Amanda Marcotte Reminds Us That Hillary Clinton Approved Using The “Crazy Bitches” Strategy Against A Female Child Rape Victim
[guest post by Dana]
With accusations of hypocrisy now being rightfully lobbed at Hillary Clinton after she accused a GOP candidate of having a “penchant for sexism,” yet in nearly the same breath announced that one of the most notorious sexists of our time would be stumping for her on the campaign trail, feminists are groaning in dismay at having to yet once again square their support for iconic feminist Hillary Clinton with Bill Clinton’s much publicized sexual misconduct toward women.
Given that Hillary Clinton is campaigning on a platform of owning a uterus (also known as playing gender politics), this self-appointed, self-anointed alleged champion of women and children’s rights finds herself in a bit of a pickle, too, given that she has historically been defender and enabler of her woman-abusing sexist husband, as well as intimidating and smearing any number of women who accused him of sexual assault, thus leading the charge of Democrats in their war on women.
What a sordid mess: Hillary Clinton, feminist icon, enabler of notorious sexist Bill Clinton and persecutor of his female victims, wants to become our next president, and Bill Clinton, notorious sexist ex-president and abuser of women, is campaigning to help said feminist icon and fellow abuser of women become our next president. And all the while, the American feminist is circling the wagons around these two Democratic idols because they’re all about advocating for women. Sure they are. Could it possibly get any more twisted than this? Why yes, it certainly can.
Yesterday, after the news came out that Bill Cosby would be arraigned on charges of sexual assault, Amanda Marcotte tweeted something rather remarkable:
Charging Bill Cosby is a big victory for sexual abuse survivors. It helps undermine the “crazy bitches” narrative.
Interesting, because as far as I know, this is the same Amanda Marcotte who just last year jusitifed then lawyer Hillary Clinton’s willingness to play the “crazy bitch” card on a 12 year old female rape victim in order to get her 41 year old client, who was facing 30 years to life, off the hook. Mind you, Marcotte neglected to mention that Clinton was not a public defender assigned to the case, but rather she chose to defend the rapist as a favor. Marcotte even went so far as to complain about the Washington Posts’s Melinda Hennenberger’s temerity to question Clinton’s ethical decision to smear the victim. Marcotte dismissed it as little more than Hennenberger “making hay over irrelevant details”. Here is a portion of Hennenberger’s “irrelevant” hay making:
In an interview in the mid-1980s for an Esquire magazine piece that never ran, Clinton’s glee is audible about the prosecution’s big mistake in the case, when it accidentally discarded key evidence. Some are writing off the remarks, as one fellow journalist put it on social media, as “typical gonzo defense lawyer talk.”
It is not, however, typical talk for a lifelong defender of women and children.
Nor was Clinton’s defense plan, mapped out in a court affidavit. In it, she questioned the credibility of the victim and suggested that the sixth-grader, who an ER doctor said showed injuries consistent with rape, had “a tendency to seek out older men.”
“I have been informed that the complainant is emotionally unstable,’’ Clinton wrote in the affidavit, “with a tendency to seek out older men and to engage in fantasizing.” The document, filed with the Washington County, Arkansas court on July 28, 1975, argued for a psychiatric evaluation for the victim.
“I have also been informed that she has in the past made false accusations about persons, claiming they had attacked her body,’’ Clinton wrote. “Also that she exhibits an unusual stubbornness and temper when she does not get her way.”
The “little bit nutty, little bit slutty’’ defense has a long, ugly history. It’s jarring to see it trotted out against a kid by a future feminist icon. The argument also bears an uncomfortable similitary [sic] to Clinton White House descriptions of Monica Lewinsky, who without that semen stain on her little blue dress would have been dismissed as a stalker who had fantasized that she had a relationship with President Bill Clinton.
…
In 2008, her spokesman told Newsday that Clinton “had an ethical and legal obligation to defend him to the fullest extent of the law. To act otherwise would have constituted a breach of her professional responsibilities.”
Defending even a child rapist as vigorously as possible might be a plus if she were running to lead the American Bar Association. But wouldn’t her apparent willingness to attack a sixth-grader compromise a presidential run?
Marcotte responded to Henneberger’s concern about Hillary Clinton’s willingness to use the “little bit nutty, little bit slutty” defense on the child-victim with this shameful justification:
I understand why this gives Henneberger pause, but to quote myself from 2012:
Defense attorneys use this strategy because it works, as can be routinely demonstrated. As long as juries keep acquitting based on this myth that women routinely make up rape accusations for the hell of it, defense attorneys will continue to use it. The problem here is a larger culture that promotes rape myths, not defense attorneys who exploit these myths in last-ditch attempts to get acquittals for rapists who have overwhelming evidence against them.
So there you have it. It’s the fault of society, juries, the justice system, and the fact that a defendant is guaranteed a right to an adequate defense. In Marcotte’s view, Hillary Clinton is absolved of playing the the notorious “crazy bitch” card against a child rape victim, as well as any number of sexual assault victims involving her husband. In Marcotte’s dishonest eyes, none of these irrelevant details call into serious question Clinton’s campaign platform of being an advocate for women and children. Seriously, Amanda?? Who is the real crazy bitch here?
Here’s the thing: the issue isn’t about Hillary Clinton choosing to defend an accused child rapist to advance her career (that’s a separate issue). The issue is that in her defense of said accused child rapist, if necessary, she was more than willing to impugn the credibility of a child rape victim to get the charges against her client dropped. In other words, neither Hillary Clinton nor Amanda Marcotte had any qualms about using the very same “crazy bitches” strategy that Marcotte now condemns and wants to see come to an end.
Look, we already know that Hillary Clinton is no more about protecting the rights of women and children than is Amanda Marcotte. They both have excused, rationalized, and dishonestly represented themselves before the American people in an effort to push themselves forward as leading advocates for women. But it is Hillary Clinton who wants to become our next president. Therefore, it is absolutely vital to point out the abhorrent untruth she continues to push, and that is that she has always been an advocate for women and children. Clearly, we know otherwise. Should this impact her run for the presidency? Absolutely. Whether it will or not, however, is up to voters. But certainly it can be agreed upon by rational people that this is simply not what an alleged champion of women and protector of children looks like.
And now that we know noted feminist Amanda Marcotte is really not about undermining any “crazy bitches” narrative, and that rape victims – even children – are fair game for this strategy, exactly how does she feel about accused rapist Bill Clinton? Pretty good, I would say:
Watching Bill Clinton speak is like getting a hug from a giant teddy bear who can hug everyone at once.
And how does Marcotte feel about candidate Hillary Clinton, enemy of women and children? Well, also pretty good:
…Hillary Clinton is the Democrat we need for 2016.
–Dana