Readers will recall Rep. Phil Covarrubias of Adams County, the Republican who made national headlines one year ago when he defended the internment of Japanese-Americans in World War II during a legislative debate about national security and immigration. After establishing himself as the new standard-bearer for xenophobic buffoonery in the Colorado General Assembly, Covarrubias apologized–but has on other occasions done plenty to reaffirm his foot-in-mouth credentials.
Last Thursday, Rep. Covarrubias left the crowd in attendance at the debate in the House Health, Insurance, & Environment Committee over two bills to respectively place onerous restrictions on and ban outright abortion in Colorado picking their jaws up off the floor after he, among a long list of other offenses, compared abortion rights to prostitution. Yes, really:
Transcribed with time stamps from the original committee audio of the eight-plus hour hearing:
Timestamp 1:36:18
COVARRUBIAS: Thank you Madam chair, and thank you all for being here. As people of God, where do men’s rights fall in with all the love and compassion…towards how the man feels…where does that fall in, in your perception of this taking place?
…Rev. Garland: …I think the man’s position is to support the woman in whatever decision she makes, to get some counseling and um, support, um …it’s a matter of ratios and the woman’s got a whole lot more into it, than any man involved.
Timestamp: 5:50:21
COVARRUBIAS: Thank you Madam chair, and thank you for being here. We’ve seen across our country where judges will absolutely dismantle our constitution for their own work…with sanctuary cities, illegal immigration…they will protect people who aren’t even citizens, they’ll protect their rights. So we’ve seen where judges and courts will politicize and weaponize their power in order to do what they want for political expediency. And that’s just disgusting…but it happens everyday and now were finding out more and more of how much this has been going on across our country for the last several years. It’s all coming out now. And I wanna know why, or do these unborn children, babies, have any rights, or if they don’t, why not?
Timestamp: 6:29:26
COVARRUBIAS: Thank you Madam chair, and thank you for being here. In 2014, there was 324,000 babies killed through abortion, millions and millions since Roe v. Wade, over 55 million babies have been killed. I’m wondering, is there a statistic on how many of those were necessary, how many of those were from actual rape of incest as opposed to the other…what percentage is that, would you happen to know that?
[…]
COVARRUBIAS: I have another question. We’re talking about liberty and freedom—Women having the right to do whatever they want with their own body. Yet they’re not allowed to be prostitutes if they want to be prostitutes, because there’s laws around that. In fact, there are laws that prohibit women from being able to do whatever they want with their own body, only unless it’s in the case of abortion—then its okay. [Pols emphasis] But we don’t talk about it when it comes to other laws pertaining to the same thing, is that correct?
Ginal: Representative Covarrubias, that question was uncalled for and Miss Schall(sp?), You do not have to answer the question.
Timestamp: 8:13:01
COVARRUBIAS: Thank you Representative Humphrey and to everybody who’s stayed, who’s been here. It’s been another one of those incredible nights. I guess, you know what really bothers me, about being in this building, is the absolute hypocrisy, because the very same people who are willing to kill babies, are willing to keep murderers and rapists alive on death row, and will oppose the death punishment and willing to protect their lives.
Ginal: Representative Covarrubias, let’s stick to the bill please.
COVARRUBIAS: Were talking about 70 to 30 % votes, um, that it could be sentenced to death. I would say, those votes have sentenced millions to death—when it comes to abortion. I appreciate that you brought your bill and the conversation we’ve had and I always learn a lot, but I’m definitely going to support you on this representative.
As you can see, employing the most offensive words possible is not a bug for Rep. Phil Covarrubias.
It’s a feature.
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Hey Phil. I would like to save kids too. But you and your ilk refuse to discuss sane, responsible gun policy.
Shouldn't you refute him on the merits instead of pearl clutching? Why is prostitution illegal when killing an unborn baby is not? I think they should both be illegal. But I'm guessing Colorado Pols does not? Why?
Covarrubias’s arguments have no more merit than any of yours. They’re all self-refutational, Fluffy.
(See also, consider the source)
You seem to be okay with children as youg as 6 years old getting killed but you get mad about "killing the unborn". Why?
I wonder how Fluffy would handle it if 17 pregnant young women were shot and killed by a gut nut. Nutlid would be on the horns of a dilemma.
Here's how: ALL GUNS MATTER
He uses the term "actual rape." Is that the same as "legitimate rape," and if not, what's the difference?
Because Roe v. Wade, moron.
Read some SCOTUS cases Moddy. Then you can re-work your questions consistent with established law. Jackass
I would only like to share a memory with Rep Phil. It is of a 17 year old boy/man working his first job after high school, as what would now be called an EMT in 1965. Soon after I started my crew was called to assist and take to the hospital a young woman who had had a classic back ally "coat hanger abortion". That girl was only 2 years younger than me, hysterical, bleeding badly. I did what I was trained to do with as much compassion as I could.
The first time this happened for me and after we got back to the ambulance HQ, I asked my driver why she didn't just go to a doctor. I learned why and was appalled. I just knew that couldn't be right. I still know that.
