Why the GOP wants Akin to quit and why he won't

[Major Nikon]

The GOP desperately want Akin to quit because it changes the national debate at a time when the GOP can least afford it. Practically every GOP candidate is going to have to go on the defensive and disavow not only Akin's purely ignorant statements regarding women, but his extreme position on abortion which is well outside the mainstream. It gives fuel to the fire regarding Democrats' arguments regarding the GOP's war on women. Actually, it douses it with gasoline. These things are going to be toxic for congressional and senate races all over the country for the GOP, not to mention the presidential race where Ryan simply can't deny his associations with Akin and Rmoney is already polling horribly with women.

So what about Mr. Combover himself? Well, the latest poll from SurveyUSA has him 11 points ahead of McCaskill. He knows he still has a pretty good shot at winning the election. Certainly he will lose funding from some sources. Certainly he will take a hit in the polls for this. However, he also stands to pick up funding from wingnuts all over the country who share his extreme views. He also knows that even big gaffes can and do blow over. This is also more than likely his one and only shot at the Senate. My bet is he goes all in. Tomorrow is the last day he has to quit where the GOP can replace him. After that, the GOP is all in too, and he knows it.

[RagAss]

1. He's not going anywhere...and the scum will come out in force to get him elected.

[Major Nikon]

3. I hope so

The GOP doesn't like to talk about exceptions to abortion in public. It's a lose-lose topic for them. If a candidate doesn't support a rape exception, it plays badly to the 80% of the population who don't hold such extreme views on abortion. If a candidate does support a rape exception, it plays poorly to the hard core misogynistic 20% of the population who don't. Now just about every candidate is going to have to publicly declare their position on this issue and the results will be catastrophic for the GOP.

[Freddie]

13. From your lips to God's ears

(I'm female, Freddie is a cat)

When Chillbilly Woman opined about "no exceptions for rape" four years ago, every single one of my female friends was livid. "I can't vote for a woman who hates women" was the consensus. Even though that opinion had gotten more "mainstream" lately, it dosen't make it any less repulsive.

Now we can tie Akin's repugnant views with those of the GOP's Savior, Paul Ryan. Fabulous timing!

[Lone_Star_Dem]

2. The way he sees it he has nothing to lose and everything to gain.

Time will tell if he's beaten into submission by the GOP. Who have everything to lose and nothing to gain by his staying in.

[Major Nikon]

5. They only have 1 more day to do it

After that it's academic.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

11. Turns out he has longer than that.

Check out the update at the bottom.

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/08/20/712521/sorry-missouri-republicans-youre-probably-stuck-with-todd-akin-as-your-senate-candidate/

[Major Nikon]

15. Yes, good catch

I'm not exactly sure what this means. Is the court order automatic if he requests it, or are their conditions?

[Lone_Star_Dem]

17. I don't know either.

I found it in a reply in LBN.

What this may mean is Akin's has more time to hold the GOP hostage. I can guarantee you there are some serious deals being offered to him right now. This could give him some leeway to hold out for more before he makes a final decision.

There's no reason for him to just step down. They're going to have to sweeten the pot for him, and before he's done too much damage this election cycle to their party.

That's just how I'm seeing it anyway.

[Drunken Irishman]

6. That's how I'd see it...

I mean, he quits he's done politically anyway. No way can he come back from that after quitting, it would be an admission and he's already lost out on his congressional seat (he's only running in one election). If he stays in and loses, he's done, but what if he wins? It's not likely, but I'll tell you, in his mind, he knows he has a better chance of winning if he stays in the race than if he gets out of it...

[Lone_Star_Dem]

12. It's his last chance at fame, glory and power.

Unless they come up with a sizable reason for him to step down, I don't know that he will.

What's funny is that a tea bagger has them over the coals, and the GOP are in a position where they're going to be forced to beg him not to keep smacking them around.

[Hydra]

4. He's probably toast if he stays in, no matter his lead right now

But I actually want him to stick around and put his feet in his mouth harder. He's spouting the real feelings of the GOP, and it's possibly uglier than anyone could have believed.

More! More!!

[spanone]

7. nobody knows what he's going to do...this story is still happening......

i imagine there are some serious phone calls going on this evening...every major news organization led with this story tonight...pressure's on

[proud2BlibKansan]

10. Paul Ryan has reportedly called him and urged him to step down.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

8. IT.IS.NOT.A.GAFFE!

The only reason he apologizes is because the non-believers don't get it. He simply made a small mistake with the choice of one word.

These assholes, and there are probably 2-5 million of them, are evil. Dangerous. And they must be stopped.

[Lucy Goosey]

20. Yes! This!

Akin knows he said something that is popular on the Christian right. He was being honest. His mistake was not believing what he believes, it was just saying so to the media while he was running for office. He was supposed to keep his mouth shut during the campaign and then work to make abortion illegal from the Senate.

