From Time:
QUOTE
Clayton Williams was the 1990 Texas GOP gubernatorial candidate. He was leading Democrat Ann Richards in the polls, but then he spoke the words that ultimately cost him the governor's race.
Talking to reporters about the weather, he joked that bad weather is like rape: "as long as it's inevitable, you might as well lie back and enjoy it." Williams' comments created a major firestorm. Nothing else he said throughout the rest of the campaign mattered.
Four years later Ann was defeated by GW Bush. Who used the governorship as a stepping stone to the Presidency.