Ryan, Walker back away from GOP candidate

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MADISON, Wis., Oct. 12 (UPI) -- Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker have dropped their support for a state lawmaker who said some girls "rape easy."

Ryan and Walker pulled their endorsements of state Rep. Roger Rivard, who is seeking re-election, after media reports of him quoting a warning his father had given him, that "some girls, they rape so easy" -- meaning women could consent to sex but then later claim they had been assaulted -- the Milwaukee Journal reported Friday.

The newspaper said Rivard, of Rice Lake, also has lost the financial support of a GOP campaign financing group.

Other prominent Republicans also distanced themselves from Rivard, including U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, U.S. Senate nominee Tommy Thompson and U.S. Rep. Sean Duffy.

Rivard told the Journal Sentinel Wednesday the comments he made in December to the Chetek Alert newspaper about his father's advice were taken out of context.

"What the whole genesis of it was, it was advice to me, telling me, 'If you're going to go down that road, you may have consensual sex that night and then the next morning it may be rape.' So the way he said it was, 'Just remember, Roger, some girls, they rape so easy. It may be rape the next morning,'" Rivard told the Journal Sentinel.

In a written statement issued shortly after he spoke with the Journal Sentinel, Rivard called rape "a horrible act of violence" and said his earlier comments had the "potential to be misunderstood."