I really, really wish I could make a copy of that memory and have it planted in his memory.
I wonder if he would find his humanity or at least some of it.
Peace
Nah. He'd say she got what she deserved. That's how the "pro-life" crowd thinks, except he'd have probably wanted her imprisoned for murder.
LOL
Sure let's talk about laws against prostitution… When we criminalize prostitutes, we take them away from a legal system that would allow them to talk about their abusive, controlling pimps and so many other things. We force them underground where their victimization is harder to prevent.
When we make abortions illegal, we do the same – we force women in desperate straits to make less-than-adequate decisions accepting less-than-adequate solutions.
So, yeah…
Well, keep in mind that the GOP loves to talk about the invisible hand of the free market. (Or as others put it, the iron fist)
Doesn´t it just make sense that sex, like any other good or service, should be available to those who are willing to pay market price? If a woman (or man) isn´t happy with the terms of the contract with the pimp, she or he can simply find a new pimp.
Isn´t there a libertarian argument for legalizing prostitution?
Yes, and I'm making it. I've never heard a Libertarian argue that pimping and trafficking should be legal, but there's as much reason for prostitution to be illegal as there is for consumption of drugs (absent injury to others) to be illegal.
Years ago, my wife was taking some classes at Metro State toward the Comp.Sci. degree she never finished. She took a class on ethics and wrote her term paper on the ethics of prostitution. I'll see if I can get her to post a diary about it.
If you think sex workers "sell their bodies," but coal miners do not, your view of labor is clouded by your moralistic view of sexuality.
Cookie, don't know how I managed that as a 'reply' to you! That statement was meant for our coal-lovin’, prostitute-hatin’ Nutteranus
I figured.
I was stunned at how HD56 voters elected someone so incoherent, so I checked into it.
Covarrubias had no primary opponent, so was never vetted for wingnuttery. The Democrat and Libertarian divvied up the opposition vote, and Phil was elected handily with 58% of the vote. District 56 also looks like PacMan, with all the liberal parts of Adams County cut out of it.
This year, Phil will have a Republican primary opponent, Rod Bockenfeld. Bockenfeld is a corporate Chamber of Commerce kind of Republican, not a wacked-out bible thumper like Phil.
The eventual nominee will have a Democratic opponent, Tony Russell.
We have Phil to thank for the "no maps of oil and gas lines" filibustering. Gee, thanks, Phil for thinking about the welfare of people in your heavily fracked district. As a construction foreman yourself, you must know that the less people know about underground gas lines, the better. Ignorance is bliss.
And one more thing – when one clicks on Covarrubias' name in the original post above, it goes straight to the "Donate to NARAL" page. Good job, Pols.
Way to pick off a domain name…
Brilliant.
Uh, he had 2 opponents at the assembly last year and beat them both so he was the only one on the ballot. One of them was your hero Rod. Do some research before you spew hate.
Wikipedia got it wrong. Shocking, I know. You may want to correct that entry, since you seem to be a friend of Phil "Lock up the Japanese and criminalize abortion" Covarrubias.
Your nom de keyboard might impel you to examine the hypocrisy of lecturing another blogger for "spewing hate", while defending someone who excused locking up 120,000 Japanese-American citizens during WWII, and who, by implication, advocates for incarcerating Muslim citizens now.
I don't know how Bockenfeld could possibly be "to the right" of Phil Covarrubias. There's no room there. It doesn't matter to me; I'm rooting for the Democrat in that district. Perhaps HD56's 3-6% population of older Asian Americans will come out in force to defeat him.
Or perhaps homeowners who want to know if they have old oil and gas lines underneath their properties will vote him out for filibustering that bill. Shilling for oil and gas isn't the most popular position in Colorado these days.
No, Wikipedia didn't get it "wrong". He was unopposed by the time voters got to the primary. Colorado's dual caucus/primary system resulted in the Wiki source – Ballotpedia – not fully characterizing our process. Ballotpedia is mostly concerned with election results that show actual voting interests; caucuses don't do that.
Bockenfeld is running to the RIGHT of Rep. Covarrubias. Be careful what you wish for.
He wasn't born thinking this way.
And the …millions (10-20 ?) of Americans.
/
lol
That's exactly what the U.S. needed – another dumbfuck lilywhite blowhard who can't reason.
How many of the people commenting here held a, “Love Trumps Hate” sign at a protest in the last year?
Lol, the anger and name calling shows the truth about how much Libs and Dems care about humanity… only to the extent you agree with them.
Oh, dry your tears, noodledick. If your Biblethumper is right, an army of 10,000 angels will pack the ballot boxes for him.
Is it possible hypocrisysux is the reincarnation on andrew carnegie?
Maybe, but his focus seems too local for that. Like the good bot\shill he was, comrade carnegie got his talking points from his russian paymasters
His brain was hot-wired to the troll farm in St. Pete's.
Sorry there, cupcake, but special snowflakey cucks such as yourself no longer monopolize the terms of discourse here in Donald Trump's America. If you can't handle the rough-and-tumble, you should probably retreat to your safe place.