Republicans are frantically trying to get U.S. Rep. Todd Akin to drop out of the Senate race in Missouri after his remark about abortion and rape, but not because it was offensive and ignorant. They’re afraid he might lose and cost them a chance at a Senate majority next year. He would surely be replaced by a Republican who sounds more reasonable but holds similarly extreme views on abortion, immigration, gay rights and the role of government because those are the kinds of candidates the party nominates these days in state after state.
Like many Republicans, including the vice presidential candidate, Paul Ryan, Akin opposes abortion even when a woman has been raped. But, in an interview that was aired on Aug. 19, Akin went further and decided to explain his position by saying that pregnancy rarely results from rape because “if it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.”
His comments betray more than a remarkable unfamiliarity with the human reproductive system. They expose a widely held belief among many fierce abortion opponents that a rape exception will be abused by women whose rapes were not “legitimate.” …
The principal difference between Akin and most other Republican candidates is that they would be more decorous in inventing reasons to strip women of their abortion rights. One of the two candidates Akin defeated in the Republican primary supported the overturn of Roe v. Wade; the other supported a constitutional amendment saying life begins at conception.
All three positions are outside the mainstream of American opinion, but they are pretty much in the dead center of Republican thinking.
If the party wanted to end these kinds of embarrassing moments, it could return to the days when it nominated mainstream candidates.
The New York Times (Aug. 23)
Akin spoke stupidly. No other politician has ever done that?
So all repubs now are extremists? And any view that isn’t libber
is now not mainstream? What garbage! As a dem I am ashamed
of this party now. The dems are whining and condemning everyone
because of one dope’s stupid comment. Where were they when Ted
Kennedy was killing a woman? How about Billy Clinton doing a number
on a few women? What about good old John Edwards? If anyone is waging
a war on women it is the dems using them…abusing them… and exploiting them.
If the dems can’t run on their record…THEY LOSE!
The Ds are out of order? How about the Right to Life apologists who came out a couple of days after the goof of the year and blamed the liberal media for “distorting” a mistake. Incredible. At least they admitted he made a mistake, but the media has “distorted” it? Whopper of the year.
Yes, the dems are out of order. You are saying
because one dope makes a stupid comment then
EVERYONE is lumped into his stupidity? Go after
him he deserved it. One group said the media
distorted this? I suppose since the Occupy movement
dumps on police vehicles and destroys property, that
must mean the mainstream is all for them too? Maybe
you should watch Anderson Cooper interviewing
Debbie I Lie Schultz and you will get the picture.
Sadly it is not “one dope” miss speaking. There is a constant undercurrent in the right of almost fanatical anti-abortion / anti-science rhetoric. He did not only miss speak he articulacy explained his belief that flies in direct contradiction to well known science and medicine. He made a bad choice to hold himself up as a prime example of all that has become wrong with the far rights choice to be proud of ignorance.
It is not the Democrats who are pushing for him to drop out of the race. Even his own people know the electorate is smart enough to look at this guys comments and be shocked at his ignorance.
So now Akin is a dope? Thanks for clarifying.
The statement I cited was from a prominent right to life group (the name of which I don’t have handy) but they obviously continue to back Akin.
Anyway, it sounds like Akin has a history of this. Another article points out he subscribes to the discredited views and book by Jack Willke.
Akin hasn’t said anything incredibly out of the norm for some of the farther right GOP politicians (in fact the new GOP platform bans all abortions with no language in there for exceptions like rape). However, he did forget to dress up his language so it didn’t sound so blunt and awful. If you look at the legislative history, Paul Ryan agrees with a lot of what Akin does, after all, they’ve co-sponsored numerous pieces of legislation together, including several regarding abortion and rape.
Maybe Ryan should drop out too :)
Akin is a rube, hopelessly ideological in the face of facts which disprove almost everything he says (and supposedly stands for). Actually, the best outcome for the Ds is if he stays in the race. His extreme and invalid positions on a number issues has been smoked out.
I saw something earlier in the week that pointed out that under definitions of Akin et al. on rape would exclude rape of females under the age of consent, the handicapped or disadvantaged, and others as “rape”, clearly a falsehood of the first degree.
If this is what Akin and others believe then they should stop apologizing and be honest about their beliefs, otherwise they’re deceiving the electorate. As a matter of fact, both parties should should come clean about their beliefs and stop tip-toeing around their more extreme positions, otherwise it would seem that their loyalties are to the party and not the people …. and we all just know they have our best interests at heart.