Incumbant Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO) was lagging behind her as-yet-unnamed Republican opponent until the recent GOP primary. She may have lucked out since Congressman Todd Akin (R-MO) won the nomination to oppose her.
It looks like he may have just given Sen. McCaskill the election.
Akin, who is a member of the House Science and Technology Committee, appalled everyone yesterday by his outrageous anti-abortion statement. Defending the inclusion of the term "legitimate rape," as opposed simply to "rape" in his sponsored bill, he said he had been told by a doctor that it was rare for rape to result in pregnancy. Most women who claim rape are faking it, you see. They had sex and now want to claim they were raped. No, he didn't say all that on TV, but that's what he means. He just referred to "legitimate" rape.
"If it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down. . . . But let's assume maybe that didn't work or something. I think there should be some punishment, but the punishment ought to be on the rapist."I see. So, even though you decry abortion because it kills an innocent life, that's ok if it occurred in a "legitimate" rape, but not if it was "illegitimate"? It's ok to "punish" those innocent babies whose mother faked the rape but not the ones who were legitimately raped?
Why is it that people, who view all abortions as murder, lose their conviction when the pregnancy results from (legitimate) rape or incest? If it's murder, then is it any less a murder if the baby is the result of rape or incest? And is that more important than if the fetus is so abnormally formed that it could not possibly live, but the mother must endure carrying a doomed "life" through term, rather than have an intervention?
To me, if they have the courage of their convictions, then the only justification for abortion would be to save the life of the mother long enough for the fetus to develop to the point of viability outside the womb. Otherwise the mother would die and the baby too. That should be the only justification for someone who truly believes it is murder.
But back to the extra-stupidity of the "legitimate" rape crowd. This is the same gang that also gave us "forceful rape" as a qualifier for "legitimate rape." This gang included Paul Ryan, by the way. Would psychological terrorism qualify? What about threatening to kill your other child if you don't submit? Does one actually have to be physically damaged to claim "legitimacy" of rape?
You see, this is why our Congress is held is such low esteem. Recent polls put it at the all-time low of 10% approval.
And Akin is a member of the House Science Team, no less.
My God !!!! This is a national scandal. I don't mean this one stupid statement. I mean that we are being government by ignorant people whose stupidity is exceeded only by their mendacity and their obscene financial advantages.
And they could win the White House and the Senate in November.
Ralph
News flash from David Axelrod: Paul Ryan was a co-sponsor with this nitwit Akins for his bill that limits abortion to cases of "forcible rape."
ReplyDeleteRomney is back-pedalling fast, trying to disassociate himself from this. The Dems are out in force trying to stop any GOP movement to replace Akins on the ticket.
This is a gift beyond measure for Sen. McCaskill and for the Dems in general, especially with Ryan's association with this.
President Obama called a surpris news conference to denounce Akin's comments:
ReplyDelete"The views expressed were offensive. . . . Rape is rape. And the idea that we should be parsing and qualifying and slicing what types of rape we are talking about doesn't make sense to the American people and certainly doesn't make sense to me. So 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."
Akin compounded his atrocious gaffe in trying to explain why he became "pro-life." He linked it to 9/11 and the first responders, who "didn't check IDs before they tried to save people." He was trying to say that it is the American way to value all lives, not just those we deem important.
ReplyDeleteOK. But what does this have to do with abortion? They're the ones who are differentiating the "worth" of different embryos based on whether the sperm donor "legitimately" and "forcefully" raped the egg donor and whether or not she willingly participated in the act and then lied about it.
The issue is not whether this or that embryo is "important." It has to do with when we think human life begins and to what extent a woman has legal and moral control over what happens in her body.
This man does not belong in the Congress, much less on the Science Committee -- and certainly not in the Senate.
But keep him as the GOP nominee, pleeeze !!!! It's the best chance Claire McCaskill has to retain her seat in an increasingly conservative state.
The best measure of how damaging Akin's ignorant comment can be is the number of top Republicans calling him to drop out of the race and let another Republican be nominated by the party.
ReplyDeleteOrdinarily they'd be trying to downplay it, but they're denouncing it almost as much as the Democrats.
Now I'm worried that they'll talk him into withdrawing. Claire McCaskill is already warning them not to do that, saying that they will be insulting the voters of Missouri who have made their choice, and that it will backfire if they force him to withdraw.
ReplyDeleteShe must be dancing in glee at this windfall -- and afraid they'll snatch it away from her.