Republicans letting another winnable Senate seat slip away

[Scooter]

Have these people learned nothing from Christine O'Donnell's ravings about masturbation?

Todd Akin, the Republican nominee for Senate in Missouri, caused a public outcry Sunday over his claim that victims of “legitimate rape” rarely get pregnant because the female body can prevent unwanted pregnancies. The Republican, who is running against Sen. Claire McCaskill was made the unusual claim to defend his opposition to abortion rights for rape victims.

“First of all, from what I understand from doctors [pregnancy from rape] is really rare,” Akin told KTVI-TV in an interview posted Sunday. “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.”

"Legitimate rape?" Like there's a sort of rape that is legitimate? Reminds me of those G20 protestors carrying the signs saying "Down with inappropriate fascism".

[The Hen]

Wow. If the female body could reject unwanted pregnancy, we would never have needed to have the condom, IUD, caps, or birth control pill invented.

Whatever the doctors had told him, I seriously doubt he understood them.

[Gob]

Where do they find these nuts? They must have to shake a lot of trees!

[rubato]

They have to be attractive to Republican voters. It limits the field.

yrs,
rubato

[dgs49]

I think the real story here is how the Democrats and Non-Fox Media have been able to keep the relative non-issue of abortion on the front burner for the past 20 years by constantly raising nonsense points like whether the candidate would support an elective abortion for a rape victim.

I would wager a large amount of money that such circumstances occur more on television programming than they do in real life.

As I have said before in this space, not one American in ten has any idea what the legal implications would be if Roe v. Wade were "overturned." And the chances of any on-point law or constitutional amendment being passed are approximately zero, regardless of who is elected to the Senate this year (or any other year). It is a complete non-issue.

[Grim Reaper]

Right. Because it's totally not the Republicans who keep bringing up new laws to change who can receive abortions. And they're totally not the ones who want to redefine rape in terms of who can receive abortions. It's the evil Democrats mind controlling them.

[Lord Jim]

This could wind up being a blessing in disguise for the GOP, because serious pressure is building within the party for this idiot to get out of the race....

He was another one of those Tea Party primary plurality winners, and easily the weakest candidate available. (They seem to have a real attraction for those ) it was questionable whether or not he was going to pull off a win before this happened; if he gets out we'll have a better shot at taking the seat than we would have if this had never happened.

[Lord Jim]

Rumors were flying Monday afternoon that Rep. Todd Akin would resign his candidacy after causing a firestorm of controversy with his "legitimate rape" comments on Sunday. A senior Republican official told Buzzfeed's Ben Smith that Akin is planning to withdraw his Senate candidacy at 5:00 pm tomorrow. The source said Akin may still change his mind, however, and Smith cites another source who throws cold water on the speculation. Meanwhile, conservative blogger Erick Erickson and former Mitt Romney foreign policy adviser Richard Grenell both wrote on Twitter that Akin would resign.

Somebody better tell the candidate, however. Akin wrote on Twitter while the rumors were flying that he is "in this race to win," and called on supporters to donate to his embattled campaign. He told Sean Hannity Monday afternoon that "we're going to stay in."

Scores of Republican politicians have condemned Akin for saying on Sunday that victims of "legitimate rape" do not need access to legal abortions because they cannot biologically become pregnant. Akin apologized for the statement on Monday but said he wouldn't drop out. "I'm not a quitter," Akin said on Mike Huckabee's radio show.[Gee, where have I heard that before?]Nonetheless, pressure has been mounting for his withdrawal. Texas Sen. John Cornyn, who runs the Senate Republicans' campaign arm, said in a statement that Akin should carefully consider his candidacy over the next 24 hours, a sentiment echoed by Mitt Romney. An unnamed official told the AP that the NRSC would not spend the $5 million it had set aside for the Missouri race on Akin.

