Palin's Latest Blunder: Attorney General Nominee Reportedly Defended Marital Rape

By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

It seems as if the closer the country gets to the 2012 presidential race and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin gets to the GOP nomination she apparently covets, she just can't keep herself from making stunning mishap after stunning mishap. The latest is in nominating a man for the state's attorney general position who reportedly defended the right of men to rape their wives. According to The Daily Beast:

[Wayne Anthony] Ross, a colorful far-right lawyer and longtime Palin ally who sports his initials, W.A.R., on his Hummer's vanity plates, was once considered a shoo-in for confirmation. However, his nomination was thrown into grave peril when his opponents presented evidence that he called homosexuals "degenerates," leveled invective against an African-American student offended by a statue of a Klansman, vowed to undermine the sovereignty of Native American tribes, and allegedly defended men who rape their wives. According to two sources close to the confirmation hearings, Palin may ask Ross to withdraw before his appointment comes to a vote.

The Beast quotes Leah Burton, a children's issues and domestic violence lobbyist, who says she heard Ross make the marital rape comments.

If someone appointed you deputy governor and you were sent to scour the countryside for a popular potential attorney general, do you think you could find a worse nominee? I'm no politician, but I think it would be pretty tough to find a guy who advocated marital rape. Unless, of course, I were scouring the countryside of Afghanistan in the Shiite minority sector of the country. Sarah, Sarah, you never fail to surprise!

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