Shameless

In what might be one of the most brazen acts of public lying in some time, my “representative” Republican Congressman Tim Walberg went on the air today a lied about his vote against the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act.

After his yes vote yesterday, Walberg said as a husband, father of a daughter and grandfather of a granddaughter, he is strongly committed to ensuring that all women have access to resources they need to protect themselves, their children and their families. Legislation reauthorizing the federal Violence Against Women Act is on its way to the White House after passage Thursday in the House. More than 135 Republicans voted no, but Tim Walberg, Branch County’s G-O-P Representative on the Hill, wasn’t one of them. According to Walberg, he was proud to have voted in support of the act that included conscious clause protections.

On the contrary, if you take a look at the roll call, Walberg did indeed join 137 other Republicans, inexplicably including ten women, in voting against the reauthorization.

Jessica Tramontana, Communications Director for our good friends Progress Michigan had this to say:

I’ve heard some whoppers from Washington politicians before, but Rep. Walberg has taken lying to a whole new level. It was bad enough that Walberg betrayed Michigan women by voting no on this important legislation, but to turn around and claim he voted for it is beyond insulting. As a father and a former minister, Walberg should be ashamed of himself. Michigan’s women deserve better from our elected leaders.”

I couldn’t have said it any better myself.

UPDATE: As @Sullyanne1 pointed out to me on Twitter, Walberg will now release a statement claiming he was referring to his “yes” vote on the water-down version of the Violence Against Women Act that Republicans tried and failed to pass yesterday. That legislation didn’t offer the extended protections to Native American or members of the LGBT community, groups whose women aren’t worthy of protection from violence according to many Republicans, apparently.

UPDATE 2: The article I linked and quoted that talked about Walberg’s hypocritical lie has been removed. Funny that…