[loyalsister]

29. I bet the FRC and some radical tea party types are encouraging him

They probably think they can at least "educate Missourians" during his campiagn

[Liberal_in_LA]

9. day 1 leading up the convention - it's all about rape/abortion. Tomorrow also probably

not what Romney wanted to highlight.

[Freddie]

16. What a horrible shame!

[mile18blister]

14. Akin interviewer Jaco claims Akin will never drop out.

Charles Jaco was on KFI Los Angeles earlier this afternoon. He claimed that Akin doesn't care what national GOPers think and will never drop out.

[Major Nikon]

18. That's the way I see it

He's a teabagger and doesn't really give a shit what the mainstream GOP wants.

[flamingdem]

19. Crap, you mean he might still win?

That is appalling!

[Major Nikon]

21. Never underestimate the stupidity of a red state voter

[Lone_Star_Dem]

22. He might, but his chances are a lot lower.

By leaps and bounds lower. We've a real chance at that senate seat now.

[flamingdem]

23. That's why I'm taking the risk of donating .50 cents

The investment value is making me do the unthinkable but I want them to be encouraged by the numbers of donations!

[Lone_Star_Dem]

24. Cheapskate!

I'm in for a full buck!

[MadHound]

26. No, that's not going to happen

Akin is toothless now, no money, no support from the party, and while the teabaggers might still support him, nobody else will.

[MadHound]

25. I wouldn't be so quick to think that Akin will still get in.

First off, remember that this is the state that elected a dead man over Ashcroft. We do have some sense of sanity. Second, that SurveyUSA poll is a bit of an outlier, with the other post-primary poll showing him with only a one point lead over McCaskill. Most current(well, at least current before Sunday) prognostications had Akin at around four or five percent. I imagine that lead is already gone, vaporized and McCaskill is narrowly ahead.

As far as money goes, Akin is in deep shit. Crossroads GPS has pulled their 5.4 million dollar campaign out from under him. The National Republican Senatorial Committee just yanked their 5 million dollars in funding and various other resources. The man stands alone, and while he might get some wingnut money coming in, he's not going to be enjoying the 10 to 1 funding advantage that he had last Saturday. He will most likely drop far behind in the money race.

Akin doesn't have a political friend in this world right now, and won't for however long he remains in the race and that will cost him the race. Even if he does pull out, it's going to take at least a couple of weeks to get another candidate out there, a campaign set up and running, all in all the 'Pugs lose about a month of precious campaign time. They can't recover from that either. Not to mention who will they get to replace the man? If they pick the runner up, Brunner, Steelman fans along with some Akin teabaggers will be pissed and stay home(better yet, Steelman runs third party). If Steelman gets the nod, Brunner folks might defect to McCaskill in some serious numbers. And if there is some sort of attempt at wisdom where the party bosses pick Talent has already said he won't replace Akin, so that doesn't leave much.

The hard fact of the matter is that Akin pretty much handed Claire back her Senate seat. Not saying it won't be a tough fight, but it is a fight she can win now.

[Kalidurga]

27. Akin has 216 friend in congress, including Paul Ryan.

We need names and ads on all of them. F the GOP, even the ones not running this year.

[flamingdem]

33. Great, thanks for the clarification, I guess he can't count on teabaggers saving him via donations

I wonder if he's holding out on some kind of pay off for stepping down. If that were the case he's doing well and Rove is looking in his pockets to see if he has a couple of hundred grand to toss at him, if they can get away with that. If the fool runs, well, what other choice does he have, unemployment? He doesn't have much to lose without a payoff.

[lapfog_1]

28. Even if this asshole wins, it's a win for Democrats.

he has become the image of the war on women by repukes and the image of the repuke party thinking on rape, abortion, and all things related to their misogynistic idiotic attitudes.

He will raise millions of dollars.... for democrats. And women (and some men) will flock to vote Democratic in the future...

Of course, I don't want him to win, especially if he becomes part of the Senate majority.

But if he does win (and the Dems retain the Senate) he is a poster asshole for Democrats to use for the next 6 years.

[flamingdem]

34. "poster asshole"

[lapfog_1]

35. Like this

[BlueStreak]

30. The polls aren't so clear cut.

When the GOP ticket was uncertain (before the primary) Akin was only +3. It does seem he got a bump after the primary, but that is probably overstated. If the actual spread is more like +5, that is a number that could easily be overcome.

Bottom line, there is one main reason why the entire party is trying to boot him out. And that is because the GOP thinks he will lose that election. The GOP probably knows more than one poll that we can see.

[lonestarnot]

31. Tee hee. I sure wouldn't want to be alone in the same room with the fuckwad . He's creepy.

[Major Hogwash]

32. But, they don't want him to quit. It's all just another poor GOP act of Kabuki theater.

They don't really care about what Representative Akin said.
They don't actually care if it was about rape, or abortions, or personhood.

They just want everyone to THINK that they care.

And that is the "bait and switch" method that Bush used so successfully in 2004 to fool so many people into believing he cared about such things, too.