RADAR ALERT: Senator Reid Plays the Domestic Violence Card

Yesterday Senator Harry Reid made the following comments in support of a supposed jobs bill.

"I met with some people while I was home dealing with domestic abuse. It has gotten out of hand," Reid said on the Senate floor. "Why? Men don't have jobs."

Reid said that the effects of joblessness on domestic violence were especially pronounced among men, because, Reid said, women tend to be less abusive. "Women don't have jobs either, but women aren’t abusive, most of the time," he said. "Men, when they're out of work, tend to become abusive," the majority leader added.

Contrary to Reid's politically-convenient claims, reputable researchers have found time and time again that women perpetrate domestic violence at rates comparable to that of men.

Researchers from the CDC have found that in half of all relationships in which violence occurs, the violence is reciprocal. And surprisingly, "in nonreciprocally violent relationships, women were the perpetrators in more than 70% of the cases."