Laffy Note: Apparently David Garber and I both decided to post about this pathetic excuse for a human being, and for good reason. It happens. Two writers, two different takes on the same topic.
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Republican Maine State Rep. Lawrence Lockman says he's sorry for appalling statements he made in the '80s and '90s about women's and gay rights, rape, abortion, AIDS, sodomy, and progressives.
It is now 2014. Do the math, State Rep. Reprehensible (R- Busted), because your "mea culpa" is a tad overdue.
Via the Morning Sentinel:
In a 1995 letter in the Sun Journal in Lewiston, a reader quoted a press statement by Lockman, then part of the Pro Life Education Association, saying, “If a woman has (the right to an abortion), why shouldn’t a man be free to use his superior strength to force himself on a woman? At least the rapist’s pursuit of sexual freedom doesn’t (in most cases) result in anyone’s death.”
This Moment of WTF brought to you by "rape doesn't result in anyone's death" and "rapist's pursuit of sexual freedom," among other things. By the way, does this genius understand that men get raped, too?
So now he's apologizing, just as some Republicans are currently walking back, tempering, or avoiding their own controversial positions on similar issues with an eye toward future elections.
But that's not why Lockman hung his head, shuffled his feet, and mumbled his regrets about something he put out there years ago. Nope, he issued his apology because Progressive blogger Mike Tipping revived them in a very public way in a recent post. Call it a Tipping Point. Local Democrats demanded the State Rep's resignation.
So basically, he was sorry that his earlier vile remarks were rediscovered and spotlighted.
Lockman attributed his bigoted, ignorant, misogynistic idiocy to being "passionate about his beliefs" and declared that he holds " no animosity toward anyone by virtue of their gender or sexual orientation." Sure. Anything you say, Lawrence. I'm passionate, too, about exposing you, an elected official, who has displayed a jaw-dropping lack of judgment, sensitivity, awareness, and basic knowledge on the taxpayer's dime.
Mike Tipping has much more, including:
“In the overwhelming majority of cases, people are dying because of their addiction to sodomy,” Lockman wrote in a 1987 letter to the editor to the Lewiston Daily Sunarguing against funding for AIDS education. “They are dying because progressive, enlightened, tolerant people in politics and in medicine have assured the public that the practice of sodomy is a legitimate alternative lifestyle, rather than a perverted, depraved crime against humanity.”
The post Women have abortion rights, so why can't men rape them? asked now apologetic GOP lawmaker. appeared first on The Political Carnival.