(Re)-Revealed: Democrat Senator Tom Carper Admitted Slapping His Wife in the Face in 1998 Interview

Kirsten Gillibrand unable for comment, I imagine.

Delaware senator Tom Carper admitted to slapping his wife in a 1998 interview with a veteran political journalist in the state, confirming an accusation he denied when first running for Congress.

Carper represented Delaware first in the House, then was elected governor in 1993, and has been in the Senate since 2001. He fought the accusation that he hit his wife when it first emerged during his 1982 run for Congress, saying it was "without basis in fact" and pledging to sue the New York Post, which first published the accusation in 1982, for libel.

Carper won in 1982 largely by attacking his Republican opponent for his "vicious" efforts to "smear" him and his wife, but 16 years later he admitted to Delaware reporter Celia Cohen that the accusation was true all along.

"Did I slap my wife 20 years ago? Yes," Carper said. "Do I regret it? Yes. Would I do it again? No."

Slapping one's wife is assault. So shouldn't men who assault women, even decades in the past, be forced from the Senate?

I thought that was the rule. That had been the rule two or three days ago. Has something changed recently to make that not the rule again?

Oh, and on that: When's Al Franken resigning, exactly?

posted by Ace at 05:14 PM

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