posted
Comment: Supposedly Senator Bob Wilson of California asked, "If you can't rape your wife, who can you rape?" Is this true? I find it quoted frequently, but never with an original source or context.
Posts: 36029 | From: Admin | Registered: Feb 2000
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-------------------- Eppis: Do you know why being a revolutionary doesn't work in this country? Being a revolutionary in America is like being a spoil sport at an orgy. All these goodies being passed around and you feel like a shit when you say no. Posts: 294 | From: Brisbane, Australia | Registered: Nov 2004
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posted
I don't know about the quote but I can comment on the wikipedia search. It recently came to light that a large number of senators and congress men were altering their wikipedia listings! So its likely that if it was there, it may no longer be there any more.
posted
The thing that I find most interesting here is that the posters to date are all male... If he did say it and any woman ever votes for him again, he's a very lucky man... I would need to be very sure that this was not true in order to bring myself to even look at his stances on the issues of the day...
-------------------- Sweetheart, Remember never squat with your spurs on. Love, Mama Slainte! Posts: 42 | From: Connecticut | Registered: Aug 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Deirdre: The thing that I find most interesting here is that the posters to date are all male... If he did say it and any woman ever votes for him again, he's a very lucky man... I would need to be very sure that this was not true in order to bring myself to even look at his stances on the issues of the day...
I wouldn't worry about voting for him since he's been out of office for 26 years and dead for 7.
I can't find any references to the origin of that quote online, and even the attribution are off in terms of year and political affiliation of Wilson.
- Il-Mari
-------------------- When you mix faith with science, you serve neither and weaken both.
- Richard P. Sloan and Larry VandeCreek Posts: 1094 | From: Helsinki, Finland | Registered: Jan 2001
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Joe Bentley
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posted
quote:Originally posted by Deirdre: The thing that I find most interesting here is that the posters to date are all male...
Errr... what does that have to do with anything?
-------------------- "Existence has no pattern save what we imagine after staring at it for too long." - Rorschach, The Watchmen Posts: 8929 | From: Norfolk, Virginia | Registered: Jun 2002
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quote:Originally posted by Deirdre: The thing that I find most interesting here is that the posters to date are all male... If he did say it and any woman ever votes for him again, he's a very lucky man... I would need to be very sure that this was not true in order to bring myself to even look at his stances on the issues of the day...
2 additional post to the original story, that has got to be the worst data to base a statistical analysis I've ever heard. How about this statistic when you posted one in three posters was women. Not a bad statistic.
-------------------- All the world's a face, And all the men and women merely acne. Posts: 673 | From: Glasgow, Scotland | Registered: Oct 2005
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posted
I don't know if Wilson said it or not. But after reading his Wikipedia entry, his brand of politics (redbaiting, "rugged individualist," etc.) does sound like the sort that would lead a guy to think that sort of crap was okay to say. That said, it wouldn't be right to attribute the comment to him without proof.
-------------------- Another lifetime I'd have fallen in love with you Swept away by my feelings, ashamed and confused But just now it's enough to be walking with you Let the mystery play as it will! -Lui Collins Posts: 2669 | From: Jouy en Josas, France | Registered: May 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Deirdre: If he did say it and any woman ever votes for him again, he's a very lucky man...
People often vote against their own interests. According to CNN's exit poll for the 2004 presidential election, 23% of voters who identify as gay, lesbian, or bisexual voted for Bush. Also, it seems the women of California weren't overly put off by the Gropinator's past offenses, so why would an offhand, asinine remark that, if it was ever uttered by this person in so many words, was probably intended as a joke, put off every single female voter forever?
quote:Originally posted by Deirdre: I would need to be very sure that this was not true in order to bring myself to even look at his stances on the issues of the day...
So in your book, he's presumed guilty until proven innocent. And how can he prove himself innocent if you won't even "bring [your]self to even look at his stances on the issues of the day"? Especially since he's dead?
-------------------- "If God wrote it, the grammar must be infallible. Perhaps it is we who are mistaken." -MapleLeaf Posts: 977 | From: Boston, MA | Registered: Oct 2005
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posted
From a post to STUMPERS-L, a listserv for librarians & others who have been stumped by a question
quote:Seems to be some interesting information on this! As one w*mb*t previously responded, this was California Representative Bob Wilson; the quote is attributed to him in a few articles I found, including a San Francisco Chronicle article from 5/14/90.
