Posted on 08/21/2016 5:35:04 AM PDT by Kaslin
Rebecca Schoenkopf was just minding her own business, as owner, editrix and publisher of Wonkette, a blog billing itself as a Nasty Vile Little Snark Mob, when she hastily posted her commentary entitled, Lets Talk About Juanita Broaddrick.
A feminist, Ms. Schoenkopf explained to her readers why raping Juanita Broaddrick, which she tends to believe Bill Clinton did almost four decades ago, doesnt make Bill a bad guy . . . or even a bad feminist.
To sum up, I think Bill Clinton could very well have raped Juanita Broaddrick; that it doesnt make him an evil man, or irredeemable, she wrote. It doesnt even necessarily make him a bad feminist you know, later, once he stops doing that.
Which calls the question: Has Bill stopped doing that?
For those who missed the 1990s, Juanita Broaddrick accused then-President Bill Clinton of sexually assaulting her in a Little Rock, Arkansas, hotel room back in 1978, when Mr. Clinton was the states attorney general. Friends of Broaddrick confirm that she told them about the rape at the time, and they witnessed her swollen lip. But she made no public charge for decades.
In an affidavit in the Paula Jones case, Broaddrick originally said under oath that she was not attacked by Bill Clinton. But in 1998, after being granted immunity for perjury by special prosecutor Kenneth Starr, Broaddrick reversed herself, alleging that she had indeed been raped by Mr. Clinton.
Her account was detailed in a 1999 NBC Dateline segment. No one can objectively look at Juanitas story and not be troubled, NBCs Lisa Myer recently told BuzzFeed. Myer also recalled explaining NBCs delay in broadcasting the piece at the time by telling Broaddrick, The good news is youre credible. The bad news is youre very credible.
Fast-forward to the current presidential campaign, where the story came back into the news after presidential candidate Hillary Clinton tweeted last year: To every survivor of sexual assault . . . You have the right to be heard. You have the right to be believed. Were with you.
Irked, Broaddrick tweeted back in January: I was 35 years old when Bill Clinton, Ark. Attorney General raped me and Hillary tried to silence me. I am now 73. . . . it never goes away.
What does Bill Clintons bad behavior or allegedly even worse behavior have to do with Hillary running for president? Certainly, shes not her husband. But then again, she has suggested shell have him working alongside her handling the small stuff, such as the economy.
[M]any people have found [Broaddricks] charges pretty credible. She has there [have] also been questions of Hillary being instrumental in some kind of cover-up or some kind of pressure on her to retract those charges or to be quiet. And I have no idea what happened. I have no idea whether those things are true, Liza Featherstone, a contributing editor at the ultra-liberal The Nation, recently said to Amy Goodman on Democracy Now! But I actually dont think that those things should be dismissed. I think, you know, how a woman in power treats a much less powerful woman, who has accused a powerful man of raping her, actually is important.
You dont say.
Elsewhere, the media reaction has been tepid. When Donald Trump referred to the former president as a rapist, NBC News originally reported that Broaddricks accusation had been discredited, only to abandon that claim when confronted. Perhaps BuzzFeeds Katie Baker is correct in arguing that the political implications of her claims are too disastrous for liberal politicians and pundits . . . to rally around her, especially this close to election day. That means only Clinton-hating conservatives are visibly incensed by her claims, and the more that they amplify Broaddricks story, the more skeptical progressives become.
True rape victims must always have a proper partisan alignment. Is that the new feminism?
Rape is about power, not sex. For those for whom its about power, those are the serial rapist guys, and they hate women and want to punish us, contends Wonkette editor Schoenkopf. But I dont think thats in every case. I think good men can rape, and be sorry, and not do it again. This is very bad feminism.
She adds, parenthetically, Especially if youre, say, a teenager whose impulse control is still years away from being properly developed.
Note: Bill Clinton was not a teenager when he allegedly raped Broaddrick.
Ms. Schoenkopf went on to differentiate rape today from way back in the dark ages before the 1980s: I can absolutely see Bill Clinton doing this (then, not now) and not even thinking of it as rape, but thinking of it as dominant, alpha sex. I can see a LOT of men doing that during that time period, before we started telling them in the 80s, hey, that is rape, do not do that. I can see YOUR NICE GRANDPA doing that, back then.
In her follow-up piece, she doubled down, explaining, truly back then, men were taught that a girl has to say no a couple times before she says yes, so no one will think she is easy.
Schoenkopf does think Bill Clinton a jerk. And raped at least one woman. But then, she thinks all men are very likely rapists. But no biggie: were all redeemable . . . and that youd be dismayed to learn some of your loved ones secrets that its very likely they too pushed a woman past consent . . .
It seems common sense has been assaulted.
I actually listened to the stories of my grand mother and mother, so I’m going back to 1900. And ‘no’ always meant ‘no; it was never 3 times ‘no.’ In fact, this whole ‘no’ crap is evil. Good and decent men do not rape women. Period. Rape is an act of violence and lust as is clearly different from the act of love.
These people are deranged.
UH, maybe because Bill Clinton was the Attorney General?
Your “boilerplate” is spot on, and probably can’t be repeated too often or in too many different ways.
Most grounded individuals in this country can see in individual issues that it’s falling apart, and they know things are changing for the worst in some fundamental way, but generally don’t see the nature of the dark forest made up of those warped trees.
AND he had control over her two businesses. She owned two nursing home in Arkansas then. AND she was actually having an affair with a man who would later become her second husband. The 70’s were NOTHING LIKE TODAY. Women were blamed. Now women are only blamed if the perp is a Democrat.
“Progressives ALWAYS think that people in the past were stupid and totally unenlightened, whereas people of “today” are brilliant and insightful and much more aware and together.”
Especially themselves.
That’s a great book, I reference it often...
I’m thinking that she’d been pressured/threatened into making false statements in the affidavit. The immunity allowed her to recant without the risk of a perjury charge.
They can’t have it both ways. I thought feminists wanted Pajama Boys who pull out questionnaires before any sex, asking for written consent for every potential physical contact (before the guys just lose interest and go make hot chocolate and look for throw pillows online). Now they say men can have a few gropes at the office or maybe one rape, because they are eeeevil men who can’t control their raging steeds??
they are truly insane.
The same hypocritical faceless people that we encounter all day every day long..
Bkmk
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.