New, monumental Republican stupid out of Jeff City

I can hardly believe, frequently, the extraordinary things said by people in the Republican Party out of the respective state capitols of Jefferson City, Missouri and Topeka, Kansas.  Here's the latest one, from just yesterday:

WATCH: GOP Lawmaker Compares Getting Abortion to ...

Missouri GOPer Compares Abortion To Buying A Car

Oh, yes he did:

A Republican lawmaker in Missouri who is sponsoring a bill that would mandate women seeking an abortion undergo an ultrasound and wait three days for the procedure defended his measure Tuesday, suggesting a woman getting an abortion should treat it with the same deliberation as shopping for cars or carpeting.

State Rep. Chuck Gatschenberger (R) explained to his colleagues on the Missouri House's Children, Families and Persons with Disabilities committee that when he goes to buy a new vehicle, he doesn't just make a snap decision.

"I have to look at it, get information about it, maybe drive it, you know, a lot of different things. Check prices," he said, according to video recorded by Progress Missouri. "There's lots of things that I do putting into a decision. Whether that's a car, whether that's a house, whether that's any major decision that I put in my life. Even carpeting."

What's so amazing/fascinating/incredibly stupid about this is that, first, Rep. Gatschenberger seems to be saying--or wanting to say--that this is an incredibly important, rather grave decision, yet he compares it with--ulp--buying a car or carpeting.

Wha?

Second, he seems to think and assume that women of all ages could, would or do think of having an abortion lightly.

Since he's not a woman and so, can't have ever been in this situation, it's clear he has no idea whatever what these women go through in such a situation.

Fortunately, others in the House--not Republicans, of course--caught him on this, got him to rethink, at least a little bit, and apologize for making so light of this situation:

State Rep. Stacey Newman (D) called Gatschenberger out on the car comparison in a testy exchange.

"Are you equating that with a medical decision?" she asked Gatschenberger.

"No--" Gatschenberger said.

"That was your analogy, and that was extremely offense to every single woman in this hearing, representative," Newman said. "Your comments were extremely offensive to every single woman sitting in here, whether they're pregnant or whether they're not. I want to point that out, because that kind of attitude is demeaning to women, regardless of what they decide to do."

"That was not the intention. I apologize for that," Gatschenberger responded.

But Gatschenberger was pressing Newman to reconsider the bill seconds later.

Honestly, if people's own lives' and rights' weren't at stake, this would be funny.

Instead, it's tragic.

Tragically stupid, in fact.

With this kind of statement repeatedly coming from people in the Republican Party, on top of yesterday's vote by Republicans in the Senate disavowing equal pay for women doing the same job as men in the workplace, it stuns me any woman--any woman--would vote with these neanderthals.

Final note:  Lest anyone think this might be overlooked by the rest of the nation or even the world, the article is in both Mother Jonesand Talking Points Memo.