Republican vice presidential hopeful Paul Ryan sat down this morning with Jon Delano of KDKA in Pittsburgh, offering his first detailed remarks since Todd Akin's odious comments over the weekend on rape. What was striking about Ryan's comments was the extent to which they were at odds with his own record.
For those who can't watch clips online, Ryan said Akin's comments were "outrageous" and "over the pail." Though I'm not familiar with this "pail" idiom, in context, it seems safe to say Ryan was expressing disagreement with Akin. So far, so good. [Update: In comments, Katami Detroit suggests he was probably trying to say, "Beyond the pale," which would make sense.]
But note how the right-wing congressman struggles to defend his own record. Ryan said in the interview, "Rape is rape. Period. End of story." And while that may sound heartening, Ryan, just a year ago, co-sponsored legislation -- with Todd Akin -- that would have redefined "rape" for the purposes of Medicaid funding. In Ryan's proposal, victims of "forcible rape" would receive protections, but victims of other, undefined kinds of rape would not.
Asked to defend his own legislation, Ryan refused. "Rape is rape. Rape is rape, period. End of story," he said. When the reporters pressed further, asking, "So that forcible rape language meant nothing to you at the time?" The vice presidential hopeful again added, "Rape is rape and there's no splitting hairs over rape."
But therein lies the point: for Paul Ryan, Todd Akin, and their far-right colleagues, there is splitting hairs over rape, and it's not the end of the story. Under the legislation Ryan pushed, if a 13-year-old girl who was impregnated by a 24-year-old man would not be able to use Medicaid funds to terminate the pregnancy, unless she could prove she'd been "forcibly" raped.
If "there's no splitting hairs over rape," why did Paul Ryan help champion legislation that would have split hairs over rape?
As for Ryan's stated position that the government should force women to take their pregnancy to term if they are impregnated by a rapist, the Republican congressman seemed to concede that his position has been superseded. "Well, look, I'm proud of my pro-life record. And I stand by my pro-life record in Congress. It's something I'm proud of," Ryan said. "But Mitt Romney is the top of the ticket and Mitt Romney will be president and he will set the policy of the Romney administration."
The reporter also asked about contraception, prompting Ryan to say, "Nobody is proposing to deny birth control to anybody."
While that's an encouraging sentiment, Ryan supports destroying the Affordable Care Act, which will necessarily mean less access to affordable contraception for many Americans, and he co-sponsored (with Akin) a federal "Personhood" measure that would ban abortion, in-vitro fertilization, and some contraceptives.
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OK let me get this straight..Ryan does not want Medicare to pay for Abortions, so now a woman is forced to have a baby, then she goes on welfare and medicare and we support the mother and child . Someone from the GOP please explain this to me..
Then explain how you are going to fix unemployment..
Under the Romney/Ryan plan there will be no welfare, no medicare, and no SNAP, as we know it. You're on your own. You've come a long way baby, now keep moving. However, there will still be high unemployment at higher numbers than we've ever know as a nation.
You know, I have read just about every single article on Akin, Ryan, King, and Romney, pertaining to rape and I have come to the conclusion that this men are trying to cover up their true feelings...they think that women ask to be raped!!! Ryan doesn't think that a 14 year old being raped by a 24 year old is forcible rape? You know, I don't think he is as educated as he says, I think he and the whole lot are misogynists like Rush Limpdick..they all deserve each other!! I am about to puke! Talk about over the pail!
Human decency? Try, Douche Bag/ one who attempts with all their being to be something they are not in exchange for what they perceive to be personal gain, i.e. a sell out.
No one ever walk on the victim shoes ... well... be the judge no wonder Ryan have Pinokio's Nose
Probably "pail" is "pale" as in the Jewish Pale of Selttlement....or a "reservation" so-to-speak. So "over the pale" would then mean beyond the border, over the line...etc, nicht wahr?
Ugh this guy's voice is completely annoying. I hate Ryan but he fails by never questioning Ryan and again, he never questions the dumb comments he makes. But he does have a really annoying voice. Jesus. How did he ever get on the air?
It is hard to understand the mind of an idiot. Sorry, Ryan, but your political grave has been dug and there is NO WAY OUT!
