As you’ll recall, yesterday we wrote about the Republican House member in charge of opposing the hate crimes amendment, Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC), who referred to the brutal murder of young gay college student Matthew Shepard as “a hoax.” Well, Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews both had a few things to say about Ms. Foxx.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFAa5aet0CI]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLxbQmlOT1I]

And just to remind everyone, America already has a hate crimes law. We’ve had it for decades. But it only covers race, religion and national origin – in other words, it covers the religious right. It doesn’t cover everyone else. The amendment, which passed in the House yesterday, would add gender, disability, sexual orientation and gender identity to the already-existing law. Regardless of your feelings towards hate crimes laws, if America is going to have one on the books – and it does already – the law should cover everyone, and not just give special rights to the Christian fundamentalists at the Family Research Council, the American Family Association, and the men at the Concerned Women for America.