Akin Rape Comments Update
“First of all, from what I understand from doctors, (pregnancy from rape) is really rare,” Akin told KTVI-TV in a clip posted to YouTube by the Democratic super PAC American Bridge. “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.” …WaPo
Uh-huh. Right.
I think Todd Akin needs sex education. He certainly doesn’t need a Senate seat.
Akin’s claim is one that pops up occasionally in social conservative circles. A federal judge nominated by President Bush in the early 2000s had said similar things, as have state lawmakers in North Carolina and Pennsylvania.
Politicians and activists who espouse this view often suggest that women who haven’t been raped will claim to have been raped in order to obtain an abortion. An Idaho state lawmaker apologized earlier this year after urging doctors to make sure women who claimed they had been raped were sure of that fact.
Akin himself has suggested in the past that women may claim to be raped as a strategy during divorce proceedings.
Needless to say, this is territory that GOP leaders would rather not have Akin wander into. …WaPo
This is Claire McCaskill’s Senate seat we’re talking about. McCaskill is a Democrat. She’s been skating on thin political ice, trying to keep her seat in spite of an assault from the tea party right. Akin, though, has been revealed now as a brainless puppet.
Akin’s statement threatens to recast a Senate race in which he starts as the favorite, but national Republicans are concerned about his ability to execute a winning strategy. Akin won the GOP nomination two weeks ago — a result that Democrats hailed as a potential game-changer in a tough race for them. …WaPo
EDITOR”S UPDATE: This is only the latest “unforced error” of Aikin in his campaign against McCaskill and GOPers are now worried for several reasons.
EDITOR’S UPDATE II: There are now even rumblings by GOPers of getting Akin off the ticket. NBC News’ First Read provides some context in their summaries:
*** Akin it worse: Missouri Senate GOP nominee Todd Akin’s remarks on rape yesterday not only could endanger the Republicans’ chances in that particular race as well as their chances of taking back the Senate in the fall, they also could further damage the GOP’s brand with women. In an interview with a Missouri TV station, Akin explained his opposition to abortion, even in instances of rape. “First of all, from what I understand from doctors, [pregnancy from rape] is really rare. If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down,” Akin said, per NBCNews.com’s Mike O’Brien. “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 on the rapist and not attacking the child.” His Democratic opponent, incumbent (and vulnerable) Sen. Claire McCaskill pounced: “I think frankly, like most women, when we heard the statement, it was, ‘Are you kidding?’ It was a stunner, just jaw dropping and hard to comprehend.” Akin, a House Republican, later released a statement saying he had misspoken. “In reviewing my off-the-cuff remarks, it’s clear that I misspoke in this interview and it does not reflect the deep empathy I hold for the thousands of women who are raped and abused every year.”
AND:
*** Reemphasizing the gender gap: After the GOP presidential primary season and after social issues jumped into the spotlight earlier this year — the trans-vaginal ultrasound legislation in Virginia, the dispute over the health-care law’s requirement that religious-affiliated schools and hospitals offer free contraception, Rush Limbaugh calling Sandra Fluke a “slut” — the Republican Party found itself facing a significant gender gap. According to last month’s NBC/WSJ poll, President Obama was leading Mitt Romney by 15 points among registered female voters, 54%-39%. In addition, the GOP’s fav/unfav with women in the poll was 32%/46% (versus 46%/35% for the Democratic Party). So there’s a reason why the Romney campaign acted so quickly to distance itself from Akin’s remarks. “Gov. Romney and Congressman Ryan disagree with Mr. Akin’s statement, and a Romney-Ryan administration would not oppose abortion in instances of rape,” spokesman Andrea Saul said in a statement last night. (However, Ryan personally opposes all abortions — even in cases of rape — except to save the mother’s life.) And all of this comes as the Obama campaign has been targeting female voters in Colorado and Northern Virginia on abortion and women’s issues. By the way, Romney and Ryan have a joint interview with WMUR today, so what they say about Akin could drive this story and actions by the GOP in the next 12 hours.
AND:
*** Show Me a controversy: Focusing on that Missouri Senate contest, it’s worth paying attention to see if national Republicans — in the next 24 hours — try to force Akin to bow out from the race. On the one hand, what Akin said is incredibly toxic, especially when facing a female opponent. On the other hand, Missouri is still a conservative state. But a source with ties to Akin’s political operation tells First Read that the GOP congressman most likely won’t quit the contest, saying Akin believes this race is “providential” and even if Akin was ready to get out, his wife would never let him quit. The person with knowledge of Akin’s political operation adds: “She makes him seem like the reasonable one.” If you take away Missouri from the GOP’s potential win column, they have a MUCH MORE difficult path to taking back the Senate. How are Akin’s remarks playing in the Show Me State? Here’s the headline from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: “Akin’s rape comment threatens to alter U.S. Senate race.” And here is the Kansas City Star: “Senate candidate Todd Akin’s remark on rape stirs anger.”
Cross posted from Prairie Weather
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Whatever happened to the republican “big tent” philosophy?
This is why we need more than a 2 party system.
The Tea Party should have been its own party, or no party at all.
Now look at the mess: Akin MAY STILL WIN because republicans wont vote against their own party.
“I am Jesus Christ, and I dont approve any of this message”
I don’t know anything about Missouri politics, but if I was his opponent I’d be on non-stop “the GOP hates women” mantra from now until election day. Oh, and “ignorance”, “anti-science”, and “glossing over crime” (some of his comments suggest ‘they’re just making it up’) just to add icing on the cake.
