Growing Number Of Conservatives Call On Akin To Withdraw After ‘Legitimate Rape’ Comments
Source: Think Progress
Rep. Todd Akin, the GOP Senate candidate in Missouri, set off a firestorm today after claiming that women who are victims of legitimate rape dont usually become pregnant because the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down. Now, several conservative writers have started calling for Akin to withdraw from his Senate race:
One of the first was Reihan Salam, a prominent author at the conservative flagship National Review:
Reihan Salam@reihan : Todd Akin ought to step the heck down.
John McCormack, a staff writer at Bill Kristols The Weekly Standard, also called on Akin to step down:
John McCormack @McCormackJohn : @RameshPonnuru tried to warn us about Todd Akin http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/313005/mccaskill-tries-pick-her-opponent-ramesh-ponnuru
#headdesk
Read more: http://thinkprogress.org/election/2012/08/19/712151/growing-number-of-conservative-call-on-akin-to-withdraw-after-legitimate-rape-comments/
Apparently the GOP has 48 hours to clean up this mess or they're stuck with him.
Quixote1818
(28,930 posts)Had this happened six months ago they would not have cared. Ass holes!
Cha
(297,169 posts)bushisanidiot
(8,064 posts)NOW is the time to link Paul Ryan's name with Todd Akin's as they both were co-sponsors of H.R. 3, the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act which attempts to define rape into several categories. Among them "forceable rape", which is what I think Akin was referring to when he said "legitimate". Rape is rape. Putting the word "legitimate" in front of it is highly offensive to everyone, regardless of gender.
Aristus
(66,327 posts)of having a loved one fall victim to a rapist.
Whether pregnancy resulted from the attack or not is irrelevant; I can only imagine they must be revolted by his remarks.
SunSeeker
(51,550 posts)It is in the Republican platform that rape victims should be forced to give birth to their rapist's child. How is what he said any more offensive than that barbaric, misogynistic party platform?
Quixote1818
(28,930 posts)This is just the kind of thing that could kill them with women when it's fresh in their minds and the focus of the media just two months before the elections.
Sandy one
(24 posts)Let's see if Ryan has anything to say about this. After all this is basically Ryan's view. He wants to outlaw abortions from rape or incest. I guess it's OK with him to force a young girl or woman through nine months of an unwanted and fearful pregnancy. This is the price she pays for being raped. Romney also goes along with this approach. Welcome to the non-empathetic world of the GOP. Jesus must be very sad this evening.
kestrel91316
(51,666 posts)He lamented conservative BS 2000 years ago, and things haven't improved.
jsr
(7,712 posts)1995-04-21 04:00:00 PDT Raleigh, N.C. -- Women do not get pregnant when raped because "the juices don't flow, the body functions don't work" during an attack, a state lawmaker said yesterday.
Republican Representative Henry Aldridge made the remarks to the House Appropriations Committee as it debated a proposal to eliminate a state abortion fund for poor women.
"The facts show that people who are raped -- who are truly raped -- the juices don't flow, the body functions don't work and they don't get pregnant," said Aldridge, a 71-year-old periodontist. "Medical authorities agree that this is a rarity, if ever."
AnotherMcIntosh
(11,064 posts)dtom67
(634 posts)Why do his own people want him to step down? saying stupid things that are 100% not true is the republican way these days. In fact, the whole " black is white, up is down " phenomenon is the theme for the GOP.
After 8 years of " W ", who would have guessed that a Republican could run on the economy?
Mitt Romney is just a " regular guy " ?
Paul Ryan is the savior of medicare ?
chick-flay is newsworthy in a story not related to food poisoning??
The republicans are against voter fraud ??
Don't get me wrong, I want Akin to step down too.
but only because he is a piece of sh*t.
alp227
(32,019 posts)Post 3:
Who elected this idiot?
Post 4:
Post 6:
Good grief, is that quote for real?
If so, MO sure should have heeded Palins endorsement and gone with that Sarah Steelman gal instead!
Post 9:
Post 11:
As disgusting as Akin was with those comments, I'd like to thank him very much for handing the election over to McCaskill. No way could he complain: "The liberals made that shit up! The liberals took me out of context!"
The perfect toon for how Akin will explain his predicament:
Cha
(297,169 posts)entertaining. Which begs the question...Why didn't the MO teabag primary elect palin's endorsement?
wilsonbooks
(972 posts)and helped him win. He was behind in the polls.
Open primary.. in Hawai'i we can only vote for one party in the primary. There were a couple of candidates I wanted to go on to the General in November.
Thx wilsonbooks~
pstokely
(10,525 posts)Before the comments, I would have thought it would get closer into the fall. There are still people who will vote for this guy because they believe what their hear on the kochsucker ads
mountain grammy
(26,619 posts)Baitball Blogger
(46,702 posts)too stupid?
aquart
(69,014 posts)IndyJones
(1,068 posts)told.
