This past Thursday, House Speaker Bill Howell (R-Stafford) said “I guess I’m not speaking in little enough words for you to understand,” to Anna Scholl, the executive director of the newly-formed women’s rights group ProgressVA, after she asked him to clarify a question. Scholl responded with, “I’m a smart girl, actually. I went to the University of Virginia. I benefited from public education in Virginia. I think words with multiple syllables will be just fine for me.” The comment gained national attention as another example of both the Virginia General Assembly and the national Republican Party’s “war on women.”
