The owner and editor of feminist commentary website Wonkette is “sort of?” “leaning toward?” believing Juanita Broaddrick’s claim that Bill Clinton raped her in 1978 — but is quick to add that doesn’t make the former president a “bad feminist.”
In response to BuzzFeed News’s new profile of Broaddrick, Rebecca Schoenkopf of Wonkette suggests that the alleged attack took place in a simpler time:
“I can absolutely see Bill Clinton doing this (then, not now) and not even thinking of it as rape, but thinking of it as dominant, alpha sex.
“I can see a LOT of men doing that during that time period, before we started telling them in the ’80s, ‘hey, that is rape, do not do that.’ I can see YOUR NICE GRANDPA doing that, back then.”
Clinton was the attorney general of Arkansas at the time he met Broaddrick, running in the gubernatorial race he would ultimately win.
In an age when the definition of sexual consent is constantly defined and redefined, and the consequences for being publicly accused of rape or coming out as a rape victim are increasingly high, Schoenkopf takes a laissez-faire approach to addressing accusations against Clinton:
“I think Bill Clinton could very well have raped Juanita Broaddrick; that it doesn’t make him an evil man, or irredeemable (I’m Catholic; we’re all forgiven, if we’re sorry, and Broaddrick says Bill Clinton personally called her up to apologize).
“It doesn’t even necessarily make him a bad feminist — you know, later, once he stops doing that.”
Schoenkopf also repeatedly dismisses as “irrational” Broaddrick’s claim that Hillary Clinton, the current Democratic presidential nominee, tried to intimidate her into silence shortly after the alleged attack.
Hillary and Bill Clinton in 1992. Image Credit: Luke Frazza/Getty Images
Broaddrick says she attended a political rally and ran into Hillary who shook her hand and thanked the nursing home operator for everything she had done for Bill.
“Her characterization of Hillary Clinton sounds irrational, maybe induced from PTSD,” wrote Schoenkopf:
“There is simply no reason Hillary Clinton would have known jacksh*t about it.”
The former Secretary of State has long been dogged with accusations that she silences or defames women who may disrupt Bill Clinton’s political career.
When the leader of the free world, then-President Bill Clinton, had a consensual affair with Monica Lewinsky, a former White House intern, Hillary Clinton called the 22-year-old a “narcissistic loony toon” in a private conversation.
Hillary called Gennifer Flowers, allegedly Bill’s longtime former mistress, “trailer trash.”
Image Credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
In a 2000 lawsuit, Flowers alleged that Mrs. Clinton created and ran a “war room” during the 1992 presidential campaign to gather sworn statements from all the women Mr. Clinton may have slept with that the rumors were false.
And Kathleen Willey, who claimed Bill Clinton sexually harassed her during his first term as president, said Hillary Clinton made it a point to launch a “terror campaign” against her.
For her part, Broaddrick came back in the public eye when, in response to Hillary Clinton’s statement on the campaign trail that every sexual assault survivor has “the right to be believed,” she emerged on Twitter, criticizing the Clintons:
I was 35 years old when Bill Clinton, Ark. Attorney General raped me and Hillary tried to silence me. I am now 73….it never goes away.
— Juanita Broaddrick (@atensnut) January 6, 2016
Earlier this week, Clinton’s campaign silently scrubbed the line about believing victims from her website. So too, apparently, are some feminists willing to scrub away Bill Clinton’s inconvenient reputation.
The post Feminist Website Shows When it Comes to Bill Clinton, Not All Alleged Rapists Are Created Equal appeared first on Independent Journal Review.
Source: independent journal
The post Feminist Website Shows When it Comes to Bill Clinton, Not All Alleged Rapists Are Created Equal appeared first on .@tonygreene113.
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