Paul Ryan is just another disaster in a campaign rife with disasters. Now a natural disaster is bearing down on Romney's coming out party in Tampa. Now, I am not by nature superstitious , but could this be GOD'S WRATH? There is, after all, some biblical precedent in favor of this possibility.[remember Noah?] just wondering....
There are numerous journal articles with the facts of rape-pregnancy incidence, not medieval superstitions. For one: Gottschall JA, Gottschall TA. Are per-incident rape-pregnancy rates higher than per-incident consensual preganancy rates? Human Nature. 2003;14(1):1–20, which found "rape-related pregnancy occurs with significant frequency."
How dare they? (Akin, Ryan, Romney, et al) HOW DARE THEY?
Why is no one asking the question, “Why do they want our babies?” Why are they so hell bent on preventing us women from not having children. They don’t even want us to have birth control??? Really???
They seem to have no qualms leaving our babies to live in poverty, without food, shelter, a decent education to be able to better themselves in life - by cutting funding to everything from food stamps, to housing, childcare, childhood early education, day care so the moms can work, anything that would give the poor kids a break!
Could it be???;
I know we need people to pay taxes, but if you pay them too much, then they won’t become soldiers because they would make better money on the outside without risking their necks. Hence; lets break the unions… don’t want people getting too comfortable.
I mean, is it just me, or does anyone else see this. To me, it’s just too obvious. Because, why on Earth would they even really care whether I have a child or not. I mean, really. These are not compassionate human beings if they are willing to let our children live in poverty and die in their dirty little wars as witnessed by their policies.
I may have this all wrong, but I wish someone would please give me a clue as to why these people are talking out both sides of their mouth.
Go sister! You are right on.
It is not difficult to understand Ryan and Akin's mindset. Unwanted pregnancies are "loose" women's punishment by God and the state. It is throwback to the 1950's. Catholics and Christian fundamentalists do not accept the societal change that occurred since the 1960's sexual revolution and women's lib in the 1970's. These people believe that the answer to all of society's social ills can be remedied by putting prayer and "Christian values" back in the public schools and government. Anachronistic? Yes, but this mindset exists in the Bible Belt and a lot of rural states who see big cities as denizens of sin.
This is only going to get worse because they believe they are actually acting in accordance with God's laws. They are self-righteously justified in protecting women from making poor choices. This entire discussion has gone off the "rape" rails. We need to back this train up and quit arguing about the definition of what constitutes rape.
I want to know why a woman's right to choose is limited to an instance of brutal rape when her right to choose was taken away? I'm sorry, I get to choose. I don't have to be raped. How dare you impose your religious dogma on my body!
The more important element of the right wing agenda we must begin to focus on is "personhood." This where Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney, and crew are seeking to create their own version of science to say that life begins at conception so ALL abortion, many forms of birth control, in vitro fertilization, etc. would be illegal.
The rape discussion is just to soften the next blow that, if they are elected, will permeate the halls of justice. WE CANNOT LET THEM WIN.
Even if I hated Obama and loved Romney's economic strategies (which I don't) I would vote against him and all other Republicans so they don't get the chance to drag our country back in history.
Surely in his mind, in order to make this true (and also why he is unable to elaborate), he's thinking that "rape is rape" but also that "statutory rape is a completely different thing, which we aren't talking about, because it has its own laws and everything". It's just a coincidence that the two terms happen to both include the word "rape".
There is some GOP playbook out there somewhere that describes how you can do one thing, like present legislature, and say the absolute opposite, without losing losing the voter who was behind one or the other of your many positions. They have to run it this way. It is the only way to court the nutjobs, and the middle of the road conservatives. There just aren't enough rich folks out there to get their puppet elected. Would love to see the statistics on how many times you need a clip on Fox to run in order to negate your actions on the campaign or floor. You know Roger is sitting there with the clipboard on his lap and a Dr. Evil smile on his lips as he masterminds the odds.
He also has Sponsored legislation that does not exempt an abortion ban EVEN TO SAVE THE LIFE OF THE MOTHER. Mitt Romney also said on the Mike Huckabee Show that he WOULD SIGN "Personhood Legislation", which also has no exemption to SAVE THE LIFE OF THE MOTHER. The GOP Plank provided yesterday ALSO does NOT allow EXEMPTIONS IN ORDER TO SAVE THE LIFE OF THE MOTHER.
