Rep. Akin Chooses Lonely, Quixotic Road into Senate Race
Missouri Senate candidate Todd Akin has no support from fellow Republicans in the upper chamber, a dried-up well of national campaign cash infusions, and conservatives begging him to step aside for the good of the party and the GOP’s hopes of retaking the Senate.
And yet, as the time for Akin to seamlessly withdraw from the race to unseat incumbent Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) ran out late this afternoon, Akin insisted that he could still win and would be staying in the race.
In his defiant declarations of bucking the tidal wave of will against his continued candidacy, the six-term congressman seemed bent on trying to paint himself as the ultimate anti-establishment candidate: one who wouldn’t be bullied by the media, sitting Republican lawmakers, or even a presidential candidate, but who believed so much in the principle of a stronger America that he wouldn’t hand the task off to someone else.
“Akin is still standing,” declared the homepage of his campaign website.
“The people from Missouri who elected me know I’m not perfect. They don’t make perfect people. We all make mistakes. When you make a mistake you tell people you’re sorry, you don’t try and hide it. I made a mistake and I’m sorry,” Akin said on his site, emphasis added by the candidate, asking visitors to “chip-in $3 as a sign of support of my continued candidacy” and asking for petition signatures to pledge “We the people stand with pro-life candidate Todd Akin!”
“I apologized but the liberal media is trying to make me drop out. Please stand w/ me tonight by signing my petition at http://www.akin.org/still-standing,” he tweeted two hours after the dropout deadline.
Akin began the day, in which GOP leaders were looking forward to a withdrawal by 5 p.m. Central time (and had reason to believe he might, given that he reportedly recruited help to make that transition), with an ad in which he asked for “forgiveness” for how he “used the wrong words in the wrong way” in talking about rape and pregnancy.
“If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down,” the Missouri lawmaker said on a local TV station Sunday.
In a quixotic pledge to “rush to the gunfire,” Akin rushed to the side of friendly radio hosts today, and one who only increased the pressure on Akin to drop out as the time ticked down.
“One word, one sentence, one day out of place and all of a sudden the entire establishment turns on you,” Akin told Dana Loesch on her show. Akin said he had been misunderstood, and was “making the point that there were those who were making false claims, like those who basically created Roe v. Wade.”
“I want to make one thing absolutely clear. We are going to continue with this U.S. Senate race,” Akin definitively told Mike Huckabee on Tuesday, whose show was the first one on which Akin appeared after the scandal broke.
Akin was a no-show last night on Piers Morgan after his campaign staff told the CNN host that he’d appear. But he did show up for the second time in as many days on Sean Hannity’s radio show, where the conservative host browbeat the congressman about staying in the race despite the damage he could inflict on the party.
“You misspeak one time, one place, one word,” Akin said. “Don’t you think that this is a little hyperbole going on here?”
The candidate said he had spoken with his House colleague, Republican vice presidential candidate Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), who advised him to think about stepping aside.
“He recognized I had to make a tough decision here,” Akin said. “…He didn’t tell me what to do; that’s because he’s a very respectful and decent guy.”
Though GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney didn’t expressly join the chorus yesterday demanding that Akin step aside — voices that included several senators — he followed up with another condemnation statement today asking just that.
“As I said yesterday, Todd Akin’s comments were offensive and wrong and he should very seriously consider what course would be in the best interest of our country,” Romney said. “Today, his fellow Missourians urged him to step aside, and I think he should accept their counsel and exit the Senate race.”
On Hannity’s show, Akin seemed miffed at the Romney statement. “Why couldn’t he run his race and I run mine?” the congressman said.
But can this crusader defiance win?
I love it.
The first Republican with a backbone that doesn’t capitulate under the Soviet style media attacks while the worthless Republican party capitulates to the criminal Obama administration again.
That’s a delightful fantasy. We are not capitulating to Obama by declaring we don’t want some misogynistic representing us. But I get it. It must be a liberal conspiracy which put those words in his mouth and turned a likely win into a likely loss. Yes. Yes. Doubling down on someone who is obviously too stupid for the office is the way to show those liberals we won’t be bullied. Are you huffing glue?
“misogynistic ”
I hope you have some proof to back that statement up. Otherwise you sound like you are huffing a ton of post.
Just because you disagree with someone who values human life, and yes that includes baby’s in the womb, does not make them misogynistic.
I am %100 pro-life, and I find his comments not only misogynistic, but also greatly lacking in judgement.
In other words, he was just inartful in his choice of words, but you agree with what he said. At least you are being honest. I wish the rest of the GOP would spare us the hypocrisy and fake outrage considering they backed Sharron Angle who said rape babies were making lemonade out of lemons and backed Ken Buck who refused to prosecute rape claims because he said they were buyers remorse.
Also after all this fake outrage by the GOP their official party platform is announced today that supports Akin’s boiled down claim that abortion should be illlegal in all instances, with no exceptions for rape or incest.
And then to top it all off Romney has come out in support of “personhood” on the Huckabee show earlier this year, and said the reason he wants to overturn Roe V Wade and send the abortion issue back to the States is because the States could then roll back to draconian laws and back alley abortions. And then you have his running mate Paul Ryan who co-sponsored many a bill with Rep Akin (H.R. 3) when it comes to personhood and abortion legislation and like Mr. Akin, Ryan doesn’t believe in a rape/incest exception either.
So the outrage is a completely phony one. Rep. Akin is a very good representation of who the Republican Party is. They just want to keep that hidden while the GOP house voted something like 80 times on anti-abortion measures in the last two years.
Actually,Cynical Wonder, I do not agree with what he said. I do not know what he meant by “legitimate” rape (which notion,frankly disgusts me), and I do not think that his “junk science” has any validity.
And Personhood legislation is not tantamount to criminalizing abortion, but Your post is exactly why Akin should step down. The left will work overtime to try to tie Romney/Ryan to this clown. I wonder if you yourself are personally misrepresenting the proposed legislation or if you are simply echoing pro-abortion talking points?
Perhaps lacking in judgement, but that is a trait shared by most humans. It is hardly a damning statement when taken in it’s whole.
Curious, you claim to be 100% pro life, does that mean you do not support allowing an abortion in rape cases?
Only a man who thinks women are somehow less human than men would entertain the ideas he upholds as “science”. It’s 2012. He is supposedly an educated person. Yet because he read some anti-woman diatribe written by a crack-head “doctor”, he actually believes that the female reproductive system has magical powers that enables it to discern “legitimate rape” sperm from “not legitimate rape” sperm.
His words demean, degrade and dehumanize women, therefore he is a misogynist. And a creep.
Or he suffers from Alzheimer’s.
Take your pick. Either way he’s unfit for office.
I do not know if the science is good or bad. But it is irrelevant.
The real issue is he believes that all babies in the womb have a right to life no matter how conceived. That is a position I struggle with as rape is atrocious and I think a woman so abused should have the right to an abortion. However I can respect Akin’s position that there should not be a rape exemption in banning infanticide/abortion.
His whole comment , when taken in context, shows a honest position and a deeply moral man who understands allowing or disallowing a rape exemption is .. how did Akin state it ah yes..”how do you slice this particularly tough sort of ethical question.” he understands just how tough a ethical question this is.
Such a man is far from addled, and is definitely suited for office.
Naes, actually it could be. It appears that Akin’s campaign got something like $1.5 million from the Democrats. Claire MaCaskill considered Akin the easiest of the Republican challengers to beat; Akin already having the reputation of being a loose cannon. So the Democrats pumped money into Akin’s primary campaign, Akin won, and now here we are.
I live in Mirrouri. I will be voting for Akins. He IS NOT a Misogynist. He is a conservative;
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/w_akin/400005
I expect him to win. His position is valid, just uncomfortable to abortionists.
For every femanazi turned off by his distinctions regarding rape, there is a male someplace that is turned on. The Socialists are looking at a slaughter and will go to any lengths to retain any seat. Can’t really blame them, since it is their job. Jobs are hard to come by now a days. If you have one, better work at it. Hard.
McCaskill is loathed everywhere except St. Louis. Polling is done mostly in St. Louis.
Akins little slip will cost him votes but I doubt that it will be enough to throw the election to McCaskill. The pundits live in the bi-coastal zones. They have no idea what is happening in fly over America.
Haji can’t shoot.
The guy is dumber than Biden. There’s no principle to defend here unless the principle is electing dumb people to the senate.
Electing dumb people to the Senate is a time-honored tradition. Besides, dumb people need representation too, don’t they?
