RICHMOND – State GOP Treasurer Bob FitzSimmonds unapologetically stepped down more than a week after he responded in harsh fashion to comments President Obama made praising Muslim Americans. ‘This is pure nonsense. Exactly what part of our nation’s fabric was woven by Muslims,’ FitzSimmonds wrote.

FitzSimmonds, the outspoken treasurer of the Virginia state Republican Party, stepped down Wednesday night,  more than a week after he took to Facebook to blast President Obama for praising Muslim-Americans for their positive role in American society.

“This is pure nonsense. Exactly what part of our nation’s fabric was woven by Muslims?” FitzSimmonds wrote on his Facebook wall on July 29. “What about Sikhs, Animists, and Jainists? Should we be thanking them too?”

FitzSimmonds, who has come under fire in the past for outrageous comments, was apparently responding to a speech Obama made to mark the end of Ramadan, in which he thanked Muslim Americans for their “many achievements and contributions … to building the very fabric of our nation and strengthening the core of our democracy.”

After a week of increasing criticism, FitzSimmonds issued an unapologetic resignation statement to state party officials Wednesday evening.

“It seems that no matter how careful I might be, I will periodically give occasion for others to portray the party in a bad light, so long as I am a party official,” he wrote. “After discussion with several party leaders it seems clear that I will either need to stop posting on social media or step down from my party office.”

FitzSimmonds went on to write that his resignation will not take effect until his replacement is named.