Editor's Note: Language Warning
When the news broke Friday that Rolling Stone Magazine (sort of) recanted it’s scandalous story of a brutal rape on the UVA campus, now thought to be based on a false account, conservatives blamed Rolling Stone for not vetting its sources well while Liberals trashed Rolling Stone too but for a different reason: “victim blaming.” To the left, this wasn’t a case of a magazine writing up a story based on an unverified account, but a slip up that affected their “rape culture” agenda. That’s why feminist Politico writer Julia Horowitz could say, “to let fact checking define the narrative would be a huge mistake.” Her sentiment wasn’t alone. Here are more terrible ways the left misdirected their anger to prove a political point:
Jessica Valenti, outspoken feminist writer for The Guardian:
Well fuck you very much, @RollingStone
— Jessica Valenti (@JessicaValenti) December 5, 2014
I trust women.
— Jessica Valenti (@JessicaValenti) December 5, 2014
2) What it does mean is that @RollingStone threw her under the bus to protect their own asses, after their own mistakes
— Jessica Valenti (@JessicaValenti) December 5, 2014
.@RollingStone did not say this woman's story was false, but their cowardly statement ensures that will be the takeaway
— Jessica Valenti (@JessicaValenti) December 5, 2014
Who is Jackie? Rolling Stone's rape story is about a person – and I believe her http://t.co/m9uSby4dLv
— Jessica Valenti (@JessicaValenti) December 8, 2014
Somehow sister Vanessa Valenti, co-founder of Feministing, managed to turn this into a conversation about illegal immigration?
Sexual assault victims may give incomplete information because of their immigration status/fear of being deported (6/7)
— Vanessa Valenti (@VanessaValenti) December 8, 2014
CNN’s Sally Kohn went on a tweeting frenzy, ...even comparing the trust in the Rolling Stone story to the trust Americans put in the Bush Administration’s “weapons of mass destruction.”
To conservatives accusing liberals of believing UVA reporting because of ideological motives, I have three letters for you: WMD. #ahem
— Sally Kohn (@sallykohn) December 6, 2014
Van Jones on ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos roundtable Sunday cited a small study from 2007 which claimed one in five women were raped on college campuses, a number which has been debunked over and over again, yet liberals continue to cite as gospel. He then claimed,
“This mistake on the part of the Rolling Stone actually emboldens people who want to attack young women’s credibility when they come forward.”
Or as MSNBC Chris Hayes charmingly put it:
Also, fuck you RS for trying to throw your source under the bus: this is on you, not her http://t.co/xb8g3aAveM
— Christopher Hayes (@chrislhayes) December 5, 2014