Marcel,
The guy is either stupid or so undisciplined he can’t run a campaign. This what the McCaskill campaign was counting on. All the guy had to do was stick to the talking points, talk economy, economy, economy and there would have been another Republican senator. But he didn’t have the self discipline to do so. McCaskill was dead meat. Now, who knows. That’s why so many of us are so upset. We want to boot the socialist Democrats out not give them an open door to re-election.
Mike2, you are 100% correct! Akin is so undisciplined that he felt COMPELLED to brag that he was too smart to be fooled…that HE knew that if abortion were illegal except in cases of rape…that sneaky women would fabricate a rape in order to obtain an abortion. He wanted the viewers to know that HE was too smart to allow THAT to happen! What a jerk!!!
Abortions are going to continue. Gay relationships are still going to happen. A religion or a Church can ban both from their membership. But a secular country cannot.
But we conservatives CAN demand FISCAL sanity through our national, state, & local leaders. Less spending, smaller gov’t, etc. If we concentrate on economic issues, we can appeal to logical Americans and save our beloved country!
Oh please, this is not a conspiracy of the lib media. The clown self-destructed. Time for him to do the honorable thing and get out of the way while there’s still time to run someone competent.
So we are worried about Akin when there is stuff like this to concentrate on. Shame on us.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/aug/21/stimulus-funds-spent-obama-ads-olbermann-maddow/
I’ve shifted some of my monthly political contributions to him just hours ago. Which means he has received more from me to date than the RNC has for the last several years.
I do not tolerate Borkings well.
Unfortunately for you, Akin and the GOP, the majority of the US population doesn’t tolerate rape well, so you, Akin and your ilk are making a lousy investment.
Nor does Akin or myself tolerate rape. To portray it as you do is more a reflection on your character… as in lack of, than a indictment on him or myself.
Once you agree that there’s “legitimate rape” and “not legitimate rape”, you’ve admitted that you tolerate rape.
Are you suggesting that the term used as Akins used it..”legitimate rape” means he is saying there are circumstances in which rape is justified?
Because that is the only reading, and an incorrect interpretation of what he said BTW, which would s’port your statement.
I think he believes that some rapes are not “rape rapes”, or “legitimate rapes”.
He seems to think the only definition of rape is when a woman is brutally and at gun or knifepoint forced to have sex, is beaten or knifed or shot in the process, and there is videotape footage proving it.
Date rape, drugging victims, statutory rape don’t really count in his and Ryan’s minds. They’re not “forced” enough. Not enough bruises on the woman = not “legitimate rape”.
Napoli took it even further — the woman would have to be sodomized as well as vaginally raped for it to count enough to warrant her an abortion — and even then only if she was a virgin and religious. Non-virgin, non-religious, unsodomized, not-brutalized-enough rape victims aren’t really the victims of “legitimate rape”.
Yeah. In short, Akin and his supporters tolerate rape when it doesn’t meet their feverish imaginings of what “real” rape should look like.
I do not think that of Akin at all Nora. Your “and video to prove it” is ugly histrionics not warranted by any of Akins words.
Doing some research here is what Akin was talking about it would seem. http://www.christianliferesources.com/article/rape-pregnancies-are-rare-461
Perhaps he should have used the term “Forcible” rape, but none the less there appears to be some statistical validity in what he was saying.
As for statutory rape, that is only a rape in the eyes of the law. While I am not arguing it should not be a crime, it is most often consensual and is not really rape as a forcible event.
That link addresses date rape… which is rape right.. forced sex upon a unwilling woman… why the separate category. Once again you project something upon Akin that is not supported by what he said.
Which pretty much sums up the rest of what you write.
Akin asserted that a “legitimately” raped woman’s body possesses some kind of power to prevent pregnancy. He wasn’t talking about statistics. He was talking about some harebrained notion that a genuinely raped woman would never really be pregnant because of this physiological mechanism her reproductive system switches on if she’s raped.
The upshot of his words are that he believes that women who were really, truly raped cannot get pregnant, so women who get pregnant by rape are obviously lying.
He’s a disgusting pig who doesn’t give a rat’s ass about women. He’s just another typical old creep who thinks he has the right to force a rape victim to carry her rapist’s child. And that’s all I need to know about him and anyone else who supports that position. People who believe they can force rape victims into nine months of pregnancy and a delivery are evil and I will never change my mind about that.
I’d rather have four more years of Obama than put a pro-rape, anti-rape victim politician in office, and that includes Paul Ryan. I guess I should thank Akin for reminding us all who and what Ryan really is — a man who would lock a rape victim behind bars and force her into nine months of pregnancy and a birth. The difference between someone who thinks that’s okay and the rapist himself is absolutely nothing.
Ah, now Nora shows her true reasoning.
Well vote for President Downgrade then Nora, he represents you, MOBY.
Personally I support allowing abortion in rape cases. But I respect those who have struggled with this very hard ethical choice and support a babies right to life no matter how conceived.
I would say, however, you are projecting again when you call Akin the pig. You are hateful, and a waste of my time.
He is a pig.
And you can claim I’m a liberal all you want, but the reality is that I cannot compromise the humanity of women just for promises of more money in my pocket (I have plenty, thanks…).
One rape victim forced into a pregnancy violently perpetrated upon her is one too many.
There she goes again. I mean Amanda the semi-pro troll, Amanda Marcotte. Or at least she “thinks” like Marcotte.
“Your ilk,”? You strike me as a concern troll.
None of these waters would be muddied if women didn’t lie about being raped in the first place.
People lie about many things. Men lie about having raped women, too.
This has nothing to do with filing false charges. This has everything to do with a certain mindset when it comes to the full humanity of women. It’s not the first time this particularly odious mindset has been expressed, nor, sad to say, will it be the last.
Unfortunately for you, Akin and the GOP, the majority of the US population doesn’t tolerate rape well
Maybe but you can still get office with a 49.2 percent plurality. Of course, you have to be a Democrat.
I guess Biden will be telling Tampa African-Americans that the Repubs attending the Convention are planning to enslave them again. And what are the media voices like Sean Hannity worried about? A conservative candidate from Missouri facing a Demunist moonbat from outer space named McCaskill.
Cowardly fools.
http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/biden-will-be-tampa-during-rnc_650401.html
Definitely agree with the crusade reference. He is so right in his own mind that he is willing to burn the house down in order to get what he wants. It has zero to do with what is good for the state, party, or country.
It’s HIS shot dammnit!
He should probably start seeing real polls in another week or so that will show him just how far he’s fallen – and it is too late to do anything about it.
It is NOT “too late”. He has till 09/25 to withdraw, giving the Republicans time to put forward a candidate to appear on the ballot who actually has a chance of winning. It would have been far easier and more convenient if this megalomaniac idiot had withdrawn today, but all is not lost YET. Not till 09/25.
When the idiot does not get the hero worship and donations from Missourians he plainly expects and thinks he’s entitled to, he may finally see what’s plain to everyone else.
He’s a crusader with an ego living in an echo chamber. I highly doubt he will step down.
I’d love to be wrong on this count!
If he does, I doubt the state Republican party will nominate the Tea Party candidate as it would be an admission they were wrong.
Can’t have that now can we…..
So, best hope at this point is that Akin gets an ear full from now on, no funding, and constant criticism between now and Sept 25.
I doubt he’ll fold, but hey – it’s worth a shot. Any criticism he’ll probably just take as affirmation of the self-percieved righteousness of his cause.
If he does fold, most likely scenario is the state party puts in Brunner. Steelman would immediately undo a lot of the damage done to the republican brand – so of course they can’t go that route….
Finally,a Republican with a spine who is not intimidated by the commiedemocratic destruction machine or the RINO gang who act more like the democrats every election cycle.
Dump the RINO Romney ,Aiken for President !!!!
Akin’s view of women much more mirrors those of the Muslim Brotherhood than the Republican party. At heart he is a Muslim.
That’s a lie.
No, it’s an opinion.
A declarative sentence that is false is a lie.
Except, Patrick, that the statement is true.
Well, if it is an opinion, it is an uninformed opinion based it seems upon one sentence from one speech.
It used to be customary in some stodgy old quarters to give a person who won a campaign to be a candidate for Republican office the benefit of the doubt. Guess those days are gone with the wind.
Agreed, it is a lie.
Yeah, remind me next January when President Romney addresses Congress that includes SENATOR McCaskill and MAJORITY LEADER Reid! Obamacare will then be permenant! Will you feel good then?
