House Republicans found themselves the butt of jokes on The Daily Show last night for attempting to make a risible distinction between rape and "forcible rape." The language had been part of a bill to limit government subsidies for abortions in instances of rape, and would have given an exemption for women who become pregnant as a result of "forcible rape." Instead, the bill’s author, Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), tells Politico the modifier "forcible" will be dropped "so that the exemption covers all forms of rape, as well as cases of incest and the endangerment of the life of the mother." So the amendment is still risible, just not semantically. The Daily Show had fun with it:
In the segment, the Daily Show’s Kristen Schaal clarifies that there is "a whole rainbow of rape covering a wide spectrum of gray areas." Quoting Whoopi Goldberg on Roman Polanski, Schaal explained, "There's rape and there's rape rape!" According to Schaal, there's also rapeish and rape-esque: "And I don't think hard-earned tax dollars should go to women who are only rapeished! By proposing this legislation, Republicans are finally closing the glaring rape loophole in our health care system. You’d be surprised how many drugged, underaged or mentally handicapped young women have been gaming the system. Sorry, ladies the free abortion ride is over."
And asked by Jon Stewart if women raped by friends would qualify for benefits, Schaal replied, "Date rape is now classified "rape with benefits".... And by the way, Hollywood, if you're looking for your next big romantic comedy, you can't do better than that."
