Top Wisconsin Republicans Distance Themselves From Rivard

Top Republicans throughout Wisconsin Thursday were rescinding their support of a state GOP lawmaker after he made controversial comments about rape.

Rice Lake Republican Roger Rivard told a local newspaper that when he was young his father told him “some girls rape easy” as a way to warn him that a woman could agree to sex but later claim it wasn’t consensual. Once his remarks were discovered he eventually issued a statement saying rape is horrible and his comments were taken out of context.

Vice Presidential nominee Paul Ryan pulled his endorsement of Rivard, with a spokesman callling Rivard’s statements “outrageous and offensive” Gov. Scott Walker, Republican U.S. Senate candidate Tommy Thompson and U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson also condemned the lawmaker.

At a noon luncheon Thursday, the head of the Assembly GOP campaign effort, Republican Robin Vos, said Rivard had done a poor job of explaining his position but he knew where Rivard’s heart was, “I have no doubt whatsoever that when the people look at Roger’s entire record, not a single sentence, that they will return him to Madison because he has been doing the things that they want here at the Capitol.”

But by five o’clock last night, Vos sent an e-mail to Wispolitics, saying, “I cannot stand by Roger Rivard.”