Pelosi on insult to women's intelligence: 'Exists in many forms around here'
At her weekly press conference on Thursday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was asked what she thought about comments made by Michigan Republican House candidate John Gibbs, which reportedly were that women don't have the characteristics to govern and that the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote, turned the U.S. into a totalitarian state. Pelosi described the comments as "outrageous" and said she doesn't think that many members of Congress would subscribe to that, but that "the insult to women's intelligence is one that exists in many forms around here."
Video Transcript
- What do you think that John Gibbs, who's running for House in Michigan, said that women don't possess the characteristics necessary to govern?
NANCY PELOSI: I want everybody to hear what you're saying. Please speak up. What did he say?
- That men were smarter. I'm not adopting this position as my--
NANCY PELOSI: I just want them to know what that candidate said.
- --to think logically about broad and abstract ideas in order to deduce the simple conclusion without relying upon emotional reasoning.
NANCY PELOSI: Is that what he said?
- Mm-hmm.
NANCY PELOSI: I thought he said that the passage of the--
- He also said that--
NANCY PELOSI: --19th Amendment made us a totalitarian state when women had the right to vote. Didn't he say something like that, too?
- [INAUDIBLE] keep it short.
NANCY PELOSI: And didn't he-- and didn't he also be part of a movement to repeal the 19th Amendment for women to have the right to vote? What do I think of that?
I think I hear something like that every day around here. When people say that women shouldn't be able to make their choices about contraception or their own reproductive health, that's a sign of disrespect for women. What he's saying is outrageous. I don't think many members here would subscribe to that. But the insult to women's intelligence is one that exists in many forms around here.
