Top Republicans distance themselves from Rivard
 Rep. Roger Rivard
NORTHWEST WISCONSIN - Top Republicans throughout Wisconsin Thursday were rescinding their support of a state GOP lawmaker after he made controversial comments about rape.
Rice Lake Republican Roger Rivard told a local newspaper that when he was young his father told him "some girls rape easy" as a way to warn him that a woman could agree to sex but later claim it wasn't consensual. Once his remarks were discovered he eventually issued a statement saying rape is horrible and his comments were taken out of context. Vice Presidential nominee Paul Ryan pulled his endorsement of Rivard, with a spokesman callling Rivard's statements "outrageous and offensive" Gov. Scott Walker, Republican U.S. Senate candidate Tommy Thompson and U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson also condemned the lawmaker. At a noon luncheon Thursday, the head of the Assembly GOP campaign effort, Republican Robin Vos, said Rivard had done a poor job of explaining his position but he knew where Rivard's heart was, "I have no doubt whatsoever that when the people look at Roger's entire record, not a single sentence, that they will return him to Madison because he has been doing the things that they want here at the Capitol." But by five o'clock last night, Vos sent an e-mail to Wispolitics, saying, "I cannot stand by Roger Rivard." ADDITION: Rivard stated Wednesday that the article didn’t provide the full context of his comments and that his father’s exact words may have been different from how the Chetek Alert printed them. Roger Rivard went on to say that his father was simply advising him not to have premarital sex. Gawker notes that Rivard stated: “He also told me one thing, ‘If you do (have premarital sex), just remember, consensual sex can turn into rape in an awful hurry.’ Because all of a sudden a young lady gets pregnant and the parents are madder than a wet hen and she’s not going to say, ‘Oh, yeah, I was part of the program.’ All that she has to say or the parents have to say is it was rape because she’s underage. And he just said, ‘Remember, Roger, if you go down that road, some girls,’ he said, ‘they rape so easy.’ “ Rivard continued: “What the whole genesis of it was, it was advice to me, telling me, ‘If you’re going to go down that road, you may have consensual sex that night and then the next morning it may be rape.’ So the way he said it was, ‘Just remember, Roger, some girls, they rape so easy. It may be rape the next morning.’ So it’s been kind of taken out of context.” |
