News about the female body

[The Mad Monk]

Edited for tastelessness.

[The Mad Monk]

Ann Coulter:

Ann Coulter: If Akin loves his country, he will step aside

By: Ann Coulter
8/20/2012 05:24 PM

I won’t hate Todd Akin officially unless he refuses to withdraw from the Missouri Senate race. If he does withdraw, honorably sacrificing his personal interests to save the country, it will be time for all good men to rally around Akin as an American patriot.

Akin was one of nine GOP candidates in the primary to challenge Missouri’s left-wing, tax-cheat sitting Democratic senator, Claire McCaskill. McCaskill is Chuck Schumer in a dress. Totally out of step with the good voters of Missouri, her seat should be an easy win for Republicans this year.

Curiously, Democrats ferociously supported Akin in the GOP primary. McCaskill’s supporters spent $2 million to make Akin her opponent and also crossed over to vote for Akin in the Republican primary – and that’s been admitted in The New York Times.

Now we know why. The rape comment was a totally unforced error on a day that should have been a smashing triumph for the Romney-Ryan ticket.

Akin wasn’t asked some out of the blue question no Republican candidate has ever been asked: He was asked the most jejune, obvious question every Republican is asked in any race for any office. How can a Republican not have an answer for: “What about abortion in the case of rape and incest?”

The point I believe Akin was ultimately driving at was that this is a teeny-tiny percentage of all abortions, so why are we spending all our time taking about it? How about saying: “Yes, it’s still a life, but more people are killed in drive-by shootings in Chicago every year. You give us the 2 million abortions that aren’t a result of rape and incest and we’ll give you the few thousand that are.”

Instead, Akin rambled about “legitimate rape” – violating an ironclad rule of politicians that the word “legitimate” should never appear within 15 yards of the word “rape.” And he talked about the medical possibility of becoming pregnant from a single traumatizing rape.

He’s not a talk radio host. He’s not sitting around shooting the breeze in a college dorm room. This is a politician who should have a clear, nonthreatening answer at the ready for the most cliched question in the MSM’s playbook.

This is no time for another foot-in-the-mouth, Trent Lott Republican to be dominating the national political discussion. The country is at stake.

[Lorizael]

What bothers me about this whole story is that Akin says he misspoke, but he hasn't explained what it is he really meant to say. And what's more, the media hasn't forced him to answer that question. People shouldn't be allowed to just say, "I misspoke," or, "I was taken out of context," and have that be an excuse for saying really dumb things. Grr.

[Guynemer]

That's a bit... overwrought, is it not?

"If he does withdraw, honorably sacrificing his personal interests to save the country, it will be time for all good men to rally around Akin as an American patriot." "The country is at stake."


x-post

[Guynemer]

What bothers me about this whole story is that Akin says he misspoke, but he hasn't explained what it is he really meant to say. And what's more, the media hasn't forced him to answer that question. People shouldn't be allowed to just say, "I misspoke," or, "I was taken out of context," and have that be an excuse for saying really dumb things. Grr.

I can't believe I'm doing this, but...

to his credit(!), he actually apologized. And not that typical public figure mealy-mouthed "I'm sorry if you were offended" type of apology, but an honest-to-goodness apology apology. Doesn't mean he's not a complete ****ing idiot misogynist ******** who shouldn't be within 200 yards of a homeowner's association, let alone Congress, but at least he apologized.


I think he said exactly what he meant to say, and he was wrong, and owned up to it.

[The Mad Monk]

x-you'd

Depends on your point of view.

If you belive Obama & Co. are destroying the country, and that Akin could lose us the Senate and drag Missouri's 11 electoral votes along for good measure, it's not that far afield.

[The Mad Monk]

x-me'd

...and that's why we want him off the stage.

[Guynemer]

If you believe that Obama & Co. are any more or less inclined or adept at destroying the country, economically speaking, than Romney & Co., then you are beyond medical and psychological help, or even diagnosis.

Which, given the patient at hand (Ms. Coulter), is bleeding obvious.


x-ed again. Imma hang up and listen.

[Hauldren Collider]

What's even more shocking is all of the usual suspects from the Christian Right/GOP rallied around him.

WTF? No, the RNC withdrew its support and he's being condemned by all the major GOP politicians. Did you just write this assuming it would be true?

