This post may be old before it gets published, but if Missouri Republican congressman Todd Akin is still the official Republican nominee for the senate seat against incumbent Democrat Clare McCaskill at this time tomorrow night, the dude has a real death wish.
You see, Mr. Akin is an absolutist on the issue of abortion. Mr. Akin opposes all abortion no matter the circumstance. Mr. Akin opposes any abortion even when the life of the mother is threatened. If an incesteous relationship was involved. And in the case of rape.
It was this question from a St. Louis reporter, Charles Jaco, that Mr. Akin, unbelievably answered this way:
“Well, you know, uh, people always want to try to make that as one of those
things, ‘Well, how do you – how do you slice this particularly tough sort of
ethical question. It seems to me, first of all, from what I understand from doctors, that’s
really rare. If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut
that whole thing down. But let’s assume that maybe that didn’t work or something. You know, I think
there should be some punishment but the punishment ought to be on the rapist and
not attacking the child.”
Legitimate rape? A way to shut down that whole thing?
Oh, where the devil to start?
So, let me back up a bit.
Let me make the obvious political observation.
Mr. Akin should not have been suckered into to going down this road. It is what reporters, and I do not know Mr. Jaco's credentials other than here on Wikipedia, love to do to social conservatives, or from here on out this post, So Cons. They love to take them over the cliff. Mr. Akin went off in a rather spectacular manner if I do say so myself.
Now, here is the whole transcript in regards to the abortion question. Had I been Mr. Akin, I would have affirmed my pro-life credentials and when Mr. Jaco wanted to go down the specific road, on the issue of rape, I would have answered something like this.
"Mr. Jaco, I have affirmed my pro-life credentials and will be a voice for the unborn if I am fortunate enough to be elected senator. But the over-arching issues in this election is the massive federal deficit and debt. It is the federal government and implementing Obamacare. It is the over reach of the federal government. It is to return to actually reading and legislating constitutionally. It is to restore our rightful place respected and feared around the world."
But, nooooooo. Mr. Akin went head first into that pool.
So let dissect the comment itself because while being totally heartless and cold, it is pretty much not even factual.
Notice how Mr. Akin uses and interesting word. That word is slice. I may read way more than it is, but slice could be a subliminal message about the abortion proceedure itself.
What does he mean by "legitimate rape"?
Last I checked, when a gal says NO to wanting sexual relations and the dude she is with thinks that is a "hell yeah" but reverse psychology on him and forces himself on her, and her continuing to at this point scream NO, that is rape. Period. Are there situations in which women claim to be raped and in fact were not? Yes, that does happen. And sometimes, it is to cover a consenual encounter that produces a child. A child that is not wanted by a mother and father. But most women, the overwhelming majority, who have been raped do know the difference. Again NO means NO. And I am wondering the names of these doctors that he has spoken with that told him about "legitimate" rapes and this theory, one I have never heard of, shutting the whole thing down. Maybe what Mr. Akin really means is that the rape victim ends up taking the advice of former Texas Republican gubenitorial candidate Clayton Williams, "If it is inevitable, just relax and enjoy it." Oh yeah, Mr. Williams did not win that race. One Ann Richards went on to win.
Even the way that Mr. Akin ended the comment is bizarre.
To state the obvious, that the rapist should be punished. And that it would not be right to "attack" the child.
Ahh, but it should be some punishment on the rapist. What does that mean? Some punishment? Hey, how about hardcore punishment? You know, real prison time?
The problem is that judgeing by the previous comment, Mr. Akin generally has a hard to time believing a woman to be raped in the first place.
And that is a serious problem.
There are some really bad dudes out there. They do horrible things to women. Some beat 'em. Some trash-talk 'em. Some rape 'em.
Again, for Mr. Akin's benefit, when a man forces himself on a woman sexually and she says NO and he keeps going, it is R A P E. Period. No qualifiers.
Now, while I would have answered the question differently, what if Mr. Akin had simply said what he really meant to say? That he makes no exception in the case of rape? Would he be on the way to being forced out of this senate race? Probably not. It would have crystalized his position, one that I do not agree with.
Anyone that has read this blog with any regularity know that I am pro-life.
But I am pro-life with these three exceptions.
Threat to the life of the mother.
Incest.
Rape.
It is a legitimate position. One of the reasons that I am pro-life is seeing the effects that abortion does have on all involved. But when a mother's life is threatened, with no hope of survival for either the baby or mother, and she can make that decision, she should have that oppertunity. If a mother was involved in an incesteous relationship, I would not expect her to bring a child to full term. There are a lot of reason why that should not be expected. And the same for rape.
If one does not think I am absolutist on the issue, I am not.
In the perfect world, Roe vs. Wade would be overturned, abortion laws would return to the states and guess what?
Some states would ban abortions.
Some states would allow abortion with very strong restrictions.
Some states would allow abortion with little restriction.
Some states would allow abortion in any circumstance.
Federalism, which delineates power to the states, is not perfect. Why some think that it is a messy thing. But it had worked well until the statists twisted it around to give the central government more power.
But back to Mr. Akin.
Why should he get out of this race? I mean, the majority of Missouri Republicans voted to have him be the candidate for the senate, right? In fact. polls showed Mr. Akin pretty far ahead of Sen. McCaskill until this kerfuffle.
Because this man is not only a loose cannon, but uninformed to make such an assertion that he had to know would potentially come back to haunt him. He made this such an issue of his campaign that he gave a convoluted answer that showed a window on a man that, well he is so out there on a position that made him come off totally with no heart and or compassion.
Abortion is a serious issue. It is important to have serious people on the side of life. Mr. Akin comes off as a buffoon. And one that can not be trusted. And one that could very much cost the Republican party potential control of the senate. And give the Democrats ammo that they should not have.
For the sake of the Missouri Republican party and the national Republican party, Congressman Todd Akin must withdraw from the race.
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