The Republican party can nominate a candidate to replace Akin if he drops out on or before Tuesday. After that date, Akin needs a court order to drop out. The six-term Congressman was by no means the favorite even before his gaffe. His rival, Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill, spent $2 million during the Republican primary boosting Akin as the "true conservative" because the campaign considered him the weakest potential challenger.[Wouldn't it be ironic if she spent all that money to get this wingnut as an opponent, and now because he went too far she winds up facing somebody stronger...]

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/repo ... 35978.html

[Gob]

I cannot believe this guy is real. Can a thinking adult who has spent 65 years on this planet believe in "legitimate" rape? That "the female" body has a self regulating reproductive system which can be automatically triggered when semen from a rape is introduced?

This guy is fucking barmy!

[dgs49]

Although there can be some discussion of some of his underlying points (see below), it is absolutely astounding that someone his age, and having been in politics for as long as he has, could have said something so stupid. I mean, this was stupid on three or four different levels.

One wonders whether there might be a cornucopia of other stupidities in his background that have been ignored by the Press for one reason or another.
________________________________________
There was some movement last year to "clarify" the exception for funding abortions resulting from "rape," so that if some states created lesser forms of "rape" in their statutes (e.g., when the woman stated after-the-fact that she had been too drunk to give legal consent), the exception would not apply. One proposal was to change the wording for the exception to "forcible rape." I do not believe that statutory rape was discussed. These efforts fell through, as I understand it.

[Lord Jim]

Here's the bottom line as I see it regarding the Tea Party impact from a purely electoral standpoint:

There's no question but that in the 2010 cycle the enthusiasm they brought in terms of turn out helped my party win seats in the House that they might otherwise not have won....

However...

Their influence in the nominating process in Senate races has been an absolute unmitigated disaster for the GOP...

In 2010, they cost us three Senate seats with The Three Stooges that they were able to get nominated in plurality winner primaries in Nevada, Colorado, and Delaware...(Sharon Angle, Ken Buck, and Christine "Bell Book and Candle" O'Donnell) and they probably would have cost a seat in Alaska too, if Lisa Murkowski hadn't run as an independent. (The failure to take a golden opportunity to knock off the odious Harry Reid really hurts. )

This year, they've brought us this idiot in Missouri, and put a safe seat in play in Indiana by replacing Dick Lugar with another clown who brags about how he'll never compromise over anything, anywhere, anytime under any circumstances....

We started the year with the Democrats defending 23 out of 33 seats, and our only needing a net pick up of four to take control of the Senate; this should have been about as close to a mortal lock as anything can be in politics....

Now, thanks to the wingnut candidates who've been nominated in what should have been easy wins, (and Olympia Snowe's unexpected retirement) it's starting to look like a long shot....

The Democrats should be thanking their lucky stars that the Fleabaggers have shown themselves utterly incapable of having the same kind of influence on their nominating process, or instead of moderates like Claire McCaskill, they'd be nominating leftwing kookaboos...

Dear Tea Partiers:

Thank you for your votes, but we don't need your candidates (you don't need them either) we would like to nominate people who can win elections.

Sincerely,

Everybody Else In The Republican Party

[Gob]

US candidate Todd Akin, who caused uproar by claiming women's bodies could prevent pregnancy in cases of rape, has again refused to stand aside.

Appearing on conservative talk radio, the Republican congressman defied intense pressure from the party to bow out of the Missouri Senate race.

He has asked to be forgiven for Sunday's remarks on "legitimate rape", which prompted outrage and bafflement.

The gaffe could sink his challenge to Democratic incumbent Claire McCaskill.

Correspondents say Republicans fear the backlash could endanger their campaign to win control of the US Senate in November's elections.

[Crackpot]

he's got 2 hours yet to back out

[Lord Jim]

He can pull out after that too, (up until Sept. 25th) but it becomes more complicated...

On top of just about every party leader telling him publicly to either get out, or to "think carefully about what would be best"...(which is politician-speak for "get the hell out") and losing the funding from the Republican Senatorial Committee, Rove's group (which was planning a $800,000 media buy on his behalf in in Missouri for just this week) is also pulling it's support...