HOWEVER, if you dig back a bit farther, there's also a letter in Time Magazine from 10/10/83, from Bob Wilson, in which he explains the circumstances of the quote. As he stated in his letter, at the time he said it, he was trying to explain to three supporters of the marital-rape law why they might have trouble getting other lawmakers to support it - because some people might say that "if you can't rape your wife, who can you rape?" According to Wilson's letter in Time, this wasn't his opinion, but rather a statement of what he perceived others might feel; he added, in his letter, that he did vote for the bill.
ETA--I've been going down a bit of a wrong path. The person quoted was a member of the House of Representatives fromn California, not a senator. He died in 1999. There is a California Senator Bob Wilson--a retired member of the California Legislature. Different person.
-------------------- The plural of "anecdote" is not "data." Posts: 4255 | From: Sacramento, CA | Registered: Feb 2000
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posted
It's also a semantically empty rhetorical question. It's offensive for the words in it, but it doesn't actually make any kind of statement at all.
I'm reminded of the good advice offered me once: "Never rape anyone over fourteen years of age."
It does not formally imply that raping someone under 14 is okay, although that is how most listeners would interpret it.
Silas
Posts: 16801 | From: San Diego, CA | Registered: Sep 2000
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posted
Well, Clayton Williams handed the 1990 gubernatorial election to Ann Richards on a platter when he said "Rape is like bad weather. As long as it's inevitable, you might as well lie back and enjoy it." Unbelieveable.
Posts: 4811 | From: Austin, TX | Registered: Feb 2000
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quote:Originally posted by Deirdre: If he did say it and any woman ever votes for him again, he's a very lucky man...
People often vote against their own interests. According to CNN's exit poll for the 2004 presidential election, 23% of voters who identify as gay, lesbian, or bisexual voted for Bush. Also, it seems the women of California weren't overly put off by the Gropinator's past offenses, so why would an offhand, asinine remark that, if it was ever uttered by this person in so many words, was probably intended as a joke, put off every single female voter forever?
Correction, people often vote against SOME of their own interests. Apparently, they had interests more compelling than their sexual orientation.
-------------------- "Dear Lord, please protect this rockethouse and all who dwell within..." Posts: 1093 | From: Japan | Registered: Jul 2003
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quote:Originally posted by Gayle: Well, Clayton Williams handed the 1990 gubernatorial election to Ann Richards on a platter when he said "Rape is like bad weather. As long as it's inevitable, you might as well lie back and enjoy it." Unbelieveable.
I always cite that when people argue that George W. Bush is a brilliant campaigner just because he beat an incumbent governor in his first race. You really do need to look at the reasons why Richards was the incumbent in the first place!
-------------------- Another lifetime I'd have fallen in love with you Swept away by my feelings, ashamed and confused But just now it's enough to be walking with you Let the mystery play as it will! -Lui Collins Posts: 2669 | From: Jouy en Josas, France | Registered: May 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Gayle: Well, Clayton Williams handed the 1990 gubernatorial election to Ann Richards on a platter when he said "Rape is like bad weather. As long as it's inevitable, you might as well lie back and enjoy it." Unbelieveable.
Eep, was that "joke" still around in 1990? I remember the NYC weatherman Tex Antoine getting fired for the same remark (attributing it to Confucius), and I'm sure that happened in the 80's or even the 70's.
-------------------- Si hoc comprehendere potes, gratias age magistro Latinae. Posts: 1720 | From: Charlottesville, VA | Registered: Jan 2003
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quote:Originally posted by Gayle: Well, Clayton Williams handed the 1990 gubernatorial election to Ann Richards on a platter when he said "Rape is like bad weather. As long as it's inevitable, you might as well lie back and enjoy it." Unbelieveable.
Eep, was that "joke" still around in 1990? I remember the NYC weatherman Tex Antoine getting fired for the same remark (attributing it to Confucius), and I'm sure that happened in the 80's or even the 70's.
It got Bobby Knight in trouble at Indiana in the 80s.
-------------------- "The large print givith, and the small print taketh away" -- Tom Waits, Step Right Up
"The only difference between me and a madman is that I am not mad." -- Salvador Dali Posts: 2443 | From: Illinois | Registered: Feb 2000
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