"Some Girls Rape Easy": Hypocrisy, Sex and The Republican Agenda Against Women

The Romney War Against Women hasn't really entered the debate ... yet.


The Republican Party's "war on women" got just two soldiers of hypocrisy: one Wisconsin congressman who says that "some girls rape easy," and another Tennessee politician - a pro-life doctor, no less - who demanded that his mistress get an abortion:

Crooks and Liars:

"A pro-life, family-values congressman who worked as a doctor before winning election as a Tea Party-backed Republican had an affair with a patient and later pressured her to get an abortion, according to a phone call transcript obtained by The Huffington Post.
The congressman, Rep. Scott DesJarlais of Tennessee, was trying to save his marriage at the time, according to his remarks on the call, made in September of 2000. And, according to three independent sources familiar with the call and the recording, he made the tape himself."

Along with staunch, Christian Right Todd Akin, who argues that women of "legitimate rape" don't get pregnant, that makes three "war on women" soldiers for the battle of keeping women in check.

Oh, and add Paul Ryan to the bunch since he said that women should have their rapists' babies.

"Freshman Rep. Roger Rivard (R-Rice Lake) in December discussed a case with the Chetek Alert newspaper in which a 17-year-old high school senior was charged with sexual assault for having sex with an underage girl in the school's band room.
The newspaper quoted him as saying his father warned him, "Some girls rape easy" - meaning that after the fact they can change what they say about whether sex was consensual. On Wednesday, Rivard told the Journal Sentinel that the article did not provide full context of his comments and that his father's exact words had been slightly different from how they appeared in the Chetek Alert."

Polls show that President Obama is still in good with women and that Romney (and the entire Republican Party) trails abysmally in that regard - and not only in the issue of abortion, but it is the specific issue of abortion in cases of rape and incest that contribute to the Romney campaign's low polling figures. The matter of rape is an unassailable one as far as women are concerned. It is, in fact, a "hands off" issue, considered in poor taste to make light of it or to put its victims in any form of bad light ("sl*ts", ala Rush Limbaugh). And while the Christian Right (and its "church ladies") has no problem with assigning raped women to the ranks of Mary Magdalene, most of America's women have a tendency to believe the testimonies of the alleged victims over their male aggressors.

Don't Mess With Boadicea

Republicans have not yet been clued in to the fact that issues of rape (especially involving abortion) have never been given any slack by women in history. After she was flogged and her daughters raped in front of her, Boadicea, Queen of the Iceni showed almighty Rome what rage against rape was really like: 70,000 people died as a result oif her subsequent revolt and Rome realized what an untenable situation the Britons really were.

Recently, Elizabeth Warren pummeled candidate Scott Brown as bad choice for women on issues of equal pay and on pro-choice: her impassioned stance gave her a six-point edge over the incumbent Brown:

“This is about their future — and I want to be blunt. We should not be fighting about equal pay for equal work, and access to birth control, in 2012.”

The Vice Presidential Debate And Abortion - Sorta

While the vice-Presidential debate featuring Vice President Joe Biden and Republican Vice Presidential candidate Paul Ryan seemed to focus on a wide variety of issues, only the social issues of abortion was addressed and, in no uncertain terms did Joe Biden lay out the Romney "war against women":
Now, with regard to the way in which the — we differ, my friend says that he — well, I guess he accepts Governor Romney's position now, because in the past he has argued that there was — there's rape and forcible rape. He's argued that, in the case of rape or incest, it was still — it would be a crime to engage in having an abortion. I just fundamentally disagree with my friend.

Ryan, of course, countered with Romney's flip-flopped position on the matter of abortion in case of rape: rape and incest were now "exceptions". He did not present his own jaw-dropping opinion that raped women should always carry their rapists' fetuses to term.
Cenk Uygur's recent coverage of the Scott Desjarlais situation pointed out that flip-flopping Romney couldn't be trusted to handle women's issues (see below), especially when it comes to angering the Christian Right. 

Will Boadicea have a say in all this?

If candidates like Elizabeth Warren can speak up about the Republican War on Women, time will tell if women's voices will be heard in the upcoming debates. Will Obama make a stance for Boudicea?