Amid all the consternation over the confirmation process of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., cracked a funny joke about 85-year-old Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Norman was speaking before a bipartisan audience at the beginning of a debate with his Democratic opponent at a local Kiwanis Club when he asked the room if they had heard the late-breaking news on Kavanaugh’s confirmation.
“Ruth Bader Ginsburg came out that she was groped by Abraham Lincoln,” Norman then deadpanned.
Despite making Ginsburg, revered on the left for her liberal views, the butt of the joke and making light of accusations that have been leveled against Kavanaugh, the crowd laughed at the joke.
A meme featuring Ginsburg has been circulating online for a number of days with a similar message, according to The Herald.
And while the bipartisan room seemed to think the off-color joke was funny, Trav Robertson, chair of the state Democratic Party, wasn’t laughing.
Robertson took to Twitter to bemoan that the remark showed that Norman “doesn’t have any class.”
@jslovegrove Ralph Norman just proved he may be rich but he doesn’t have any class. His opening joke about RBG’s comments on the Kavanaugh hearings—“RBG, I don’t know what the problem is…Abe Lincoln grouped me…” inappropriate doesn’t describe his remarks.
— Trav Robertson (@TravRobertson) September 20, 2018
The Twitter account belonging to the South Carolina Democratic Party — see Victim Inc. — played the sexist card in a tweet that called the comment “disgusting.”
This is disgusting. What sexist is writing your jokes, @RalphNorman? https://t.co/Ah8rh37Vfb
— South Carolina Democratic Party (@scdp) September 20, 2018
This wouldn’t be the first time the Republican lawmaker has drawn the ire of the left.
Earlier this year, during a “coffee with constituents” meeting that included members of the gun control group Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense, Norman, who holds a state-issued concealed-carry permit, drew his .38-caliber Smith & Wesson handgun and placed it on a table.
Pointing to the “circus-like atmosphere” in Washington, Norman responded to critics of his Ginsburg joke to say he was trying to “add a bit of levity” and that people need to “lighten up.”
“My comments earlier today were meant to add a bit of levity to a very serious debate between me and my Democrat opponent and to point to the circus-like atmosphere that Washington DC has become. People really need to learn to lighten up.
1 of 3: My comments earlier today were meant to add a bit of levity to a very serious debate between me and my Democrat opponent and to point to the circus-like atmosphere that Washington DC has become. People really need to learn to lighten up.
— Ralph Norman (@RalphNorman) September 20, 2018
He also noted that his Democratic opponent never mentioned the joke.
2 of 3: Clearly my opponent understood it that way since for the next hour we engaged in a substantive discussion about our many differences without mention of my comments.
— Ralph Norman (@RalphNorman) September 20, 2018
And called out the Democratic Party and its media allies for its (many) contributions to the circus that Congress has become.
3 of 3: Once again, the Democrats and the media have taken an event that was newsworthy for so many substantive reasons and are now only adding more clowns and distractions to the current circus.
— Ralph Norman (@RalphNorman) September 20, 2018
While the pearl-clutching liberal media were aghast over the joke, the real irony here is that Norman’s Democratic opponent, Archie Parnell, has a highly troubling history with women.
Citing divorce records from 1973, The Post and Courier reported “he violently beat his then-wife.”
Cue the clowns.
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The longest-tenured writer at BizPac Review, Tom grew up in Maryland before moving to Central Florida as a young teen. It is in the Sunshine State that he honed both his passion for politics and his writing skills.
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