That would be entirely on the people of Missouri and the GOP wusses. There is no guarantee that if Akins withdraws that Senate goes Republicans nor that if Akin stays in it doesn’t go Republican.
And even if Akin had dropped out, the Dems aren’t going to let go anyway.
All the Repub apologies, repudiations, and objections to Akin will not mean a thing.
Feral Cat is an idiot gone off his rocker on this matter. His is the losing attitude.
Too many other idiots like him, with their endless rants and raves, are the problem.
Mohammedan Akin = Obama’s gift from Allah.
Obama has probably spent most of today alternating between bowing down to Meca and dancing a jig.
Let misogynist Imam Akin run as a Muslim Brother.
Akin just handed the Democrats, and their media lap dogs, a crowbar to beat, not only him, but every Republican over the head with. His idiocy could not only lose us the Senate, but the Presidency (and the Supreme Court along with it).
Pathetic….worse than pathetic.
The people who elected Obama and McCaskill are still here. They haven’t gone anywhere. The election of Romney and Republicans is not going to get rid of that handicap.
They are already using it in fundraisers. Here is an excerpt from one against Allen West in Florida.
_______________________________________________
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And so we are sidetracked from critical issues such as the growth of government. Shame on Akin.
My point being this is already being used in despicable fundraising e-mails against other candidates.
I would disagree that Akin is sidetracking anyone – maybe the msm, rinos, desparate demos, but not Akin
sorry = desperate. My point being any one of the rinos or Rpmney could have said “the guy needs to be horsewhipped and castrated, or _________, but let’s all get back to what the O did to the economy TODAY”…
Letssee… will Missouri elect a guy that says something dumb or will they reelect a bubble-headed-in-the-bag-for-obumma tax cheat that should have been prosecuted and sent to federal prison for committing a real felony??
I fear for my state and my country if McCaskill is reelected.
And this is what Akin actually said.
“REPRESENTATIVE TODD AKIN: People always want to try and make that as one of those things, well, how do you, how do you slice this particularly tough sort of ethical question. It seems to me, first of all, from what I understand from doctors, that’s really rare. If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down. But let’s assume that maybe that didn’t work or something. You know, I think there should be some punishment, but the punishment ought to be on the rapist and not attacking the child.”
“OMG…Misogynist….. Hitler…..Muslim…..”
If such reaction the depth of a republican, much less a Conservative. I may as well vote for President Downgrade and go on the dole.
A Simple Bricklayer
Demanding the whole loaf will leave you with nothing but crumbs. Nothing will do as much damage to the pro life cause as insisting that a women who becomes pregnant as a result of a rape mustn’t be allowed to abort the embryo.
” If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.”
What does “legitimate” mean?
What is the scientific basis for this?
Either he is bullshitting that an actual doctor told him this directly or he lacks common sense and good judgement to simply accept this absurd premiss.
Commentary has a really good piece on the betrayal of pro-lifers in this.
Personally, I think removing Obama from the White House and trying to take back the Senate is too important.
Live events can cause stress, stress often messes up reproductive hormones and cause either changes in ovulation, or in the ablity to carry a child to term. With that said, many children have been born from rape during times of war.
So if this idea that rape pregnancies are rare while plausable, it is not plausible to say they are zero, or even small percentage when counted against the possibliy of pregnancy. I’d suggest that Mr. Akin has therefore failed the ‘fool or liar test’ (ie fool = to stupid, or liar = knows better and is false about it). This test is failed I find by most politicians. (heck probably most of humanity including this author).
Legitimate rape = something other than what Tawana Brawley did (consensual sex with her boyfriend). Cheers -
Yeah. We know what he said, and we’re appalled. We get that he wants to force rape victims to undergo nine months of a pregnancy and a delivery against their will, just like the rapist forced violently forced himself on her. We get what he believes — that if it were really rape, she wouldn’t be pregnant in the first place, so the rape exception isn’t necessary — a good girl’s magical vagina will save her from evil rapist sperm! It’s only bad, lying girls who get pregnant.
We understood the mindset when it fell out of Bill Napoli’s ignorant, misogynistic mouth and we understand it now that it’s fallen out of this creep’s mouth.
Nora you express it well, and I’m sure some of your barely controlled rage must be aimed at our “bitter clingers” who will ride their principles down to defeat. Screw it, let’s just split the party, like Congress Party did in India.
They should be happy when abortions decline due to plummeting birth rates in the Great Obama Depression to come. Maybe that’s the plan.
I guess PJMedia et al. are going keep on beating up on this man Akin. His offense is not great. I’m embarrassed for you. You can’t scrutinize Senator McCaskill at all? All you can drone on about is Mr.Akin’s unforgivable sin?
I pray that he stays in. The more of you people he tells to pound sand, the more I like him.
Akin is a misogynist and Obama believes in infanticide, so I suggest marooning both of these low lives together on a remote island where they can spend the rest of their lives together debating. Two birds with one stone, so to speak.
Tod Akin: “From what I understand from doctors, that’s (conception as a result of rape) really rare. If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down. But let’s assume that maybe that didn’t work or something, I think there should be some punishment, but the punishment ought to be of the rapist, and not attacking the child.”
Scientific fact:
YES. “(conception as a result of rape) is really rare”, allowing that “really rare” is a loose subjective term, studies indicate the rate is about 1 in 20. I think “uncommon” would be a better descriptive term.
Scientific fact:
YES. In a violent assault rape “the body has ways to TRY to shut that whole thing down”.
Understanding a term used in the proper context:
Something CNN and other scoffers are incapable of. The term is “legitimate rape”, in context meaning a sexual coitus which is done violently, an assault upon a body, traumatizing at the time to the victim. Why use “legitimate” as a modifier? Obviously to exclude sexual coitus where the female is not traumatized, in fear, assaulted violently, resists, even if it was claimed to have been undesired. Laws on rape vary state to state, and some would include “rapes” where the female was submissive and went along with the coitus forced upon her. In the context of Mr. Akin’s remarks that the female body’s reaction can make conception difficult in reaction to a traumatizing rape, he needed to exclude those acts of forced undesired sexual coitus, which are also called rape, where the victim is not traumatized.
In his choice of modifier, that is “legitimate”, Mr. Akins was not well spoken, and could have picked a less inflammatory term, but in the context it is a legitimate and understandable use of the word.
Yeah, yeah. Now tell me about the black helicopters, and how Agnew blew up the twin towers.
Sir, you are mistaken:
.
Sorry, formatting problem…
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8765248
Your link quotes it as 5% which happens to be 1 in 20. An important question is what is the result of those who are not practicing effective birth control (ie trying to get pregnant, forgetting pills/devices, etc) is that also 1 in 20? well then we have ‘common’. I think rating 1 in 20 as uncommon is a fair description without data on typical intercourse pregnancy rates.
Don’t tell me it’s chocolate when there’s flies buzzing around it……..
First, I don’t agree with him because I believe that there should be a rape and incest provision. But, if he were facile enough to have made an argument quickly defining his use of the word “legitimate” to mean a case of forcible rape, we’d be in a different place today. At first I thought the guy was just dumb. Now I think he’s dumb and arrogant. This can’t be walked back, and life ain’t fair.
But to all of you howling about misogyny, anyone who’s ever dealt with sexual misconduct allegations in employment or in law enforcement knows that there are LOTS of fraudulent rape claims and lots of “buyer’s remorse” rape allegations. The last one I dealt with a year or two before I retired started with a screaming allegation by a man that his SO had been raped by a fellow crew member in the crew quarters of one of our ships. The State Troopers quickly looked at it and decided that it was better as an administrative investigation than a law enforcement investigation but because of the vagaries of due process and 5th Am. protections for public employees couldn’t tell us what they knew without compromising our ability to investigate and discipline or dismiss someone, or if we found anything criminal, our ability to refer it back to them. Anyway, because of the circumstances, I was very skeptical, so I sent two of my female subordinates to interview the female employee alleged to have been raped and gave them specific instructions to get the woman away from her SO and question her rigorously and with a threat of immediate dismissal if she lied to us. Didn’t take long before she owned up that she’d been having an affair with another crew member, somebody dropped a dime to her SO, and rather than admit the affair she claimed she’d been forced to have sex with the other guy. SO went nuts and called the Troopers. When we actually got the investigation going we found there was so much hanky-panky going on in the unlicensed crew quarters that we wound up firing so many of them that we had trouble meeting our required manning on that vessel for awhile. That’s just one of many similar situations I dealt with, and I’m sure any cop or prosecutor has many more similar stories than I do. Girls lie too.
