Government

Wyoming Candidate Urges Constituents To See The Romantic Side Of Statutory Rape

Family values FTW!

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Wyoming State Senator Anthony Bouchard is making national news today for a Facebook Live post in which he attempted to put a positive spin on impregnating a 14-year-old girl when he was 18.

“It’s amazing that they look at things so negatively,” he complained about “The Establishment’s” refusal to see that an adult having sex with a child is totally fine as long as they don’t have an abortion.

“Two teenagers, girl gets pregnant, you’ve heard those stories before,” said the man vying to replace Rep. Liz Cheney in congress. “She was a little younger than me, so it’s like the Romeo and Juliet story.”

And in a way, he’s right. Both those stories of child marriage ended tragically, with Bouchard’s Juliet taking her own life at 20, two years after he divorced her.

But in another more accurate way, he just admitted to committing a crime, since Florida’s age of consent was 16, and he was outside the two-year close-in-age exemption when she “fell pregnant.”

Perhaps Bouchard was so busy giving a master class in deflection that he failed to consider the vagaries of statutory rape laws and strict liability. In fact, the only thing he did take responsibility for was his valiant decision not to have an abortion and to marry the girl.

“Her mom signed the papers. We went down and got married in front of a judge,” he said, adding without a hint of irony. “Pretty scary when I was that young.”

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But the girl had “problems” and “this thing ended in kind of a bitter divorce” after which “for whatever reason, she decided” to take her own life. And although his son “got to experience some things and live life, sadly he’s made some wrong choices” and “he’s almost become my estranged son” because “some of the things he’s got going on in his life I certainly don’t approve of them.”

And while Bouchard cannot accept his own child’s life choices, he insists on his God-given right as an American to be forgiven for “something that happened in my youth.”

“This is America, we’ve all had problems. Why is this a big deal?” he demanded.

After briefly tearing up, Bouchard switched to a more pugilistic pose, decrying “the swamp” and accusing reporters (or possibly investigators, he’s not really clear) of offering to compensate family members for dirt.

“That tells you that I’m in the lead,” he deduced, without pointing to any other evidence.

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“When you get in the lead, and when you’re somebody that can’t be controlled, you’re somebody that works for the people, they’ll come after you. Which is why good people don’t run for office.”

And it’s only a shame for his ex-wife’s family, because “I just hate to see families drug out and relive things. I mean, can’t we let people rest in peace?”

Here, let the wannabe congressman explain to you why sex with a little girl is less important than sending a man of his impeccable Party of Personal Responsibility bona fides to Washington.

That guy with the dead girl in his bath tub really ought to send Bouchard a fruit basket.

US House candidate Bouchard says he impregnated 14-year-old when he was 18 [Casper Star Tribune]

Elizabeth Dye lives in Baltimore where she writes about law and politics.

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