[Asher]

I didn't refer to the whole of the RNC. I referred to the usual suspects of the Christian Right/GOP (like the FRC) which have, indeed, rallied around him.

[Elok]

This is so moronic I'm having a hard time imagining someone taking offense at it. I mean, intellectually, sure, this is malicious, false and degrading and stuff. But it's such a abysmally dumb thing to say that I giggle just looking at it. It's like that line in Knocked Up where they all agree a woman can't get pregnant when she's on top. "It's just gravity." Voters in Missouri should laugh long and hearty, shake their heads ruefully as they wipe the tears away, then go vote for the Democrat even if they nominated the reanimated corpse of Madalyn Murray O'Hare.

Akin's First Law of Reproductive Biology: The likelihood of pregnancy is directly proportional to the woman's enjoyment of the sex. If she's a closeted lesbian, the sperm will actually brake hard, turn around, and swim back up the vas deferens.

[Koyaanisqatsi]

Aaaaaand.....he's still in the lead.*

http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/inside-politics/2012/aug/21/poll-akin-still-leads-mccaskill-missouri-senate-ra/

The poll by Democratic-leaning Public Policy Polling found that Mr. Akin, a Republican, maintains a lead of 44 percent to 43 percent over the Democratic senator.

*I'm sure there's an error bar in there that says I can't say that, but oh well.

[Robert]

If there's one reason for abortion then it's rape. And even though I am against abortion in most cases, I am absolutely 100% supporting raped women to get aborted.
Having said that, the guy has a point that stress and other circumstances during rape do make the odds for conception lower. And early miscarriage higher. I hope that that kind of stuff can be said out loud. But please let nobody ever conclude from that that raped women who got pregnant enjoyed it or wanted to get pregnant.

[kentonio]

If there's one reason for abortion then it's rape. And even though I am against abortion in most cases, I am absolutely 100% supporting raped women to get aborted.

Shame the GOP don't agree.

Todd Akin's Abortion Position Reflects GOP Platform

Lost in the national outrage and politics following an inflammatory statement made Sunday by GOP Senate candidate Todd Akin in Missouri is the reality that, on a fundamental level, there is no policy difference between Akin's comments and the mainstream GOP platform.


CNN reported on Monday that the draft of the GOP's official 2012 platform calls for a federal ban on abortion with no exception for rape and incest survivors -- the same policy Akin was trying to defend when he asserted that victims of "legitimate rape" have a natural bodily mechanism that prevents them from getting pregnant.

The platform also demands that the government "not fund or subsidize health care which includes abortion coverage," a policy that harkens back to the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act of 2011. The GOP sponsors of that bill, including Akin and current GOP vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), tried to narrow the definition of rape as it relates to abortion; only "forcible rape," the bill originally stated, warrants insurance coverage for abortion. The language was removed before the bill passed.

Akin's remarks and the ensuing outrage from both parties forced Mitt Romney to rein in his running mate's conservative position on abortion. The Romney campaign announced Sunday night that the Romney/Ryan ticket supports abortion in cases of rape, even though Ryan previously opposed it.

But if the draft of the GOP platform is any indication, the Republican National Committee will not include a rape exception in its platform. "Our platform language is the same [as] it's been in 2004 and 2008," an RNC spokesperson told The Huffington Post when asked if it would consider a rape exception. "It's a strong pro-life position that doesn't get into granular specifics. We leave those to the states."

Ten GOP-controlled state legislatures, over the past couple of years, have passed bans on abortions after 20 weeks of gestation that do not include an exception for rape victims. Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) recently tried to pass the same ban in the District of Columbia.

Romney and Ryan could be unsuccessful at severing ties with the Akin mindset. Ryan, in addition to having sponsored a federal fetal personhood law that would force rape victims to go through with their pregnancies, plans to headline the "Values Voter Summit" next month alongside a number of prominent Akin supporters. The Family Research Council, the primary sponsor of the event, came to Akin's defense Monday, telling Politico that it still supports Akin "fully and completely."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/0...n_1818532.html

[Robert]

Oh, and for the record, I am against abortion but I do not think that the government should forbid it. That's not going to work anyway. And indeed in these cases, should we then start to judge if someone was raped or not and thus can get an abortion? That would be horrible.