Catch a clue here folks. In order to do something about what is the really serious problem facing our country you have to get elected. This moron may well have cost Repubs the Senate. possibly the House and even the White House. The only option fiscally responsible people are going to have left is a third party. And taking away the money. Be prepared to sacrifice the big cities.
Glenn, I got a clue, let me share it with you. Fiscal responsibility isn’t the disease, it’s the symptom. Moral turpitude is the problem;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_turpitude
To be precise, here is the root of that issue;
snipped
“conduct that is considered contrary to community standards of justice, honesty or good morals.”[1] It appears in U.S. immigration law from the nineteenth century. In other common law jurisdictions it is dated or obsolete.”
The problem is that morals are considered obsolete. That is why the USA has a problem with cronyism and corruption. Conservatives are trying to re-.
establish America’s moral foundation.
Fiscal issues are caused by the feral government spending too much money. That is because politicians steal a percentage of the tax dollars that pass through DC (Dirtbag City). So by increasing the budget, they increase their ill gotten gains. It is because they are immoral. I intend on voting for Akins. If you want me to change my mind, prove that he is stealing by shoving tax dollars out in return for campaign contributions.
Smears by corrupt and immoral pundits won’t do it.
Celer, Silens, Mortalis.
As Akin’s poll numbers sink, how about a prominent moderate Republican (assuming they exist in Missouri) runs third party–like Joe Lieberman and Lisa M from Alaska did. The national Republcan Party and PACs can support the candidate. It could work–there’s time.
It is embarrassing to watch people I like and respect, Hannity, Rush, Stewart Varney, Dana Perino etc., crapping their pants over this Akin matter. I’m embarrassed for them. It is shameful.
What’s shameful is the depth & breadth of Akin’s stupidity & foolishness. It’s too bad that these things have eluded you, Patrick. I must confess that I am rather surprised at your case of blindness on this issue.
I see fine. What Akin said is not that offensive. The left is going to use the abortion dogwhistle to get women in their tent regardless of what anyone says. Republicans, especially “pro-life Republicans, piling on this man is a thousand times more aggregious than anything the man said. Akins can still beat McCaskill.
“What Akin said is not that offensive.”
Based on what standards? Are we to accept that the term “rape” is now to encompass a laundry list of meanings that might go from “no, not really rape, I was just kidding” to that which most people associate with the violent act of aggression it truly is? Akin tried to set that stage of fantasy by saying “legitimate rape,” which not so subtly implies the notion that for the most part, when a woman claims to have been raped, she is lying. Nothing at all offensive about that? I wonder how you feel each & every time you are wrongly called a liar, Patrick. I suppose too, based on your assertion above, that we should no longer be offended by such an outrageous display of ignorance, as there is no sufficient evidence out there to support the notion that a woman’s body “shuts….down” its reception of incoming rapist sperm.
I think you need to think this thing through just a bit.
Akin may have lost a lot of Republicans but he has gained the Muslim Brotherhood as they share his view of women.
Yep, it really is just about that bad. To present rape as something that can be parsed is simply unconcionable. To think as well that this guy thought that he could get away with virtually calling women liars (“legitmiate” rape as if most of rape exists only in the minds of skanks or something….how insulting to all women) is simply beyond the pale. Not only should this guy quit post haste, he deserves a sound thrashing for what he has said.
OK. We get it. You don’t like Muslims. You don’t like Akins. Therefore, Akins = Muslims. There’s a word for that. It’s called a pseudo-syllogism.
No doubt his “god” spoke to his heart and told him to stick it out. Freak.
You say “no doubt” but I have serious doubts about your assessment. I think the guy was the Democrats Trojan horse candidate in the Republican primary and now he is going off just like they planned he would. Great news Obama! The Republican “War on Women” scheme is back on. Get the speakers, media outlets, and the banners lined up! ABO2012
At least no one has asked the nominee his opinion on a “Flat Earth”. After this fiasco, this man’s persona as a fool is set in concrete. Prior to these events, I never heard of Rep. Akin, something I suspect is common amongst the Missouri electorate. If that is accurate, that means that a sizeable proportion of the electorate’s first impression of the candidate will be something south of awful. One can certainly argue about the fairness or lack of it. I suspect we might even manage a consensus in favor of unfairness; nevertheless I contend fairness or the lack of it, is not the issue of importance here. The only issue that will matter 6 months from now is who will represent Missouri as a result of the election of 2012.
I believe most, if not all of those calling for the representative to step down, share my belief that this “mistake” is not just unfortunate, but fatal to his election chances. To many, his assertions raise legitimate concerns of this grasp on reality. I am not a Missourian and I would never vote for McCaskill, but w/out additional information, I could not vote for Akin either, irrespective of his conservative predilections. If Akin must spend part of his campaign assuaging concerns of his base on his competency for office, what chance do you think he has of overcoming his public persona in less friendly confines? Unless the voting electorate is something approaching 60% Republicans (i.e., Democrats + Independents comprise no more than 40% of the total electorate), the sense of most observers believe he has no reasonable probability of success and this assumes he is able to persuade Republicans he is an able and competent representative.
I honestly would appreciate a realistic pathway for Akin to gather 50% of the vote. I realize the incumbent is very unpopular but when you add in Akin’s public persona as it stands today, I believe far more Republicans will shy away from him than will desert McCaskill and Akin’s gaffe has unnecessarily added a huge impediment for those originally on the “anyone but McCaskill” wagon.
I think you nailed the reality of this.
We allow our presidents to say “nucular” instead of “nuclear.”
We allow our president to say that there are “57 States.”
Can anyone out there say they have NEVER made a mistake. NEVER had a bad or off day?
If Akin quits, Claire McCaskill, a nasty, partisan, little piece of democrat, wins. There is no time for another republican/conservative to get into the race. None. McCaskill wins. Of course the democrats want him to quit. Why wouldn’t they? They keep a seat in the senate, a seat that, right now, looks up for grabs.
The man made a mistake. He apologized for it. A lot of our senators and representatives have an odd view here or there. Are we going to kick them all out because of one odd belief or idea? Barney Frank thinks a man should be allowed to marry another man. The people of Massachusetts kept re-electing him for decades.
Let the media yell and scream all it wants. We all know whose side they’re on. Let the people of Missouri decide his fate. If they can overlook it, so can the rest of us. In two or three years, we’ll have all forgotten about it… until the media brings it up again anyway in order to bash Republicans some more.
If you don’t see that we should never, ever sink to the level of the left, then there is no help for you. Damn the double standard. That is not what our side is all about. They circle the wagon around their losers; we try to expunge them from our ranks. Seriously, which approach is really worthy of merit. Try thinking things through………
Woe, woe, woe unto the Stupid Party. How long until R&R do something just as idiotic as Akin hath wrought?
Our ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory knows no limit. Indeed is limitless.
I kinda feel sorry for the fool Akin. I hope he has some way to feed his family in future. He has NO future in politics. Watching Sarah on Greta: I can’t remember seeing her so stressed and down. I get it. I feel the same way. Damn you Akin you stinking effing blithering idiot.
None are so blind… as those who will not see.
Surely I thought that the Honorable Mr. Akin would have stepped aside, fully understanding that this is for and about America… and not about him.
September 25, Mr. Akin. Thank you.
Akin has no honor and he doesn’t care about babies any more than he cares about women. He is obviously a total narcissist and those who actually do care about either women or babies or both need to shun him like he is the plague, because that is essentially what he is.
Bravo PJ Media. Not a lot of pseudo-wannabe conservative sites would just come out and admit they are hacks. Its refreshing. Good to know that I have to go elsewhere for principled coverage of politics.
How much is George Soros paying for this political hit on a principled statesmen?
Let’s just review…a principled man, after conferring with a doctor, shared his Christ inspired position. For that he gets attacked incessantly. We wonder why this country is going down the toilet and we acted surprised? The fact that the GOP and the leftist media (like yourselves) are demanding him to step down is enough for me to donate to his campaign.
Ah but no…continue to attack a man who STANDS AGAINST THE SLAUGHTER OF BABIES! That’s sure to stop America’s slide into socialism.
I’ll discus it with you, and I do know how to use the “Reply” function.
