Hillary Clinton once famously said that all women who say they have been raped "have a right to be believed." Well, maybe not ALL women.
Hillary Clinton’s campaign website was edited in recent months to remove a statement supporting rape victims’ “right to be believed” after an Arkansas woman resurfaced earlier this year to accuse Bill Clinton of raping her in 1978.
I don't know about the claim of the Arkansas woman, Juanita Broaddrick, now 73 and a retired nursing executive, who lodged the 1978 claim that Bill Clinton had raped her in a hotel room.
But I do know that Clinton should never have made the first statement.
We are–and should be–inherently sympathetic to a woman who claims she has been raped.
But we should also grasp that those who are accused of this heinous crime have a right to due process and a fair trial. Regrettably, there is such a thing as a woman who makes a false accusation.
Mrs. Clinton's original statement was clearly in line with Obama administration guidelines for handling campus rape accusations. The guidelines strip the accused of his (and, yes, it is generally a he who is accused) civil rights and are so out of line with jurisprudence that 28 Harvard professors decried it in an open letter to the Boston Globe.
Sort of makes a difference when "the accused" is your own husband, doesn't it, Mrs. Clinton?
We believe that all mothers and wives want due process if their husbands or sons are accused of this horrific act.