All I am hearing reporters say is that it doesn't include exceptions for the cases of RAPE or INCEST...but for many of MY Conservative friends, it's the case of the mother's LIFE being in jeopardy that makes the view RADICAL.
My life was saved when I had an Ectopic Pregnancy at 2 weeks. Without the abortion procedure I would have died. Of course, the (zygote?) would have died too, not being able to exist without me alive. The GOP WOULD HAVE LET ME DIE ON THE TABLE. This will happen to thousands of women if the GOP gets the legislation they are vowing to pursue. This is BIG NEWS. Even Conservatives don't want women to DIE ON THE TABLE UNNECESSARILY.
Does anyone here get it?
It seems that for republicans the victims of rape are:
1) the man accused of rape
2) the fetus if the whore got pregnant after all, if it was true rape, her body would have shut down and she wouldn't become pregnant.
What is so difficult to understand?
wait - isn't a 13-year-old impregnated by a 24-year-old by definition a victim of rape? statutory rape? why on earth would a 13-year-old have to prove she was forcibly raped?
If women keep taking the pill having abortions, who will fill the ranks for America's Industrial Military Complex in the future, and how will the US keep her Industrial Prison Complex (especially in Calif.) on full? " Besides, according to what Ryan and Mitty preach, the world is topsy-turvy presently because of the "sin of Eve." We would all be in a GOP paradise if it was not for a WOMAN.
As for me, I side with Mahatma Ganhdi, " To call woman the weaker sex is libel, it is man's injustice to woman. If by strength is meant brute strength, then, indeed, woman is less brute than man. If by strength is meant moral power, then woman is immeasurably man's superior. has she not greater intuition, is she not more self-sacrificing, has she not greater powers of endurance, has she not greater courage? If nonviolence is the law of our being, the future is with woman. Who can make a more affective appeal to the heart of a woman?
Roe v. Wade made it possible for poor and middle class women to get legal abortions. If you are wealthy, your money can buy you an abortion regardless of the law. In my opinion, this anti-abortion nonsense is yet another weapon in the Republican arsenal to keep middle class and poor women enslaved to their wombs and at an economic and social disadvantage. Rich woman can get private doctors to perform safe abortions far from the public's notice. The rest of us can get jettisoned back into the days of coat hangers, throwing ourselves down the stairs or pushing the refrigerator around the room. I'm saying it now, if the Republicans hit the Trifecta and end up running all branches of the government, their first order of business will be to repeal Roe v. Wade. If they do, you'll see me in the streets, carrying signs and throwing rocks.
The expression is indeed "beyond the PALE"; here is the source:
http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/beyond-the-pale.html
It sounds pretty stilted today, in my opinion.
It is almost as if, since the woman is always to blame for a rape, the rape lets the man off and allows men to do as they place with women? Since these crazy people are also trying to take all rights away from women. Just saying. Have republicans become barbarians?
Republicans have long since become "Legitimate"-Rape-Public-CONs.
Vulture/Voucher 2012
Proving Two Rights DO Make a Wrong!
;-(
I sweat Mitt Romney is giving Paul Ryan classed on lying each night before bedtime. He and Romney are twisting themselves in so many knots I've lost track. They are for something one day, against the next, voted for something they swear they will never do if elected, etc, etc. What a train wreck!
Here's my thought on any candidate and their right to hold an office at any level:
If they're smart enough to understand basic biology of sperm meets egg equals life, yet have been hoodwinked into believing that a woman has a rape spermicide they simply aren't smart enough to hold public office. They're either incredibly (conveniently) naive, or simply stupid. Anyone so easily hornswoggled to believe such a spermicide exists should not be allowed to run for, or hold any public office. These people will be making decisions that will effect the planet...it's not correct to have naive or stupid people making such decisions. Politicians should be required to take an aptitude test for public review--imagine the fun you could have making up the questions. It's as important as tax returns and health statements.
"Clean up on aisle H.R. 3, someone spilled the baby [by forcible rape's] milk and they're trying to put it back in the bottle!"
"Clean up on aisle H.R.3, someone spilled the baby [by forcible rape's] milk and they're trying to put it back in the bottle!"