First, I don’t agree with him because, like the vast majority of Americans, I believe in a rape or incest exception to abortion prohibitions just like and for the same reasons I believe in a self-defense exception to homocide prohibitions. A woman should not be forced to bear the spawn of a rapist – period. If your religious beliefs are different, that is an issue for you, the women in your life, and God, it isn’t an issue for secular society. That said, his position on rape and incest exceptions is a political question for the people of Missouri.
His position on the likelihood of pregnancy from forcible rape is defensible. The problem is that he was too damned dumb to defend it. The Democrats poured money into his primary campaign because they knew he was the easiest one to beat and right off the bat he shows he has a case of foot in mouth disease and demonstrates that he’s first stupid enough to put his foot in his mouth with the use of the unmodified and undefined word legitimate with regard to rape, a hot button issue for which any candidate should be totally prepared, then, if that weren’t enough, he was too damned dumb and hamfisted to adequately walk it back and hold his position; if he really believed what he said, he should have defended it rather than apologized. Basically, the Democrats were smarter than the Republicans and bet on the right Republican horse – the dumb, arrogant one. The guy should have done his ritual suicide and let the Party put up a viable candidate to try to take the seat. Now unless he’s got a miracle in his pocket he’s given the seat to the Democrats and damaged the National ticket.
Your comments are well put. His ablity to win the race should be the consideration, not the right or wrong of his statements.
However, I guess I’d put this question to you. If a woman gets pregnant through a rape, is that a life or not? If it is a life, why is it allowed to be killed? If it is not a life, why would there be any limitation on abortion?
It is not well known, but the Texas law which was the subject of the Roe v Wade decission had an exclussion for rape/incest. The SCOTUS decission posed the same basic question and decided that since the TX law already acknowledged via the rape clause that the pregnancy didn’t contain a life (for the fetus) that it was therefore the woman’s decission what to do with the tissue in her body.
“However, I guess I’d put this question to you. If a woman gets pregnant through a rape, is that a life or not? If it is a life, why is it allowed to be killed? If it is not a life, why would there be any limitation on abortion?”
I think a human being exists at conception, so yes that is a life. I believe that self-defense is an affirmative defense to one having harm inflicted on one’s self. A woman is entitled to defend her person against against the harm of a pregnancy being forced on her by a rapist just as she is entitled to defend herself up to and including the use of deadly force against the rape itself. Incest is more complicated, and I would only advocate an incest exception to an abortion prohibition in the case of a minor female who definitionally is incapable of giving consent; incest with a minor female is essentially rape because of the coercive nature of an incestuous relationship. There are good societal reasons to prohibit incest even between consenting adults by to my mind those reasons are not compelling enough to justify taking a life.
To my mind, in most states this is merely a philosophical argument. I don’t agree with your assessment of what was held in Roe v. Wade, but we can both agree it was wrong and badly reasoned as a federal Constitutional doctrine. The states however are another matter. Few states will outright prohibit abortion or even prohibit abortion with only a life, health, rape, or incest exception. Most states will, however, restrict abortion far more than is the standard now but I think first trimester abortion will remain legal in most states and parental notice or consent with a judicial bypass will become pretty standard as well. Some states, mine among them, have an explicit guarantee of privacy in their constitution so one doesn’t have to reach for penumbras and emanations to deter government infringement into private acts. But even in these states, demonstration of a compelling state interest and a narrowly tailored act in response to that interest will pierce even an explicit privacy guarantee. With regard to minors, this sort of argument really means we need to go back to the once universally accepted notion that minors were definitionally incompetents and consequently their parents act in their stead. That is, of course, anathema to the left since they rely on the young, poor, and stupid – often in the same person – for their power base, but I, frankly, don’t give a damn about the self-esteem of the yutes. Too young to vote but old enough to fight was true enough in most of the Country in the Vietnam era, but we threw the baby out with the bathwater with the extention of suffrage to all 18 and over. Hell, the Obama Rigime just admitted that they were incompetent to provide their own healthcare up through age 26, so why shouldn’t they be considered incompetent to vote when they’re living in mommy’s basement and on mommy’s health insurance.
I am not religious but I’m moderately pro-life on a secular, utilitarian basis as discussed above. That said, regardless of what the rigidly pro-life might think, and even if they’re right, had either of my daughters become pregnant while still a minor, they’d have been on the next plane to Seattle for an abortion, and if a discussion of that with God was necessary, I’d have had it and faced its outcome.
I thought you deserved a reasoned (reasonable?) reply. I follow your arguement on self-defense, but disagree. I do agree that this is most philosophical at this point, and that no state will have bans on abortion without exceptions, and the ones you list are probably about where most will go with it.
As for the age of concent/voting/etc. I’d suggest that those who don’t take responsiblity for themselves (on parents insurance until 26) perhaps shouldn’t be able to vote, as they are refusing to accept responsiblity of adulthood. Although I know that won’t go far.
I have issues with blanket statuaory rape laws be it related or unrelated. And most states have ‘first cousin’ or greater requirement for marriage (some states like Arkansas require no closer than 2nd cousin co-sanginity) so that seems to be the inside limit on incest (or outside?).
Anyhow I’m aware of cases of the pair of 15 year olds engaging in NC-17 activity, and then the guy is listed as a permement sex offender. OTOH I’m also aware of step-dad’s taking step-daughters to clinics for abortions as a way of covering their assults. The clinics under the auspices of privacy for the proceedure don’t report the under lying crime. (technically not incest, but probably statutory).
But I digress, or just ramble.
Akin would do just fine in Iran or Saudi Arabia or Egypt. They would probably make him an official Imam. That any American, other than a Muslim, would vote for him now is beyond embarrassing. Rather ‘ironic’ too since it’s Obama, not Republicans, that seems to love him the Muslim Brotherhood and now this, Akin, helps Obama.
How much is George Soros paying for this political hit on a principled statesmen?
You must be kidding. Soros would probably pay Akin to stay in, and a lot. Akin is a gift to Soros and Obama and Muslims. Akin is not a principled statesman, he is a misogynist and a loon and only hurts the pro-life side.
I will discuss my views with you when you have the decency of using the reply function. Its not hard. Look for the blue word that stars with the letter R just below this sentence.
That anyone would believe the shiite about the Magical Vajayjay Shield is almost beyond all belief. History is replete with examples of women becoming preggers as a result of rape. By the millions, women have borne the children of conquering armies for as long as men have waged war.
Akin is either willing to suspend disbelief to believe any crackpot theory or is incapable of even modest analysis and evaluation. Take your pick. Either renders him unfit for the Senate…as a Republican. He can always become a Democrat and move to Delaware.
at last! common sense! with a modicum of wit.
If you can’t provide the evidence for his absurd claim, you really shouldn’t argue that it is backed by science. Akin has done a real disservice to pro-lifers. From Commentary:
” In fact, though, it is precisely when it comes to these most difficult cases that the underlying philosophy of the pro-life movement finds its moral strength. They argue that the unborn possess an independent right to life, that one would and should not do to them in the womb what would never be done to them one second after they were born alive. Wanted or unwanted, conceived in love or in violence, they are ensouled and they are people.
This is not a conviction I share, but it is a conviction for which I have enormous respect. Now comes along Todd Akin, and he has good news! No need to worry about those pesky hard cases, that pregnancy-by-rape stuff! Don’t bother yourself over that! He talked to a doctor, and the doctor said when a woman is legitimately raped, her body will act in ways to prevent that pregnancy from happening! So if there’s a pregnancy by rape, you can be pretty sure it’s not really rape, but something less…legitimate.
In one offhand stroke, then, Todd Akin not only offended all thinking people with his nonsense bilge—he was also selling snake oil to his own comrades in the pro-life battle. For that they should despise him.”
http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2012/08/21/akins-crime-against-pro-lifers/
Both Romney and Ryan have hit Akin with a stick to no avail. They must now wage war against him or he will sink them with his contamination. Akin is also now Enemy # 1 to all those who are pro-life. They must cast him out as though he were the plague as that is essentially what he is. Obama must be dancing a jig and exchanging High-Fives with Moocherelle while they both yell, “Four more years! Four more years! Allah be Praised!”.
As far as I am concerned, the GOP is getting EXACTLY what they deserve. You fools have prick-teased the pro-life crazies for decades now. And now that one of them actually goes crazy on you, you go flat-footed.
And if you think this is going to begin and end with a possible Mcaskill win, you’re as delusional as Akin. Wait until the media has millions of people are going to the polls thinking that Romney endorses rape.
With as much shit as the GOP gives libertarians, we can now laugh our asses at one of your precious theocrats screwing the pooch for you.