Angry Dragon
(36,693 posts)Dawson Leery
(19,348 posts)Quixote1818
(28,930 posts)nobodyspecial
(2,286 posts)I hope he sticks to his "misspoke" comment and forges on.
pstokely
(10,525 posts)nt
OmahaBlueDog
(10,000 posts)I realize it's a cliche, but it applies 100% in this instance.
He can apologize all he wants; say he misspoke; say he's been misunderstood; blame the media for twisting his words...he's stuck with this one.
LibinMo
(533 posts)Cha
(297,169 posts)Todd Aikin's name..As in KEEP HIS STUPID UGLY MIND OUT.
secondvariety
(1,245 posts)Candidates have said and done worse (Rick Scott) and still won.
pstokely
(10,525 posts)problem is, since MO is no longer a deciding state electorally, Obama may not come to help bring out the Dems in KC and STL
bucolic_frolic
(43,142 posts)Sweet.
How exactly did he decide to make these statements?
GaYellowDawg
(4,446 posts)However messed up they are otherwise, the ones who are calling for him to drop out of the race are right on this one, and we should give them credit on the rare occasions when they get it right.
wordpix
(18,652 posts)the case of rape or incest---now no baby will result, right?
Liberal_Stalwart71
(20,450 posts)Zoonart
(11,855 posts)Here come the Toad Lickers (Thomas Dolby) hysterical
Firebrand Gary
(5,044 posts)maxrandb
(15,324 posts)You nominated this asshat, deal with it. He stays on the God Damned ballot as a example of YOUR complete idiocy!
bluestateguy
(44,173 posts)Keep him in the race. If they boot him they'll just replace him with an electable Republican who believes all the same things as Akin, but is more sanitized in their bigotry and extremism.
SHRED
(28,136 posts)Tx4obama
(36,974 posts)Because IF he does then the GOP can nominate a different candidate to be on the ticket to run against McCaskill.
See the details here: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/08/19/1121913/-Think-Progress-Conservatives-already-calling-for-Todd-Akin-to-withdraw
And here:
MIssouris §115.359 appears to require a candidate to withdraw no later than the eleventh Tuesday prior to the general election which, if youre counting, is this Tuesday. Absent some pretty effective lobbying by Missouri Republicans, theres little chance Rep. Akin will willingly step down before that deadline. And any lobbying wont have the benefit of poll numbers, as theres little time to even conduct a poll before Tuesday. Not that it would matter much, as Rep. Akins comments wont have saturated the electorate, meaning any polls wouldnt measure much (if any) of the eventual impact of his remarks.
If Rep. Akin does withdraw before 5PM on Tuesday, the Republicans in Missouri could nominate someone else pursuant to §115.363(3)(3). In such an event, under §115.369, the party would have two weeks and a day to pick somebody new.
-snip-
http://adamsteinbaugh.com/2012/08/19/can-rep-todd-akin-withdraw-sure-but-its-unlikely/
pstokely
(10,525 posts)nt
dsharp88
(487 posts)Akin is a huge gift to the Dems! Don't get rid of him. We need to support him (until Tuesday 5 pm).
R. Daneel Olivaw
(12,606 posts)Just reading this gave me the hiccups. Strange.
Okay. So WTF? I can't even wrap my brain around this one. What planet is this guy from?
pstokely
(10,525 posts)Would his name stay on the ballot? Missouri has a centrist Dem governor who will probably get another term
Tx4obama
(36,974 posts)Akin was one
one was a teapartier
and I don't know anything about the other one.
If Akin drops out by Tuesday 5pm the GOP can pick a replacement within two weeks and that replacement will be on the ballot.
Tx4obama
(36,974 posts)... Other candidates in the August 2012 Republican primary include businessman John Brunner, author and business executive Mark Memoly, and former Missouri Treasurer Sarah Steelman. Despite losing some momentum and in a crowded field, Akin won the Republican nomination in the August 7 primary, 36% to 30% for his nearest challenger.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Todd_akin#2012_U.S._Senate_election
I guess IF Akin were to drop out the GOP would pick one of them, I don't know.
But considering Akin is current a Representative in the U.S. House - I think it would be hard for him to drop out of the senate race and still be able to campaign for his House seat without looking like 'he is guilty'. So, he might decide to tough it out. I don't have a clue.
Perhaps he will lose his House seat too
Edited to add:
Wikipedia shows that Akin is 'retiring' from The House in order to run for the senate seat.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_of_Representatives_elections,_2012#Republicans
democrat_patriot
(2,774 posts)Might just send him some words of encouragment - "We need this debate, we want this debate....."
:>
Remmah2
(3,291 posts)What a heartless, clueless bastard.
Blue Owl
(50,355 posts)It's over, fucko.