As most of you know by now, last Thursday, at a press conference calling for the de-funding of Planned Parenthood, Virginia State Del. Bob Marshall (R-Manassas) said that God punishes women who have had abortions:
The number of children who are born subsequent to a first abortion with handicaps has increased dramatically. Why? Because when you abort the first born of any, nature takes its vengeance on the subsequent children,” said Marshall, a Republican.
“In the Old Testament, the first born of every being, animal and man, was dedicated to the Lord. There’s a special punishment Christians would suggest.”
Late yesterday, after getting pounded in the corporate media and on the blogs, Marshall issued the classic non-apology “apology," that he regretted "any misimpression my poorly chosen words may have created." As TPM’s Eric Kleefield noted, however, "In a subsequent interview with TPM, Marshall did not back away from his words and cited articles in medical journals, which he claimed showed an increased rate of cerebral palsy, low birth weights and premature births among women who have had prior induced abortions."
In short, Marshall not only didn’t apologize, he attempted to justify his heinous remarks, which you can listen to here.
This morning, I’m calling on Bob Marshall to resign, and we’ve put up a petition so you can join us.
The petition reads, simply:
Enough is enough. The name calling and outrageous language must stop. Bob Marshall’s comments are offensive and totally unacceptable. Attacking the families of disabled children for crass political gain should not and will not be tolerated.
Del. Marshall, you should resign.
If we get enough signatures on this petition, we'll ask all the Democratic candidates in VA-10 to join with us in delivering the petition to the man known as "Sideshow Bob." We also plan to reach out to the other Democratic campaigns in the 10th CD to see if they’ll join us in requesting that Congressman Wolf condemn the comments from his political ally, Bob Marshall.
By the way, this is far from the first time that Bob Marshall has said or done something outrageous. Some of "Sideshow" Bob’s greatest hits include:
Bob Marshall’s take on the Obama Agenda: "Suicidal deficits, enemies lists, abortion, euthanize seniors, health care that kills capitalism ... 'Live and let die,' Obama theme song!"
Bob Marshall compares the economic stimulus package to slavery: "It is as much a chain as ankle bracelets were as to African-Americans in the 1860s in this state. It’s just invisible. But it is a chain of death that we’re not going to escape."
On Abortion in the case of incest and rape Marshall said: "Sometimes incest is voluntary." Marshall added, with regard to rape, that "the woman becomes a sin-bearer of the crime, because the right of a child predominates over the embarrassment of the woman."
Marshall on the Morning After Pill: "We have no business passing this garbage out and making these co-eds chemical Love Canals for these frat house playboys in Virginia."
On and on Bob Marshall goes, where he stops, only God knows. Unless, that is, we can put enough pressure on him to force him to resign, or at least embarrass the hell out of any Republicans who still support this lunatic. Please sign the petition here. Thanks for your help!