“Rape and robbery…” – Biden
October 20 | Posted by mrossol | Liberal Press, Party PoliticsWhere is the “objective” press? Where? Do we need an APB for the press?
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The Co-Chair of the Republican National Committee released the following statement in response to remarks made by Vice President Joe Biden in which he used rape and robbery as a metaphor in supporting the American Jobs Act.
Yesterday in Philadelphia, Vice President Biden decided to express his support for President Obama’s Stimulus 2.0 plan by explaining to a crowd that he wished opponents “knew what it felt like to be robbed or raped.” Nothing could be more irresponsible and mean spirited. No victim of violent crime would ever wish that others were forced to experience the same trauma they went though – especially to make a brazen political point. So why would the sitting Vice President of the United States?
But this isn’t the first time the Vice President has used this irresponsible argument out on the stump. He used a similar line last week in Flint, Michigan saying that if the President’s stimulus bill isn’t passed, there will be a nationwide epidemic of rape and murder. Clearly this isn’t another case of “Joe being Joe,” but a calculated messaging point from the Administration to try and gin up support for another round of failed stimulus spending. This is a familiar theme from the White House which has often resorted to over-the-top rhetoricin an attempt to generate support for its policies. So why all the silence from the media? Where is the outrage from women’s and victim’s rights groups?
To link well-justified, bipartisan opposition to the President’s latest stimulus proposal to violent crime is intellectually dishonest and reeks of the kind of gutter politics that the Obama Administration purports to be above. This is the kind of demagoguery one might expect from backbench bomb-throwers not a constitutional officer of the United States who is second in line to the presidency and who at any minute could be called upon to lead the free world. Not only is this rhetoric beneath our nation’s second highest constitutional office, it undermines serious policy discussions taking place about how to put Americans back to work.
Our economy is hurting and the Obama Administration’s policies have only prolonged the pain, but that is no excuse for Vice President Biden to wish his political opponents to be subjected to rape or have a gun held to their head. Victims of violent crime should never be used for political gain. The office he holds demands that what he says be treated with a level of importance. It’s time for the media and women’s groups to step up and hold the Vice President accountable for his irresponsible and insensitive choice of words.
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