So if he stays in, he has no friends and no money....

What hopefully is happening behind the scenes is that in addition to all these sticks being applied somebody is offering this nimrod a carrot if he gets out....

Like a nice cushy position on some board of directors that won't be there for him if he stays in and loses....

Ahh, but there's one person urging him to stay in:

PERRYVILLE, MO (KFVS) -

Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill said she thinks Congressman Akin should stay in the race despite his comments Sunday.

"Elections are sacred, there was an election, so I think the voters of Missouri should be respected not have some big wig fancy people from Washington come in here and threaten him that he's got to drop out," said McCaskill.

She said ultimately Missouri voters are the ones who decide who they want to represent them.

"I think that Todd Akin and I have differences, and I think Missourians can look at the two candidates and decide who they want to represent them in the Senate, but I think it would be a radical thing to try to force someone who had won an election honestly off the ballot just because you think you want to pick another candidate, I think that's wrong," said McCaskill.

I must say I'm truly touched by the Senator's heartfelt concern that the "sacred" decision of 36% of GOP primary voters be respected....

[rubato]

I don't know why Republicans are so upset. His lack of knowledge about physiology is about par for the party who denies the reality of natural selection and global warming.

yrs,
rubato

[Grim Reaper]

Looks like Todd Akin has a new best friend, Representative Steve King (R-IA), who has apparently never heard of a woman getting pregnant from being raped.

[Econoline]

And I thought all those conservative Republicans knew their Bible...

[dgs49]

Hysteria Alert:

What was the essence of the question that was asked of this guy on Sunday?

Basically, "Would you support federal taxpayers funding abortions of pregnancies that resulted from rape?

Lost in all the brouhaha was his answer, which was basically, "YES."

Nothing remarkable there. He is completely in line with every other national Republican politician - and every Democrat politician in the country as well.

Wow, huh?

His "sin" was remembering - and not questioning - articles that were published over a decade ago, claiming that pregnancy almost never resulted from a "forcible rape" due to some mechanism in the traumatized female that would automatically reject the sperm - or something. Those articles were later shown to be incorrect. He should have known they were hogwash, but then again, Barry should have known how many states are in the U.S. a couple years ago when he fucked that one up.

He also used the word, "legitimate" in connection with rape, to distinguish - one would suppose - forcible rape from "revokation of consent after the fact" scenarios that might be classified as "rape" under some state laws.

Poor choice of words.

There is nothing in any of this that is (a) hateful toward women, (b) part of the fictitious Republican "War on Women," (c) controversial, or (d) disqualifying.

The Republicans want him to quit because the Republican Clique did not get their candidate in this time around, and want a free "re-do," so that they can hand-pick the Senate candidate. The Democrats want him to stay in because they think that (1) he is an easy mark, and (2) they can use him to attack Romney/Ryan over the next few months.

I think the voters have a pretty good chance of figuring out over the next couple months that idiots like Wasserman-Test are talking out of their asses, and this is not only no BIG deal, but no deal at all.

I'm glad he decided to stay in the race. I'm going to send him some money.

For anyone who believes that what he said was "hateful," I would be happy to consider your reasoning.

But I'm not expecting any cogent responses to this. The Libs are just fucking bat-shit over this, regardless of the fact that it is a non-event.

[Grim Reaper]

And dgs49 shows just how much spin he can put on things to support a fellow Republican.

And this guy is on the House Science and Technology Committee. This is basic stuff that he should have known. Not half remembering some study that was proven wrong a long time ago.

You're supporting someone who is remaining willfully ignorant on this issue, but who wants to vote every chance he can to deny women the right to control their own bodies.

[Gob]

And this guy is on the House Science and Technology Committee.

When I heard that on the radio, as I was driving into work, I damn near crashed my car I was laughing so hard!

Seriously USA, get a fucking grip!!!