The Best Commentary on Ray Rice's Suspension Comes From Joe Biden

Say what you will about our Vice President’s propensity to gaffes and awkward photo op nuzzling; when he’s on, he is fucking on. This morning, in an interview with Today’s Tamron Hall, his commentary on the Ray Rice suspension (and, on a larger scale, violence against women) was so on point that if John Oliver had said it, the Salon headline would claim that UTTER ANNIHILATION had occurred.

Hall, whose sister suffered from domestic abuse before being killed by her former romantic partner in 2004, has made it a personal project to draw attention to issues of domestic violence in the US, and encourage women in violent situations to seek support and help.

Biden helped create the Violence Against Women act in 1994, and has since been a vocal advocate against domestic violence.

The entire interview is worth a listen, but here are the best bits:

It’s never, never, never the woman’s fault. No man has a right to raise a hand to a woman. No means no. […] The one regret I have is we call it domestic violence as if it’s a domesticated cat. It is the most vicious form of violence there is, because not only the physical scars are left, the psychological scars that are left. This whole culture for so long has put the onus on the woman. What were you wearing? What did you say? What did you do to provoke? That is never the appropriate question.

And!

The next challenge is making sure, ironically, we get college presidents and colleges to understand that they have a responsibility for the safety of women on their campus. They have a responsibility to do what we know from great experience works. Bringing the experts. Provide people, give the young woman the support that she needs. Psychological support. the medical support, and if need be, the legal support. Societal changes taking place. It takes time. But I really believe it’s taking root, and we have an obligation to just keep pushing it.