Foster Friess Apologizes, Except He Really Didn’t
At his “Campfire Blog” (with a logo reminiscent of the infamous farting scene in Blazing Saddles), Rick Santorum’s super-rich Dominionist backer Foster Friess is apologizing that so many Americans didn’t get his “joke” about women using aspirin for birth control (between the knees): For those who misunderstood my joke today, here’s my quest for forgiveness…
Last week my joke at the Conservative Political Action Conference generated laughter and media attention. Today on Andrea Mitchell’s show, my aspirin joke bombed as many didn’t recognize it as a joke but thought it was my prescription for today’s birth control practices. In fact, the only positive comments I got were from folks who remembered it from 50 years back. Birth control pills weren’t yet available, so everyone laughed at the silliness on how an aspirin could become a birth control pill.
After listening to the segment tonight, I can understand how I confused people with the way I worded the joke and their taking offense is very understandable. To all those who took my joke as modern day approach I deeply apologize and seek your forgiveness. My wife constantly tells me I need new material—she understood the joke but didn’t like it anyway—so I will keep that old one in the past where it belongs.
The classic right wing non-apology. He isn’t actually sorry for his misogynistic attempt at humor, he’s sorry that everyone else “misunderstood” him.
Friess also tries to spin Rick Santorum’s caveman views about contraception and women’s rights, says women love Santorum, and includes an attack on President Obama:
His 75% favorables include a lot of women who appreciate his clear stance on contraception that they favor. His strong personal convictions on the subject are well-known and he has never attempted to turn his personal preference into public policy unlike the stand President Obama has taken in forcing Catholic institutions to embrace his world view.
Santorum is a supporter of the Dark Ages religious right “Personhood” movement, which would outlaw all abortion and is so broadly defined that it would also criminalize many forms of birth control, so Friess is being less than honest. Of course.