“As far as I am concerned, the GOP is getting EXACTLY what they deserve. You fools have prick-teased the pro-life crazies for decades now.”
Crazies? For believing in the sanctity of human life? Oh, wait, that’s right, leftist, atheistic progressives reject all of that. Even as they lay out the welcome mat to Islamic fundamentalists. Strange little people.
For the record I happen to be pro-life, but I also am not going to violently project my own beliefs onto an entire population.
With as much as I hear you guys ranting about Muslims, you should really look at your own beliefs.
Women with head covering = repressive shariah law. But women as vessels for the seed of rapists = Hallelujah!
Sick.
In other words, you’re a coward with no moral conviction at all. If you were really pro-life, you’d regard abortion as an atrocity that must be ended, not as something that is merely distasteful.
Which again has nothing to do with his junk science. If you’re going to make an intelligent case against abortion, the case needs to be intelligent. This clown is NARAL’s best advocate.
Yes, crazies. Because holding a belief that is against the established facts is the definition of insanity. Because a claim that a clump of cells too small to be visible with the naked eye is a human being is just as bug house nuts as a claim that a 7 month fetus is not.
I’m an American atheist resident in Bali, a Hindu island in a sea of Indonesian Muslims. I am constantly defending Christians my blog(http://stonefree2rant.wordpress.com/ yes, that’s a plug, y’all) andon facebook, at some risk to my status, and possibly person, here. I despise the vilification of Christianity in Amerian popular cuture and the actual murders of Christ’s followers in the Islamic world.
And in return I get called godless, and blamed for all of America’s ills. In my view the libertarian wing of the Republican party shows a lot of forbearance to the social conservative side, and in return we get:
Defeat.
Thanks a lot.
“… but who believed so much in the principle of a stronger America that he wouldn’t hand the task off to someone else”
…
He is self-righteous, and incapable of admitting that (according to the WaPo), $1.5 million of Democratic ad money helped him win the primary — WHY?
The man is a simple-minded idiot, unable to comprehend that he’s been bought and paid for by the opposition.
Past this point, he had best win or he will be branded a traitor to conservative America.
“If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down …”
Uh, where’s the “mistake” in meaning here? Which words are out of place?
Sorry, Mr. Akin, I just don’t buy your explanation for this dumb-ass statement. I would vote for you over the Democrat. But you remain the lesser of two idiots. And I think it’s pretty unsettling that this is the best that Missouri can come up with.
I was so hoping to get behind the alternative to this administration, but the Republicans make it so difficult. Attack on the issues that drive them crazy and stop being on the defensive-that always comes off as weak. They are trying to bury the speech Romney gave on abadoning our allies and weakening America. They are trying to avoid the economy-hammer home all the points made in Newsweek. Medicare and rape have fallen into their laps- STUPID to give ammunition by keeping it going.
“They are trying to bury the speech Romney gave on abadoning our allies and weakening America.”
Left is Left and Right is Right, and never the twain shall meet. Thank God.
Based on her slavish devotion to Obama & Co.’s agenda I certainly want McCaskill to go, but until all this controversy brewed up I had never even heard of the cadaverous Congressman Akin, and Akin has now–irretrievably, I believe–destroyed what little chance he might have had of beating McCaskill. Apparently he is styling himself as a maverick, resisting the Republican machine’s calls to quit, but all he really is is stubborn, selfish, and stupid, and we do not need stupid candidates; the collective I.Q. of Congress is abysmally low as it is, why lower it even further?
Akin keeps saying that making just one little error, “misspeaking” just one time shouldn’t have to mean that you have to drop out of the race. It seems to me that it all depends on what the subject you happened to “misspeak” about was, and what you actually said.
In this case, saying something to the effect that, “if they are raped, many women have some secret, extra special power to avoid getting pregnant,” betrays just too much ignorance, is just too dumb a statement, plays into Democratic talking points about the Republican “war on women,” and leaves too large and vulnerable a target for Democrats to hammer at for the rest of the campaign.
It seems to me that by this ridiculous and inflammatory, not to mention idiotic statement, Akin has shown himself to be unqualified for public office, on the basis of stupidity, ignorance, and an inability to control his mouth. Akin is now “damaged goods” and he has very likely sunk any chances he might have had of winning what has been regarded as a tight race to begin with. Even in the now extremely unlikely event he wins, people will not forget his actions in selfishly defying everyone, and what I see as the national interest in getting Romney/Ryan elected, retaining control of the House and having Republicans take control of the Senate; his statements and then his refusal to withdraw have made attaining those goals that much harder.
Every major figure in the Republican Party–including Romney–urged Akin to withdraw, urged him to consider the larger picture, the good of the Republican party, and the good of the Nation, and the influence his defeat would have on them, but he refused to withdraw.
Here, I think Akin showed enormous selfishness and foolish pride in not withdrawing, so that another Republican candidate who wasn’t damaged goods could have tried to beat McCaskill.
If, because of Akin, Republicans lose their chance to capture control of the Senate because McCaskill retains her seat, Akins will likely be one of the most reviled men in America, and will thoroughly deserve to be reviled.
The guy’s candidacy is just not salvageable, and at this point the Republicans ought to re-double their efforts to get Akin to withdraw–even though the process now becomes much more difficult and drawn out and, at this point, it will still leave his name on the ballot, even if he does withdraw.
Rather than just give up, Republicans should go for a Hail Mary and set up a write-in candidate. I don’t know how often such a write-in candidate has won but, I suspect a write-in candidate winning is pretty rare.
In any case, this is a genuine “distraction” from Republican’s efforts Nationally and locally, and trying to pull out a win here diverts attention and resources from the main campaign effort and its themes; an unforced error, a tactical advantage that Akin has stupidly handed to Democrats.
Not only does he play into the “war on women” meme, he also plays into the “war on science” meme. He’s a twofer for the donks.
I would bet his DNC handlers put pressure on him to stay in….. “If you quit, the gang will call you chicken”. Or… maybe they said, “stay in the race or we will bill you for that 1.5 million bucks we spent on your campaign ads.”
Todd Akin won’t win but then again sure while he said something stupid, the real problem is the Left stands by its candidates while the Right runs theirs out of town on a rail!
For God’s sakes, the man already apologized! Is it necessary to execute him too?
This GOP lynch mob has done far more damage than any Democratic attack ad ever could.
And McCaskill and the Democrats are laughing at the conservative morons doing all the dirty work for them!
Hammer, meet nail.
It’s the republicans own actions and words which make Borking such a successful tactic for the left.
I note the news this morning that in Massachusetts Liz Warren is already pointing to Akin and his remark as symptomatic of the “Republican war on women,” and trying to say that her opponent Scott Brown is part of that ”war.”
So, as I predicted above, the damage is not just confined to Missouri, because Akin and his stupid remarks will give Democrats talking points—nationally—from here on to the Election.
Much better if Akin withdraws, so that he and his remarks will no longer and cannot be, a magnet and focal point for Democratic attacks.
Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.
Ahhhh, Aiken, me loutish boyo…..simply beyond amazing.
All that work on our parts to take back the Senate—-and now this…..(sigh..)
Now it turns out that McCaskill’s campaign bought $1.5 million dollars in campaign advertising in the last two weeks of the three way Republican primary that were, apparently, crafted in a way to boost Akin’s chances of winning (see http://www.bostonherald.com/news/opinion/editorials/view.bg?articleid=1061154882)i.e. McCaskell wanted the weakest Republican candidate, who apparently had a reputation for being a loose canon, to win and he did, with the results we see today.
Atkin has displaced Shiela Jackson Lee as the stupidest person in Congress.
However, why doesn’t he just counter attack? The dem position on abortion allows thousands of black babies to be butchered every year and that would be a major arguing point were the party’s position reversed. The DC numbers alone, make the argument.
Assume Akin wins, and is sworn in as a US Senator. On any realistic scale of intelligence, or ethics, would he be average, below average, or above average, in the Senate? Consider his colleagues. Would he be the worst Senator? Consider Harry Reid, Leader of the Senate, or Joe Biden, the President of the Senate.
Consider the large problems that face our nation, problems which can destroy us.
Consider that Senator Akin and his colleagues hold the power once held by Jefferson, Adams, and Hamilton.
Lastly, consider that every man, woman, and child in America now owes $50,000 (or more, people play games with this debt) to others due to the decisions made by this body. Consider that half of dead Americans leave a net worth less than $10,000, thus you, and your kids, must suck it up, pay more, to work off this debt. It has crippled our future.
