To be honest, I used to think that Virginia Rep. Abigail Spanberger was a kind of colorless politician who occasionally strayed from the Democratic reservation to embrace less than radical positions.
But Spanberger is running for governor of Virginia. And "straying from the Democratic reservation" isn't done if you wish to be successful.
Last June, Spanberger was speaking at a political event when she channeled Howard Beal. The half-crazed network anchor in the film Network, played to perfection by Peter Finch, went off on live TV with a monologue that could be given by any politician today.
It's like everything everywhere is going crazy, so we don't go out any more. We sit in the house, and slowly the world we're living in is getting smaller, and all we say is, "Please, at least leave us alone in our living rooms. Let me have my toaster and my TV and my steel-belted radials, and I won't say anything. Just leave us alone."
Well, I'm not going to leave you alone.
I want you to get mad!
Spanberger confused reality with Hollywood when she told the partisan Democratic audience a story about what her mother told her about politics after the young Spanberger complained about some unfairness. She said her mom told her, "Let your rage fuel you."
Howard Beal's tagline was, "I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore!" Network was made in 1976 during a wave of radical left violence by groups like the Symbionese Liberation Army and black nationalist groups. "Rage" was acceptable on the left, if not violence.
The absurdity of the far left was highlighted in the film when the "revolutionaries" fighting against the "capitalist pigs" and for "the oppressed masses" were negotiating a TV deal worth millions just so the network could film their acts of terror.
Spanberger was trying to capture some of that Hollywood pixie dust.
"And so, Mom, I love you. I thank you for the sage advice. And to the rest of us, every time we hear a new story, we let it fuel us," she said.
"Every time we turn on the news, we let it fuel us. Every time something bad is happening, we say, ‘Oh, that’s motivation’.
"Every time something happens in the world, in this country, coming out of Capitol Hill or coming out of this White House, we just say, 'Boy, am I motivated today.’ We write more postcards, we knock more doors, we make more phone calls, we tell more friends about the importance of this election."
Spanberger dropped her rage bomb during a campaign in which the polls say she is far ahead of her Republican opponent, Lt. Governor Winsome Earle-Sears. With five weeks to go before election day, it's her race to lose.
Earle-Sears dropped the video of Spanberger the day after the attack on the ICE facility in Dallas.
Spanberger's spokesman said the video was "taken out of context." He said it with a straight face, so I assume he wasn't kidding.
In a statement to The Progress-Index, the Spanberger camp says that the comment has been taken out of context by Taylor. Her campaign says Spanberger has used the phrase but in a civil way, such as voting and contacting elected officials, that suggests a change. “Abigail immediately condemned this horrific threat, and she will continue to condemn any attempt to make light of or justify political violence of any kind,” the campaign statement said. “Abigail has a long record of working across party lines to get things done, and she will continue to bring people together as Virginia’s next governor.”
Recent videos have been posted both by Democrats and Republicans where Spanberger has used the phrase.
Exclusively for our VIPs: Last Night at 12:01 a.m., Iran Turned Back Into a Pumpkin
Earle-Sears took the high road. "I’m asking for love," she said.
Rage.
— Winsome Earle-Sears (@winwithwinsome) September 24, 2025
That’s what Abigail Spanberger is calling for.
We’ve seen it with racist signs, cruel jeers, even cheering a father’s assassination for daring to disagree.
I’m asking for love. Love for our neighbors and our Commonwealth.
Because Virginia is for lovers—not rage. pic.twitter.com/N4eKniCy3j
Del. Kim Taylor (R-Petersburg) received a death threat last spring and blamed Spanberger's incendiary rhetoric, which the latter repeated on several occasions.
"[Spanberger] told supporters to ‘let your rage fuel you’ and now she wants to pretend she didn’t mean it. Sorry, Abigail, you don’t get to walk it back," Taylor told Fox News Digital.
Whether it was planned or not, the rage bomb dropped at precisely the right time in the campaign. Voters are just beginning to pay attention to politics, and they will now be taking a second look at both Spanberger and Earle-Sears.
Help PJ Media continue to tell the truth about the American left. Join PJ Media VIP and use promo code FIGHT to get 60% off your membership.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member