Letters to the Editor: Hey, Kevin McCarthy, 'joking' about hitting Nancy Pelosi isn't funny

To the editor: After more than four years of unrepentant misogyny by the former president, for House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Bakersfield) even to hint that violence against women is funny should automatically disqualify him from any elected position in our nation. ("Pelosi and McCarthy relationship hits a new low," Aug. 2)

The claim that he was joking in his remarks about hitting House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) with the speaker's gavel is a lame response to getting caught displaying his animosity toward a woman more powerful and more skilled in leadership than McCarthy could ever hope to be.

It is disgraceful that, this deep into the 21st century, some men still think that violence against women is tolerable. Don't be surprised if some wingnut takes McCarthy's comments as an invitation to harm the speaker or some other female public figure.

We will remember McCarthy's shameful remarks at election time.

Sharie Lieberg-Hartman, Oxnard

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To the editor: More important than Pelosi's and McCarthy's feelings for each other is the tenor of political speech.

Pelosi calling McCarthy a "moron" was uncouth, and maybe inappropriate. But the threat in McCarthy saying of the speaker's gavel, "It will be hard not to hit her with it," is far worse.

Claiming it was only a joke is no excuse. Violence-tinged politics yields politics-tinged violence — think Jan. 6.

Joel Karafin, Los Angeles

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To the editor: "He was obviously joking," a spokesman said about McCarthy's remark about Pelosi. It's no surprise that McCarthy and his team have mastered Trump-speak.

When the former president or his defenders would say he was joking or being sarcastic, the plain-language translation was, "Oops, I stepped in it."

Bob Wieting, Simi Valley

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.