Gretchen Whitmer gained national prominence in 2013 when, as a Michigan state senator, she stood up and testified against a Republican “rape insurance” bill by telling her own story of sexual assault. Five years later, she’s Michigan’s Democratic nominee for governor—and her Republican opponent is using images from her sexual assault testimony in an attack ad.
State Attorney General Bill Schuette’s attack ad has nothing to do with what Whitmer had to say about sexual assault. But for an ad attacking Whitmer and her running mate, Garlin Gilchrist, as “the most extreme Democrat candidates in Michigan history,” the Schuette campaign needed some pictures of Whitmer looking harsh and scary. What better way to capture a woman looking unhappy than to use pictures of her talking about having been raped as a college student!
As she said then “It's something that I've hidden for a long time, but I think you need to see the face of the women that you are impacting by this vote today.” Now Schuette wants voters to see the face of a woman talking about being raped and think “wow, she’s scary and Hamas-supporting.”
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