‘Some girls rape easy’ quip leads Paul Ryan to withdraw endorsement of Wisconsin lawmaker (original) (raw)
A Wisconsin lawmaker lost the endorsement of Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan on Thursday after he claimed that “some girls, they rape so easy.”
Freshman Rep. Roger Rivard told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that his comments, first made back in December to Chetek Alert newspaper, had been taken out of context.
The newspaper quoted him as saying his father warned him “some girls rape easy,” meaning girls could decide they regretted a sexual encounter and call it rape.
Seeking to clarify the remarks on Wednesday, Rivard again repeated them.
“He (my father) also told me one thing, `If you do (have premarital sex), just remember, consensual sex can turn into rape in an awful hurry,'” Rivard told the Journal Sentinel. “Because all of a sudden a young lady gets pregnant and the parents are madder than a wet hen and she’s not going to say, ‘Oh, yeah, I was part of the program.’ All that she has to say or the parents have to say is it was rape because she’s underage. And he just said, `Remember, Roger, if you go down that road, some girls,’ he said, ‘they rape so easy.'”
Hours later, Rivard’s camp issued a clarification to the clarification, calling rape a “horrible act of violence.”
But the backlash was quick and severe. Rivard, who is locked in a tight race with Democratic opponent Stephen Smith, lost the support of key Republican figures, including Paul Ryan.
“State Representative Rivard’s comments are outrageous and offensive,” Ryan’s congressional campaign spokesman Kevin Siefert said Thursday. “There is no place in our discourse for rhetoric such as this,” the statement adds.
This was the second time Ryan has pulled his support from a fellow Republican over rape comments. In August, he and other GOP leaders tried unsuccessfully to encourage Rep. Todd Akin of Missouri to drop his senate bid over comments about “legitimate rape.”
Rep. Ryan wasn’t alone in criticizing Rivard. Wisconsin’s Republican Gov. Scott Walker, U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson and U.S. Senate candidate Tommy Thompson also condemned the statements. However, they have not repealed their endorsements, the Journal Sentinel reported.
Democrats also took the chance to pounce, painting the conservative politician as out-of-touch on key social issues.
“I’m offended to think that my sister or my daughters would be thought of in that manner,” challenger Stephen Smith said. “I feel Roger is out of touch with the majority of voters and his views are extreme.”
Originally Published: October 11, 2012 at 4:33 PM EDT