You know what is kind of like learning that your daughter has been raped? Finding out that she’s pregnant even though she isn’t married. The only difference is apparently that the shotgun is used for a different purpose.
In this case, the comment came from a wingnut who has no chance of unseating Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey Jr. And, believe me, Sen. Casey is no prize when it comes to reproductive rights. But he would never suggest the kind of equivalency his opponent suggests here:
MARK SCOLFORO, ASSOCIATED PRESS: How would you tell a daughter or a granddaughter who, God forbid, would be the victim of a rape, to keep the child against her own will? Do you have a way to explain that?
TOM SMITH: I lived something similar to that with my own family. She chose life, and I commend her for that. She knew my views. But, fortunately for me, I didn’t have to.. she chose they way I thought. No don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t rape.
SCOLFORO: Similar how?
TOM SMITH: Uh, having a baby out of wedlock.
SCOLFORO: That’s similar to rape?
TOM SMITH: No, no, no, but… put yourself in a father’s situation, yes. It is similar. But, back to the original, I’m pro-life, period.
Notice that he didn’t even address the real issue. Mr. Smith’s daughter exercised her choice. She wasn’t told to do anything against her will. She wasn’t impregnated against her will and she didn’t have the baby against her will, and her father didn’t try to force her to do anything against her will. The question was about a situation where this freedom of action has been eliminated.
But, seriously, do Republicans have some bizarre ideas about rape, or what?
This comes out in their arguments against same-sex marriage that invoke bestiality and pederasty; they don’t think of consent as something that makes a meaningful distinction. I was in a related discussion the other day with someone who called consent a “bourgeois” and “arbitrary” concept. I wonder how many My Worst Date Ever lists that guy is on?
“No, no, no, but… yes.” Never seen the Republican playbook demonstrated so overtly.
I guess what he’s saying is that his daughter made a free choice, no coercion, and there were consequences to deal with, and he let her make her own decision about the pregnancy even though he had strong feelings about the right thing to do. But any other woman who got pregnant after being raped deserves to have the state deny her the right to decide how to respond. Even though Mr. Smith would certainly tell us how he hates big government and loves individual freedom. Have I got that right?
I just got to wondering what William Buckley would do to try and add a veneer of smart and sane to today’s GOP. Would he sacrifice his image as a conservative intellectual to defend crap like this, or just wash his hands of the GOP like he finally did the drugwar?
PS: Kudos to Scolford for actually pressing on the followup. More, please.
That daughter’s body was exclusively his. Women are property, you know.
“She wasn’t told to do anything against her will.”
Assuming facts not in evidence. He states she knew his views. Also probably what his reaction would be.
I don’t like Republicans either. But what did he say? I must have missed something.
OK, sorry, I did miss something. Like, the main point. I shouldn’t comment when I’m this tired. Be of good cheer.
In this case, the comment came from a wingnut who has no chance of unseating Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey Jr.
He certainly nailed his own coffin shut today. Was the state GOP even giving him any backing, before today obviously?
Time for the Rep to recognize that rape is about violence. It is an act of violence not procreation.
That the crunchiest, greasiest, and saltiest example of Southern fried thinking that I’ve seen from north of the Mason-Dixon line.
Trying to hold 100% to principles without exception and still seem human is a tough job. Especially when there are competing principles you refuse to acknowledge.
Peter Whimsey in Dorothy Sayers’s Gaudy Night: “The first thing a principle does is kill someone.”
Has Tom Smith ever been on the right side of an issue?
would you have this mofo around your child?
hell no