He needs to hammered on this HARD, and if Missouri still votes for him, well, maybe some of the unpleasant remarks about that state in another thread are justified.
The war on women is real, not some fear-based political nightmare of the Democrats. Akins is not an exception among Republican party candidates or those who will vote for them. He is the rule. It’s just that the others keep their agenda more hidden. Under the leadership of Paul Ryan’s “Personhood” movement, which Akins advocates, women are seen as secondary to men who control them for clearly stated religious reasons. We will no longer be a country of equality if they win. These are dangerous times for civil rights in America.
He sounds like the product of an abstinence only sex education.
Barkey, had Obama been white, he would have won MO in 2008.
Five of the six Republican Senators running for reelection have 100% rating from NRLC (National Right to Life Committee) and one (Scott Brown) has 83%, so Mr. Akin is not so far from the ethos of the Republican Party as one would like.
@Ohian: Democrats should take this and turn it into an instrument.
Bonus Credit: independents emerge, using thought as the vehicle for decision making.
Everyone, just remember Nevada and Deleware in 2010. Sure wins for the Republicans and then they chose Angle and O’Donnell. The right of center voters were turned off, so they did not vote at all, leading to the Democrat victories.
Republicans know one thing well. How to snatch defeat from sure victory.
Hyperflow..Agree 100% about another party. But where would the money come from?
RP: I name you quote of the day. I’m confident TMV frequentists would cherish your words or at least provide a good laugh.
Aaaaaahhh!!!
This ahole is a member of the House committee on Science, Space, and Technology.
Unreal
if the GOP wins the Senate, maybe we’ll finally have the Constitutional Amendment that says dinosaurs and man lived together in harmony 6,000 years ago.
That couldn’t possibly have happened 6,000 years ago. 6,000 years ago is when the earth was created and it took at least 3 months for the planet to cool down and all the oceans to fill. It was probably closer to 5,500 years ago.
None of the Republicans running against Akin are really any better. The entire race to challenge McCaskill was based on “I’m the most conservative Republican.”. There were several Romney mini-mes also saying “Vote for me because I’m a businessman and know how to create jobs.”.
Hyperflow, the radicalization of the right is only NOW in full swing?
How was life under that rock you must’ve been living under these past 14 years?
@Barky:
radicalization of the right is only NOW in full swing
I grew up in the 1980′s as a flavor of “pastor’s kid” in one of these evangelic insane churches.
The only reasonable way to escape was reason itself. I am happily living as an agnostic and completing a PhD in science.
Where have I been the last 14 years?
When the church (cult?) I was “attending” collapsed, partially of my doing, I thought I had escaped the insanity.
To see this all replayed again on a national scale is terrifying.
My “pastor’s kid” status came with special benefits
1) I could not leave the church
2) I could not leave the church
So I quietly but effectively protested the church, mid session, asking the patrons to “give generously to the pastor’s boat fund”. I wonder if any of you have any idea what I am talking about. These extremists are voluntarily insane — meaning that they have deliberately chosen a non-reality to replace real-reality. Have you ever seen someone collapse from being struck from god? Have you…watched them twitch and wonder if you should call a doctor because they were having a schizophrenically induced seizure?
I’m not sure if I want you to understand what I am saying.
If you understand, that means the problem is even more pervasive than I had feared.
If you dont understand, then I’m not properly warning you of the insanity that is too come.
Oh man HF, been there and done that. I sat in a small church and witness the orgasmic behavior that is the laying of hands to heal.
that was in SW MO btw. They didn’t like the fact that I wore shorts in the dead of summer.
There are so many sad and scary things about this.
Let me count the ways
-A person who knows so, so little about the human body feels perfectly comfortable legislating on bodies.
-The old “real rape” vs not-real-she-really-wanted-it rape canard is sadly very deeply entrenched in our society
-The idea that there should be no rape or incest exception because “real” rape doesn’t result in pregnancy because of magic woman secretions is quite like the old idea that only witches float. If you’re pregnant, it’s proof that you wanted it, so no abortion for you. How terribly convenient.
-So first we asked to be raped by wearing that red shirt, and then we asked to become pregnant, as evidenced by the pregnancy. Charming.
-The one place he’s right is that when the only allowable way to get an abortion is through rape, women will lie about being raped. I would fully support their decisions to do so.
-His apology, saying that he spoke “off-the-cuff”, and that he has deep compassion for victims of rape, is belied by the fact that he nonetheless retains his same ignorant position on whether or not women who have become pregnant as the result of rape should be able to get a legal and safe abortion. A real apology for the utterly ignorant statement would include a modification of the position resulting from said ignorance.
Is it really possible to reach this level of accomplishment in ones life and still be so unbelievably, blindingly ignorant?
Nowhere in the Constitution does it say a Senator must be competent or sane. You only have to be elected.
Folks, it is possible that this guy is a carbon copy of those that elected him.
I second ShannonLee’s assessment.
I honestly expect my “church peers” to be actively working around the clock to defend the position or soften the damage.
It is worth noting that I have christian friends who are really nice, considerate, respectful people.
Unfortunately, their logic and compassion is grossly outmatched by the angry abortion-birth-certificates mob.
“Folks, it is possible that this guy is a carbon copy of those that elected him”
Perhaps, SL. But it will apply for sure to those who vote for this ahole to represent them in the Senate ..
“illegitimate rape” as bad as, or worse than “consentual rape”