A former Federal prosecutor tells it like it is about Sarah Palin, and
makes an excellent argument as to why "a female candidate is no
substitute for a candidate who cares about women."
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Former Federal Prosecutor Speaks Out About Palin
by: Tania Tetlow
Wed Sep 17, 2008 at 15:17:01 PM EDT
When asked why we were attacked on 9/11, Sarah Palin answered because
the terrorists hate our freedoms. While she has been derided for her
lack of foreign policy experience, she may have come up with the most
innovative program yet to deter terrorists: taking those freedoms
away.
Just like many Middle Eastern countries, Mayor Palin punished the
women of Wasilla for reporting rape. Her administration charged them
substantial fees for the rape kits used to prove the crime. After
being attacked, a Wasilla woman could look forward to being billed up
to $1200 in return for a grueling forensic pelvic exam.
Sarah Palin has provided the ultimate example of why a female
candidate is no substitute for a candidate who cares about women.
Compare Palin and Biden's records on violence against women, an issue
on which both sides normally agree. The political right may not
always prioritize the cause, but it does not disagree that domestic
violence is destructive of families and that rape is fundamentally
wrong. Yet Palin sailed right past apathy to downright punishment of
women for reporting rapes.
Her handpicked sheriff (she had fired his predecessor for disloyalty)
decided to save Palin's city budget a few thousand dollars by singling
out rape victims to pay for their own criminal investigations. (See
the Huffington Post for new evidence that Palin signed off on the
policy.) The policy so bothered the Alaska legislature that it passed
a state-wide statute to ban the practice, signed into law by Governor
Tom Knowles.
Palin did not charge any other crime victims for the privilege of law
enforcement. When the Wasilla police fingerprinted a house that had
been burglarized, they did not present the owners with a bill for
their services. But rape, of course, is different. As an on-line
reader of Wasilla's local paper wrote in response to the issue:
To weed out the false accusations women make with respect to sexual
assaults, many towns have and are charging for rape kits. I have
worked enough rapes to know when the town ho cries foul just to be
vindictive and YES she should be charged.
Violence against women is an epidemic in America, with rates of rapes,
beatings and murders not that different from many of the countries
that we condemn as uncivilized because of how they treat women.
Studies show that about 1 in 4 women will be beaten by a partner in
their lifetime, and 1 in 6 will be the victim of rape or attempted
rape.
Governor Palin either does not believe this or does not care. Which
state has more than double the national rate of rape, and the highest
per capita murder rate of women by men? You guessed it. Alaska.
Not only is Joe Biden better on this issue, he has been the nation's
most vocal champion for ending violence against women. Biden drafted
a federal statute that banned local communities from charging for rape
kits (contained in a crime bill that McCain voted against.) Biden
spent years of his Senate career authoring and passing the Violence
Against Women Act ("VAWA"), a law that created federal enforcement of
interstate domestic violence and stalking, and, more importantly,
brought massive funding to local police departments to protect women.
Since VAWA, the domestic violence murder rate has decreased
substantially. Joe Biden has saved countless women from rape and
murder.
The women attracted to Sarah Palin's candidacy and the brash Annie
Oakley figure described by Camille Paglia are not discouraged by
Palin's positions on feminist cultural issues. But these same women
are tired of a government that ignores the constant violence against
them. These are the women who watch Lifetime movies and Martina
McBride video "Independence Day" celebrating escape from domestic
violence as part of American freedom. They understand the
humiliations heaped upon women by cynical cops, and will be horrified
at the thought of paying a backbreaking fee for a rape exam of their
daughters. This may be the issue that makes clear that Palin's
exuberance at breaking the glass ceiling conceals something darker.
Tania Tetlow
Associate Professor and Director,
Tulane Law School Domestic Violence Clinic.
Former Assistant U.S. Attorney
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