Earlier this month Missouri had its senatorial primary. Out of the blue, Todd Akin, a Congressman, won the primary, shocking a lot of people.
Until today, he was considered a pretty good bet to beat Clair McCaskill and take a Democrat senate seat and turn it red.
He was a pretty good bet, until he opened his mouth.
From Mediate:
Republican Congressman Todd Akin, currently the GOP nominee running for Senate against incumbent Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill, justified his absolute opposition to abortion (no exceptions for rape) by claiming that the victims of “legitimate rape” have biological mechanisms in place to reject and prevent pregnancy.
“If an abortion can be considered in the case of a tubal pregnancy [where the mother's life is threatened],” said host Charles Jaco, “what about in the case of rape? Should it be legal or not?”
“First of all, from what I understand from doctors, that’s really rare,” Akin said about pregnancy from rape. “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.”
Akin continued on to suggest that when those protections fail, abortion shouldn’t be an available course of action for the victim.
“Let’s assume that maybe that didn’t work, or something,” he said. “I think there should be some punishment, but the punishment ought to be on the rapist and not attacking the child.”
First, let’s give Akin the benefit of the doubt. He was speaking off the cuff, isn’t a doctor and sometimes we all say things that don’t come out right.
Akin’s point was that pregnancy resulting from rape is fairly rare. That point is right. I worked as a prosecutor for ten years and handled rape cases. I cannot recall any of them that I was involved in or even heard about that resulted in pregnancy. That isn’t to say it doesn’t happen, only that it is rare.
Unfortunately Akin cannot walk those words back. It does not matter what he says now, that interview is out there and it is a gold mine to not only Claire McCaskill, but the left wing media that will destroy Akin over this. Almost every woman, left, right and independent will be offended by this statement.
Akin wants to be the next Senator from Missouri but at this point, it is not going to happen.
Akin should do the right thing and step down.
The Republican Party has a great candidate in Sarah Steelman. She is the only one of the former candidates in the primary that can undo this kind of damage. John Brunner was the other candidate in the primary but even he would have to deal with the aftermath of what Akin said.
If Akin steps down and Steelman is selected to run in his place, this issue dies quickly and the focus returns to how unpopular Barack Obama is and how Claire McCaskill charged the taxpayers for the use of her own private plane and not paying the taxes she owed on the plane.
The Republicans in Missouri need to act quickly, while they still can.
Permalink Reply by Rob Schultz on I am in Missouri and think Todd Akin is that rare person; he is a man of faith and integrity AND is also a politician.
To suggest that Todd step down is simply silly and foolish. It would be like a Ron Paul or Gary Johnson supporter NOT voting for Mitt Romney, in essence casting their vote by default for the Great Narcissist, Obama.
Todd Akin knows the TRUTH about the fundamentals of natural law; he knows the truth about economics.
He will be an honest Senator and needs no Judas's in his midst.
Permalink Reply by Judson Phillips on With this stupid comment, he will never be a Senator.
Permalink Reply by James Flowers on I am confident that Judson is not telling anyone to not vote for him if he stays in the race. I think Judson is giving sound advice. "Beware what you say to the Liberal media."
Permalink Reply by John Mainhart on If we don't want people of integrity who tell the truth then maybe we deserve Obama. You can't have it both ways. You can't modify the truth because the media will crucify you. Judson, you are beginning to talk like the establishment Republicans who refuse to address serious issues ,because the media might picture them as mean spirited and then when you become President you forget the issues. Social issues are very important in our society and are causing great harm to our society especially the attitude we have toward the unborn and family life.
Permalink Reply by James Flowers on John Mainhart --- You make a very good point. However, we know that the media is biased, that they will take anything that is slightly "off" and run with it. Our candidates should be ready for such gotcha questions and have prepared statements that are truthful, strong and clear. This is especially true when candidates deal with social issues. I think Jean MaCallister & Frank L. Worth (see below) make very good points also.
Permalink Reply by John Henry Botkin on When we bow to the positions of the same media we so often deride, we acknowledge their power over us. That is not a way to win a fight. Counter lies with truth; counter cowardice with courage; counter unrighteous practice with a pursuit of righteousness. Our struggle is in root and branch a struggle against darkness in high places. The light of truth is the only weapon that can vanquish it. Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition!
Permalink Reply by Judson Phillips on Go ask some women you know what they think about the "legitimate rape" comment. This is an amazingly stupid statement. I realize you can say things and say them badly. Sometimes you can recover from it and sometimes you cannot. This one is one of the latter cases.
Akin needs to step out and hopefully the Missouri GOP would select Sarah Steelman to replace him and then go about defeating Claire McCaskill.
Permalink Reply by John Mainhart on I don't quite understand your passion. I think the man was reflecting on the fact that some women accuse men of rape anhd no rape has occurred. Surely we can agree that such is the case on occasion. Saying that in no way disrespects true victims.of rape.
Permalink Reply by Judson Phillips on He did it in such a manner that he has probably totally destroyed his campaign. I won't argue that a life created as a result of a rape is still a life. I won't argue that aborting a child created by rape is wrong.
But these politicians need to think before they open their damn mouths. Akin was always regarded as the weakest of the three candidates and many think a lot of Democrats crossed over to get him the nomination under the theory he was the candidate McCaskill preferred. This comment has sunk him. We cannot afford to throw away any senate seats we can pick up and that is what is happening here.
Permalink Reply by Russ Henry on Judson,
A religious, honest, principled man is a weak candidate? Missouri is in the bible belt!
Clair McCaskill is a loser and knew of Obama's lack of eligibility to run for president in public and in congress. The Democrats knew this fact long before (10 years) he was nominated. It must be brought out that Obama is not a US citizen, is lying about his birth, is lying about his religion, never attended Columbia University, bribed Harvard to gain entrance ($23 million) was trained by the Russian KGB, is a socialist/communist/Marxist and will be nullified before this is over.
Maybe Missouri is a good place to expose all of Obama's illegality which even the conservative talk radio will not do. "Show me Obama! Show me!"
Permalink Reply by Steve Johnson on A MORON is a weak candidate. Whether he is an overly religious moron or just a regular moron matters not.
Permalink Reply by JC Patriot on "A moron is a weak candidate."
Steve, we have about 500 of those moronic, weak candidates serving in office right now! I would still rather have a conservative moron instead of a liberal moron any day. But if we keep smashing conservative idiots while they keep praising liberal idiots, the only idiots we will have in office will be theirs. That doesn't seem to help us much, does it?
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