Tea Party Leader Arrested For Kidnapping and Rape

Last updated on February 8th, 2013 at 08:30 pm

Don’t tread on me? It is confirmed today that it was Tea Party leader Michael Kobulnicky who was arrested Thursday in San Diego for the alleged brutal kidnapping and rape of a 56 year old woman.

According to East County Magazine, Michael John Kobulnicky is accused of offering a woman a ride on February 25, but instead of taking her home, he drove to secluded island, pulled the victim out of the vehicle, sexually assaulted her, and left her in the sand. San Diego Police Lt. Andra Brown said, “He dragged her out of the car and sexually assaulted her pretty brutally.”

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Kobulnicky, the public relations director for the San Diego Tea Party, is also the former regional director of the Southern California Conservative Party.

According to his Facebook Page, the divorced father of five was engaged and planning on getting married in April. He also writes, “I am one of the leaders of the San Diego Tea Party and I am the Public Relations representative and leader of our media team. I am also in charge of recruiting new members….Mr. Kobulnicky cherishes our Constitution and values the sacred freedoms we have unlike all other countries! His passion is to educate youth and adults concerning the Constitution and other topics and to motivate people to take action and protect our Constitution, country, and our American way of life.”

On his website, Kobulnicky describes himself as, “Michael is single and has five sons. He loves to read all different types of books, especially books relating to the Constitution and our Founding Fathers, among other types of interests. He is a Christian too.” Notice how he left out the part about being a kidnapper and a rapist. I guess those two little details don’t fit in with taking America back.

But then, neither does his past history (per the San Diego Superior Court) of being accused of domestic assault.

In light of the conservatives’ war on women, events such as the arrest of a self-proclaimed Christian Tea Party leader for the alleged rape and kidnapping of a woman only add to the growing perception that the Right does not support women’s rights, and may, in fact, see American “liberty” as only pertaining to white men.

While it’s certainly not fair to paint a movement with the actions of one person, this is hardly the first incidence of violence against women coming from the Right. For example, we recall the curb stomping of a petite woman’s head and neck at a Rand Paul rally and the James O’Keefe CNN boat caper. Taken together with legislation aimed at redefining rape, stripping away the few protections and resources for battered women, making miscarriage illegal, criminalizing abortion even in the case of rape, incest and when the mother’s life is at stake, removing women’s choice over their medical care, imposing a state-mandated trans vaginal probe, and much, much more, it becomes clear that the Right is not well.

These and other incidents beg the question, exactly what kind of people does this movement attract? What sort of people call themselves a Christian while they beat their wives or rape women. How much anger at women does it take to beat your wife and rape a 56 year old stranger, and how much anger and disrespect for women does it take to suggest that women should have no say in whether they get medical care to save their own life?

It could be coincidental, but it appears to be the almost inevitable and most disturbing result of the belief that women shouldn’t have certain rights over their bodies. And from this woman’s point of view, it appears that many of the Tea Party leaders are supporting and pushing legislation and opposing the Violence Against Women Act, all of which make it easier for perpetrators to get away with heinous acts of hate against women, like the charges leveled against Michael Kobulnicky of rape, kidnapping, and forcible sex with a foreign object.

Why else would they be “redefining” rape? Apparently the “American way of life” doesn’t include women’s rights and the concept of “sacred liberties” doesn’t extend to females.



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