I have no solutions. The best form of governance ever devised, can not survive the caliper of people infesting Capitol Hill. Akin will not change this reality.
Even with him there, Parry Murray would still with the “no rocket scientist” award. I don’t think she needs to worry about losing that title.
*Patty
Now THAT was funny… )D
Carp. I pulled a snork
(D = )D
Dang did it twice.
)D=:D
So we could defend him, saying that he apologized for the whole thing or even just take a page out of Kirk Cameron book. We could also ignore the whole thing. If we just ignore the hoopla, it will go away like Paris Hilton. Or maybe we could shift the attention to the faults of incumbent McCaskill highlighting her policies (y’know, the important stuff!!). But instead we (both the Republican Party and conservatives) threw them under the bus so hard that even if he resigned, this turdstorm will remain. Sigh…
Like Cain or any others who the left Borks. We ourselves do most of the real damage.
Akins statement, in the whole, was pretty tame really. Even has some statistical truth to it.
http://www.christianliferesources.com/article/rape-pregnancies-are-rare-461
Statistical truth is an oxymoron.
He wasn’t making statistical claims on incidence. He was making creepy claims (based, in part, on Nazi death camp studies that were roundly rejected by the OB/GYN community) about special properties of the female reproductive system.
There is ZERO science behind his claims and 100% prejudice and misogyny.
You make more claims without any proof.
I have offered you some and you make another off the wall statement. Maybe you should go back to Huffpro. There they slander people just like you do. And for the same cause.
You’ve proffered nothing re medical documentation that the female reproductive system is able ward off rape sperm — excuse me, “legitimate rape” sperm.
According to both the National Institutes of Health and the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology, about 5% of rapes result in pregnancy, which is a statistically significant number (as in not rare or unusual, even if uncommon).
That’s the figure itself may not represent the whole truth as sexual assaults continue to go unreported, often because of accusatory, judgmental attitudes displayed by the likes of Todd Akin.
There is no special force or mechanism or physiological process that kicks in when a woman is raped — oh, wait, “rape-raped”, or “legitimately raped” — forgot to add that oh-so-important qualifier — no matter how loudly and how often you claim there is.
Provide a link to your data.
The best I can goggle is that such studies had a very wide definition of rape. I.E. including statutory rape, which most often is consensual.
While the data about forcible rape, which really is what was spoken about by Akins, may be an intrestin’ aside. The real issue is you cannot abide that many Conservatives have come to a moral decision over a very difficult ethical dilemma which puts the value of an innocent human life over the emotional distress of another human, forcibly raped, to bear that child.
You chose infanticide over said possible emotional distress if the Mother so chooses. Ok, so do I.
The difference between you and me is I knowledge that very decent people.. like Akins have come to the other conclusion. That a human has a right to it’s life regardless of the circumstance of it’s conception.
Another difference between me and you is I agonize over that position instead of gleeful destruction of those who came to another very honorable position. Or use judgmental attitudes upon them like you do.
That you attacked Paul Ryan over this, going so far as to vote for President Downgrade.
Well, go for it MOBY.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8765248
But wait a sec, now YOU’RE differentiating between rape — to you, there are indeed varying “degrees” of rape, or “degrees of legitimacy of rape”.
I will not accept a “moral” conclusion come to by someone for whom it’s merely so much hot air.
Men cannot be raped and impregnated and forced to carry a child for nine months and give birth, therefore their “moral” conclusions about what rape victims should be allowed to do when they’ve been violently, criminally impregnated against their will means less than zero to me.
And I haven’t voted for anyone yet. We haven’t had the presidential election yet. Duh. How can I “have voted for” Obama over Romney-Ryan yet…?
You must come from the same planet as Akin…
Here is the “data” and “science” that Akin, Fantom, et al., are basing their assertion that women who’ve been raped — oops, “legitimately” raped — won’t get pregnant:
http://www.religionnews.com/politics/government-and-politics/the-roots-of-todd-akins-legitimate-rape-remarks
So, Bridget, I’m confused here, you’re a professional conservative pundit – and a woman – but you aren’t familiar with what has been going on in the House around women’s issues such as redefining rape and suddenly making contraception controversial??? And, weren’t you watching yesterday when the news came out of the RepubliCON platform plank that states the party is against abortion – EVEN IN THE CASE OF RAPE??? What’s that saying about “timing is everything”? D’OH!
Weren’t you paying attention last year when Akin and his fellow crazies in the House (co-sponsored by Ryan) passed their bill redefining rape? D’OH!!
You may have missed all this but most American voters – especially women – didn’t. D’OH!!!
What Akin said the other day isn’t an anomaly, he was expressing a CORE VALUE of the RepubliCONS with the kind of hyperbole that makes up the everyday conversation among CONservatives and isn’t going away even if Akin does. DOUBLE D’OH!!!
Too damned bad your mother didn’t exercise her right to choose. At least abortion has prevented lots of other lefty useful idiots.
Hope you didn’t ruin your keyboard slobbering all over it, Art.
I dealt with lefty punks like you in front of arbitrators, ALJs, across negotiating tables, and in all sorts of adversarial situations for nearly thirty years; I don’t slobber.
And I chew up and spit out haters like you for breakfast.
But, luckily, I don’t have to do much because idiost like you self-destruct on their own. If they don’t electrocute themselves with their own slobber on their keyboard, they go on endlessly with mindless rants with dilated pupils until they keel over from a heart attack or end up on the funny farm – or blogging on pjmedia.
So, um, have a nice day.
@Obi-Punk – Hopefully one day you and I will have a serious disagreement.
“@Obi-Punk – Hopefully one day you and I will have a serious disagreement.”
Ain’t gonna happen. Trolls are not into serious disagreements, just raising your hackles for s’s & g’s. He got is one feeding in here; may he get no more.
There is no chance that these far-right policies designed to limit choice will ever see the light of day. Most Americans approve of 1st-trimester elective abortions. No one in their right mind supports the outlawing of elective abortion in the case of rape, “legitimate” or otherwise; most people see rape as just that, rape. These far-rightie pols can wallow in their pro-life dreams from now on until all eternity, for that is all they are going to be.
So, why don’t you find something more important (the economy for starters) to pump up your little chest & stomp your little feet about, obi-Jon?
Gosh, sorry to be so irresponsible when it’s just so much fun to poke fun at the loonies.
Oh, and BTW, what are YOU doing here?? Shouldn’t you be writing a hair-on-fire rant about deficits or off reading Ayn Rand or something?
“My religion is just Ayn Rand’s philosophy with ceremony and ritual added.” – Anton LaVey, founder of The Church Of Satan
You cannot reconcile Republican ideology and Christianity. EVER.
“You cannot reconcile Republican ideology and Christianity. EVER.”
If you’re going to state your opinion as fact, provide a source.
Sheesh. Nice try Obama troll. ABO2012
In an interview today on Pittsburg CBS affiliate, KDKA, first Vice Presidential candidate Ryan dodges the question. . .
Delano: “Should abortions to be available to women who are raped?”
Ryan: “Well, look, I’m proud of my pro-life record. And I stand by my pro-life record in Congress. It’s something I’m proud of. But Mitt Romney is the top of the ticket and Mitt Romney will be president and he will set the policy of the Romney administration.”
. . . and then runs away from the legislation he co-sponsored with the radioactive Akin. . .
Delano: “You sponsored legislation that has the language ‘forcible rape.’ What is forcible rape as opposed…”
Ryan: “Rape is rape. Rape is rape, period. End of story.”
Delano: “So that forcible rape language meant nothing to you at the time?”
Ryan: “Rape is rape and there’s no splitting hairs over rape.”
. . . while publicly condemning and disowning Akin.
Here’s your Ryan “profile in courage” and core, CONservative “principals” on display, people.
Any questions??
Not anymore. Thank God for offshore banks.
Right to life uber alles.
Eff it, I’m going to bed.
I might sleep well: RCP average Obama plus 1.5, down. Let’s get back to work, people.
Akin, thanks for losing us the election. Idiot.
Just got this daily email from the Obama campaign. There are a whole lot of people stupid enough to be pushed to their side over this. The DNC deserves to make all the hay they can from Akin… how can you blame them?
>>
Greetings!
In a recent statement that was both factually inaccurate and horribly offensive, Republican Missouri Senate candidate Rep. Todd Akin said that victims of “legitimate rape” don’t get pregnant because “the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.”
Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan tried to distance themselves from the remark — but the fact is they’re in lockstep with Akin on the major women’s health issues of our time. Just this morning, the Republican Party voted to include the “Human Life Amendment” in their platform, calling for a constitutional ban on abortions nationwide, even for rape victims. Several Romney supporters and advisers stood silently by while this vote took place, and the Los Angeles Times reports that the platform “was written at the direction of Romney’s campaign.”
President Obama spoke out in response to Akin’s comments: “What I think these comments do underscore is why we shouldn’t have a bunch of politicians, a majority of whom are men, making health care decisions on behalf of women.”
This controversy is not an accident, or a mistake, or an isolated incident. It’s a reflection of a Republican Party whose policies are dangerous for women.
There is a clear choice for women in this election: Stand with President Obama.
I entered this national debate on women’s rights in February, when, as a Georgetown Law student, I testified before members of Congress on the issue of contraception.
Without knowing me or my story, Rush Limbaugh called me a “slut” and a “prostitute” on his radio show.
Many Americans stepped forward to tell me they agreed with me, and supported my right to speak out without being verbally attacked. President Obama stood with us.
Mitt Romney, on the other hand? He didn’t even condemn the remark, instead saying only: “It’s not the language I would have used.”
Since that moment, I’m even more resolved to continue the fight to make sure every single woman — and every man who cares about the women in his life — knows exactly what’s at stake in this election. The Republicans are frighteningly clear on these issues.
The party platform itself includes a “salute” to states that have pushed “informed consent” laws, such as those that force women seeking an abortion to first undergo an invasive and medically unnecessary ultrasound.
Just last year, Paul Ryan joined Todd Akin and more than 200 other Republicans in co-sponsoring legislation that would have narrowed the definition of rape, limiting which victims of rape were “legitimate” enough to receive financial assistance for access to abortion care.
Mitt Romney famously says he would “get rid of” Planned Parenthood if he had the chance. And both Romney and Ryan pledge to go back to a system where insurance companies can discriminate against women and charge us more than men for the same health insurance.
Akin’s comments shouldn’t be surprising. But this isn’t about him — just like it was never about me.
President Obama has told us what he’s fighting for: “I want women to control their own health choices, just like I want my daughters to have the same opportunities as your sons.”
Republicans, led by Romney and Ryan, have made it clear that they want to make our decisions for us.
President Obama trusts us to make our own.
It’s as simple as that. Join me and stand with him today:
http://my.barackobama.com/A-Clear-Choice
Thanks,
Sandra Fluke
—–
Election Day is closer than you think — make a donation to fund this campaign in the time we have left.
Why would I? I agree with them that abortion needs to be outlawed in every case, without exception. Pro-life, without apology.
Imagine the outcry if his view on rape was connected to the phrase “You better put some ice on that”.
The Democrats would endorse him for president.
Just a quick factoid for the fevered brows that imagine Todd Aiken is a Democrat plant, his American Conservative Union lifetime score is 97.24. That would be one long ruse de guerre, eh? I guess he never did kiss the GOP establishment ring, so…Mitt Dillon tells him to be out of town by sundown and he says, “No, I don’t think so.” This is great! Mitt sure is good at laying down the lash on Conservatives. All of this over a minor gaffe? I seem to remember a politician named George who came close to the nomination then said something about being ‘brainwashed’ on a trip to Vietnam. Another George (McGovern) said, “A light rinse would have been sufficient.” Now there is a gaffe.
And now for that cocktail…
Yes, but he is incredibly stupid. Even a very stupid person can vote an ideology almost without a failure. I stand by my opinion of this arrogant idiot, and by my even lower opinion of the Democrat Political Party, who pushed to get him nominated. It is not a minor gaffe when you say something that is wrong as well as stupid and repeatedly claim your comment to be the gospel. This isn’t about the term “legitimate rape”. That would be a simple gaffe. It is about saying that women can biologically will themselves an abortion if they have been forcibly raped and that, therefore, no exception needs to be made for forcible rape. Even most religious Republicans know better than this. By the way, I haven’t had a fever or a furrowed brow in the last several weeks now. ABO2012
First, he neither said or implied any of that.. about willing an abortion. You made that up.
Second his point was that even if a forcible rape , really is there any other kind(statutory rape is a legal concept, not violent like most understand rape to be), …… even if forcible rape resulted in a conception it is morally wrong to commit infanticide.
Note Akin’s spoke in the very same comment about such being a difficult ethical decision. And that the rapist should pay for his crime.
Lastly the only stupidity on Akins part was underestimating the stupidity of repubs in general to s’port a leftist media Borking.
On that I do agree… Akins showed poor judgement.
You really are just ignoring the part where Akin said that women who were the victims of “legitimate” rape were unlikely to get pregnant because their bodies have ways to prevent that, aren’t you?
Akins is either retarded or evil. Or both. There’s nothing else available.
The difficult decision is not his to make. The difficult decision is for the rape victim to make. Akin wants to take that choice away from her.
And, BFD, he agrees we should convict rapists. Ooooh…way to go out on a limb, Todd! How big of him to agree to convict violent criminals. What an upstanding dude he is….right.
This discussion thread is most instructive. Let me summarize:
1. Akin is a misogynistic cretin
2. He is representative of the Republican Party
3. No, he’s not
4. Obama had to take time out of his busy day to explain “rape” to Republicans
5. No, he didn’t
This idiot candidate for the Senate not only stuck his foot in his mouth but also into the mouths of Republicans everywhere. Those who say, “but he is a man of good character, a proper conservative” are helping to drive the foot in deeper. Together, Akin and his supporters/apologists are doing more to re-elect Obama and a Democratic majority in the Senate than the Democrats have been able to do for themselves.
Akin must resign. The Republicans must rise with one voice and censure him. If he refuses to quit the race, they must shun him during the campaign, and in the Senate if, God forbid, he is elected.
Akin is a moron. However, very few House Reps are not. That’s why we are in the mess we are in.
A link for those who by some degree try to justify what he said:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8765248
A 5.0% incidence of pregnancy after rape is nothing to sneeze at.
You can be pro-life without being a moron. He’s a moron. Where did this idiot get his information? And no, it wasn’t a “slip of the tongue.” Until the moment of the interview he clearly believed it. I’m sure the interviewer knew that, and was primed to question him.
What can he be offered to get him out?
I’d say the incidence of pregnancy could be even greater than 5%.
I posted elsewhere but will repeat here:
During the Bosnian/Serbian civil war of the 1990′s, women were raped as a specific tactic of war by all parties. A study of 68 rape victims found that 29 had become pregnant as a result.
I guess their magical lady parts weren’t working properly, according to Akin….
Wow…nearly half became pregnant? When women can only become pregnant at most about 5 days a month? Nice “study”.
tinyurl.com/ToddF-Akin
Are you suggesting they were not actually pregnant? If you don’t believe the information, then by all means provide refutation.
Whether he drops out or not, I am afraid that the name of Todd Akin will go down in history alongside that of Rev. Dr. Samuel Burchard. In 1884, Grover Cleveland (D) ran against James G. Blaine (R). At a meeting attended by Blaine, Dr. Burchard said, “We are Republicans, and don’t propose to leave our party and identify ourselves with the party whose antecedents have been rum, Romanism, and rebellion.” Blaine didn’t appreciate the significance of that remark, but a reporter present did. The anti-Catholic slur enraged the Irish and Catholics and cost Blaine the New York vote, and with it, the election of 1884.
Akin will still win.
tinyurl.com/ToddF-Akin
Akin is now down 10 points below McCaskill.
Patton was referenced elsewhere in this site in connection with this issue, so I’ll take liberties with a Patton quote: “I’d rather have a German division in front of me, than a French one behind.”
His point being that he’d rather have someone in front of him as an avowed enemy he could fight rather than an unreliable ally at his back he couldn’t trust.
Akin is an unreliable ally. Perhaps not deliberately so, but unreliable nonetheless.
Akin should have left when he had some dignity left.
Akin couldn’t pass biology 101 or the basic course on politics. He is a a dummy and, unfortunately, is probably representative of many of the people either in Congress or running for a seat.
Mr. Akin has revealed himself to be intellectually deficient as regards both human reproduction and social sensitivities. What he represents to be a display of courage, seems more like the desperate clinging to a fortuitous opportunity of a man with no place better to go. He has embarrassed those of us that he claimed as friends, and he ignores the damage he has done to his party and to the dignity of the office he seeks. Mr. Akin, please find something else to occupy yourself with.