Yeah, it’s not only Republicans who say dumb things about rape. At least three Democrats have done it this week. Ever since Colorado state Rep. Joe Salazar said that women don’t know what it feels like before they get raped as a reason to disarm Colorado college campuses, it has – or it should – put liberals on the defensive about rape and the war on women. For only a little while, the right and left-leaning blogs, including Jezebel, agreed that what Rep. Salazar said was nonsensical. The only hold out was left-wing blogger Amanda Marcotte, which shouldn’t shock anyone.
Nevertheless, it was a topic of discussion on yesterday’s broadcast of Fox News’ The Five. However, co-host Bob Beckel, the show’s lone liberal commentator, said that rape on college campuses isn’t really a big deal. As Dylan Stableford at Yahoo! News wrote:
“When was the last time you heard about a rape on campus?” Bob Beckel, a liberal co-host of Fox News’ “The Five,” asked his four colleagues on Tuesday’s show.
“What are you talking about?” co-host Eric Bolling responded. “It’s rampant.”
“In particular, date rape on campus,” co-host Dana Perino added.
In 2010, the Department of Justice estimated that 25 percent of college women “will be victims of rape or attempted rape before they graduate within a four-year college period.” It also noted that women “between the ages of 16 to 24 will experience rape at a rate that’s four times higher than the assault rate of all women.” And, it said, schools with more than 6,000 students “average one rape per day during the school year.”
According to New York University’s “National Statistics about Sexual Violence on College Campuses,” fewer than 5 percent of such cases are reported to law enforcement.
This isn’t the first time we’ve experience an unhinged Bob Beckel. He’s dropped the f-bomb on live television, which you can find here and here, but I’m sure this comment will – and should – draw the ire of any decent person with cognitive functions.
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