Lenas wrote:
Let's forget about one man's idiocy in favor of getting mad about unrelated topics!
I'm not saying the dems you guys are talking about don't deserve ridicule or punishment, but let's not move goalposts. This guy is an idiot and should not be in the position he's in, that's what this thread is about.
This thread is about discussing whether he's an idiot, and whether he should be in the position he's in, not assuming that's the case and then congratulating ourselves for agreeing with each other.
He clearly said something very foolish. However, there are certain sources out there that will tell you that there is a reduced risk of pregnancy during rape because the trauma makes it harder for the fertilization and implantation of the embryo to take place. To the best of my knowledge, this is not true; the rate of pregnancy after rape is the same as it is for any other kind of sex. I also don't know if that changes any based on the level of actual violence involved in the rape since many rapes occur purely through threat. It seems likely this guy was told some information along these lines at some point, believed it, and then did a very poor job of paraphrasing it when he conducted this interview.
However, believing inaccurate information about the medical likelihood of pregnancy after a rape is not the same thing as blaming the victim, or excusing the perpetrator, or implying she's a slut, or anything of that sort. It's simply being uninformed about the physiological aspects of rape.
As to the comment about "legitimate rape" it's certainly valid to point out that not every allegation of rape is actually true.
Insofar as moving the goalposts go, it's also hardly reasonable to suggest that comparing the uproar over this to what's occurred in the cases of other political figures is somehow moving the goalposts. Even if this guy IS an idiot and shouldn't be in the position he's in, why is it out of bounds to point out that other, bigger idiots are left in their positions?