April 07, 2015

War on women?

According to the Washington Post a former member of the Bush administration who was charged with drugging and raping a female intern and then threatening her for months to drop her complaint has pleaded guilty but completely avoided prison.

Astonishingly the prosecutor argued that the rapist should escape prison and merely serve 4 years probation, on the grounds that the poor rapist was himself the victim of an attack some months later.

Wow.  Yet another instance of the GOP's war on women, eh?  How in the hell can a man who pleads guilty to drugging and raping a woman, and threatened her to try to get her to drop her complaint, manage to completely avoid any jail time?  Can you say FIX?  It's all part of that white good-ol'-boys network of people who are so connected they can commit any crime yet get off with virtually no penalty.

Are you mad as hell?  You should be.  It's ridiculous--an insult to our illusory notion that this is a nation of laws.  But you expected it from Bush, right?  Cuz, you know, rich Texan, right?

Oh wait...I seem to have mis-read a word or two of the WaPo article.  The rapist wasn't a Republican and part of the Bush administration, but a Democrat and one of Obama's empire.  And he's black.  So please disregard everything above.  It's completely reasonable for him to get no jail time, because he was a victim of an attack himself.  So, you know, it's only fair to give him a pass on any infraction he may have committed, like rape.

And now we totally understand why the prosecutor --an assistant U.S. attorney no less--would argue for leniency, because the idea that victims get a pass on crimes they commit is well known in the justice department.  Of course it's usually defense attorneys who play that card, but, well, you know.... Apparently in this case the federal prosecutor realized that the guy's defense team needed some help, so justice demanded that she be even-handed.  To the perp, anyway.  The victim didn't get quite as much consideration, but....

The Chicago Trib has the story too. 

In any case, next time you hear some talking head wailing about the GOP's "war on women" ask 'em if they've heard of Donny Ray Williams.  And the slimy fix that let him escape jail for rape.



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