Ha, ha. Scout just gave you all an excellent example of talking RINO twaddle!
Wolve, if you’re impressed with FitzSimmonds’ record of electoral success and party-building, you’re not a guy in whom I’d place much confidence for making the Republican Party relevant in Virginia. I’m not much of a fan of the “RINO” flinging, but if we can’t get it to go away entirely, FitzSimmonds is a better candidate than I am for that label.
Scout — I am not a Republican. I have my own conservative drum, and I am the only one allowed to define it. I don’t even know where the Loudoun Repubs meet. How many times do I have to say that around here?
In any case, I thought your post was more than a tad over the top with all the “dumb animal fascination” and the “fiscal and financial imbecility” and the “incompetent candidates” and the “meaningless Mesmerism” etc., etc., etc. — all apparently aimed at people who are supposedly (I use that term cautiously) in the same political organization as yourself. What the heck? With that kind of ad hominem condemnation, you might as well just call the Repub conservatives a bunch of damned yobs and go join the Dems. You certainly don’t seem to be on any kind of personal path toward party reconciliation. (BTW, you seem to have things a bit tangled between the two posts. Is this FitzSimmonds guy a Repub conservative with dumb animal fascination or a better candidate for RINO than yourself?)
Very old joke–a TWA stewardess asked the passenger if he wanted any TWA coffee. He replied, “No, but I would like some TWA Tea.” Drum roll.
Such a bad old joke too.
@ Wolverine’s chastising Scout–methinks you have just exhibited a case of the river calling the ocean water.
Better you should have said, “If thou were’t a Quaker, I wouldst say to thee, may thy mother run out from under the porch and bark at thee and bite thee on the leg, but I wouldst not call thee a bad name.”
As to FitzSimmons–haven’t seen him for a long time but he used to be large enough to be mistaken for a RHINO.
If you don’t think FitzSimmons can say stupid things, here is what he put on his Facebook page some time back: “When Obama is 90 years old and he dies and goes to Hell, he is going to say ‘This is all Bush’s fault,”
He is full of Forrest Gump moments; i.e., Stupid is as stupid does.
We aren’t debating the stupid comment section, George. I could NEVER vote for Mr. F. His social issues simply offend me and he spreads misinformation. However, I don’t think he intended on calling anyone a twat. However, I am not in charge of his mind. I have said pretty much all I have to say on it. He can come here and defend himself if he wants.
He might not want to because I am getting ready to blast the City of Manassas over some abortion clinic reindeer games. One councilman thinks he is going to overturn Roe v Wade or something by doing dragging all the fanatics out of his church.
Whap, whap, whap! Take that, Scout, you wet and evil RINO blogger you!! (I would have said you were full of male bovine me*de too, but George has all the French cattle locked up in his back yard.)
Good Lord, all this fiddle and faddle over twaddle and twat.
I think its time for everyone to stop feeling like they just discovered the word twat. I can assure you it has been around for a while and its a very girly expression.
Is that like a See You Next Tuesday?
GGGGGrrrrrrrrr
Lady Moon and Lady Elena both read code. 😈
/Users/sailorguy/Pictures/iPhoto Library/Masters/2014/03/02/20140302-094109/220px-Vache_de_race_charolaise_avec_son_veau.jpg
Two beautiful charolaise from the back 40.
The title of this thread made me chuckle. What times are we living in that even genitalia are not free from the ravages of hate speech?
Snicker. Nothing is sacred, is it?
Except this time it just isn’t my fight. Thank goodness. I will let the Republicans handle this one.
@Moon-howler
Nope. Nothing is sacred. We just returned from a trip down Harris Teeter’s beer aisle. I didn’t notice the infamous Raging B!tch, but we did toss a six pack of a naughtily named stout in the cart.
(whispering) email me the name…por favor…I am sure you will need it for the storm party!!