Democracy Has Prevailed.

January 24, 2012

Rick Santorum and Rape (Again)

When I was younger (so much younger than today), living in Southern Connecticut in the early days of cable TV there, we were able to watch the local evening news from New York City along with the local evening news from New Haven or Hartford.

I got to Roger Grimsby and Bill Buetel do the "Eyewitness" news on Channel 7.  For a while, their weather guy was a man named "Tex" Antoine.  I don't recall much about Antoine nor do I recall seeing his last broadcast but I take it he was a bit of a character and that his last broadcast went something like this:
The colorful Antoine was with WABC for a decade. A diabetic and creature of habit, Antoine would go to the same German restaurant every night.

Primo says his weatherman would have a glass of wine during the dinner break prior to the 11 p.m. newscast. Occasionally, someone would buy him an additional glass.

The diabetes caused his sugar levels to rise, which led Antoine to slur his words on the air “every once in a while.”

Finally, Primo scared him straight, bringing Antoine into his office and making him watch one of those slurred weather reports.

An issue of larger magnitude happened in November 1976, when his weather segment followed a horrific rape story of a young girl.

Antoine infamously said, “With rape so predominant in the news lately, it is well to remember the words of Confucius: ‘If rape is inevitable, lie back and enjoy it.’”

“[It] was just too much,” Primo admits. “Between those couple of instances and that, we had to let him go.”
Ha.  Funny.  A 5 year old girl should recognize the inevitability of her rape and just "lie back and enjoy it."

Make the best of a horrible situation, in other words.  Which brings me to Rick Santorum.  Recently on CNN he was asked about rape and abortion:
MORGAN: But do you really -- do you really -- let me ask you this. Do you really believe, in every case, it should be totally wrong, in the sense that -- I know that you believe, even in cases of rape and incest -- and you've got two daughters. You know, if you have a daughter that came to you who had been raped.

SANTORUM: Yes.

MORGAN: And was pregnant and was begging you to let her have an abortion, would you really be able to look her in the eye and say, no, as her father?

SANTORUM: I would do what every father must do, is to try to counsel your daughter to do the right thing.

(CROSSTALK)

MORGAN: It's an almost impossibly hypothetical thing to ask you, but there will be people in that position, and they will share your religious values.

SANTORUM: It's not a matter of religious values.

MORGAN: And they are looking at their daughter ,saying, how can I deal with this, because if I make her have this baby, isn't it going to just ruin her life?

SANTORUM: Well, you can make the argument that if she doesn't have this baby, if she kills her child, that that, too, could ruin her life. And this is not an easy choice. I understand that. As horrible as the way that that son or daughter and son was created, it still is her child. And whether she has that child or doesn't, it will always be her child. And she will always know that. And so to embrace her and to love her and to support her and get her through this very difficult time, I've always, you know, I believe and I think the right approach is to accept this horribly created -- in the sense of rape -- but nevertheless a gift in a very broken way, the gift of human life, and accept what God has given to you.

As you know, we have to, in lots of different aspects of our life. We have horrible things happen. I can't think of anything more horrible. But, nevertheless, we have to make the best out of a bad situation.
Let me just say that on top of everything else, Rick's wrong in saying that it's not a matter of religious values. Once he asserts that a rape victim "accept what God has given" to her, he's making it about religion.  What if she's not religious?  What if she is, but she's not a theist?  What if she is but she's not a theist within the so-called "Judeo-Christian" tradition?  Why should she be forced to make a decision according to Rick Santorum's faith and not her own?

See?  It is about religious values.

But let's put all that aside and think about what Rick's saying - that his God would allow such a horrible situation to occur in the first place in order for one more baby to be born.  Given all His omnipotence, you'd think He'd have come up with a better way of procreation than allowing all that damage to all those women.

But what do I know?  I'm an agnostic.  I don't believe any of that.

Rape:  Just sit back and enjoy it.
Rape:  Just make the best out of a difficult situation.

Yea, right.

5 comments:

EdHeath said...

I can't remember where I read it, but I was struck by a statement that even with rather more lax abortion laws, European countries have lower rates of abortion. The suggestion was the difference is because European cultures do not stigmatize an unplanned pregnancy as much as we do, and perhaps provide better support for raising a child (in general, and for a woman alone).

The exchange between Piers Morgan and Santorum strikes me as the same as the infamous gotcha question directed toward Michael Dukakis in the debate - about whether he would support a death penalty for someone who raped ad murdered his wife. Dukakis flubbed the question by answering it in terms of detached policy, not discussing how angry and emotionally devastated he would be. Santorum could have at least admitted how strong the temptation to allow his daughter to get an abortion would be, even if he asserted that ultimately his faith would guide his decision.

I can understand taking the moral position that abortion is wrong, although so many Republicans seem to also support the death penalty. But when you say abortion should be outlawed, shouldn't you also say that free daycare should be provided for the poor, and the Earned Income Tax should be increased (maybe specifically for people who file as Head of Household)? If you don't advocate for government assistance for the poor, then by outlawing abortion you are punishing poor women twice, first by forcing them to have a child they may not feel ready to care for and support, and then refusing to provide much if any support for that child from the government.

Brett Cottrell said...

Only a cruel man would punish the victim for the criminal’s crimes. America outlawed involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime, but Santorum would have impregnated rape victims involuntarily serve their attackers by making them bear their children. Only a cruel man demands that a victim of a vicious crime must, for at least nine months, give of her body, her blood and her heartbeat to her attacker. Deplorable.

http://brettcottrell.blogspot.com/2012/01/cruelty-lacks-wisdom.html

Blue Number 2 said...

Am I missing something here? Did Santorum not just advocate a pro-choice position?

"SANTORUM: I would do what every father must do, is to try to counsel your daughter to do the right thing. "

That sounds to me like he's giving his daughter a choice but conseling her to do what he advises her to do. Why does he then want to deny that option to everyone else?

Lula Belle said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Lula Belle said...

I literally wrote the book about Santorum's scenario. Expecting, by Lula Belle, is my new novel written from the perspective of a pregnant, raped, fourteen year old who can't get an abortion. Check it out on Amazon.com:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0069U29FO

Lula Belle