Monday, August 20, 2012
"Legitimate Rape"
Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO), his party's candidate in the Missouri Senate race to unseat Democrat Claire McCaskill, has stepped in it big time and is desperately trying to scrape it off his shoe.
He managed to suggest that women who become pregnant from a rape weren't "legitimately" raped. Needless to say, the national party is aghast and is twisting all available arms to get him off the ticket. Akin has pumped new life into McCaskill's campaign, when she was considered one of the most vulnerable Democratic senators and a linchpin in Republican hopes of regaining the Senate.
Akins apparently got the idea from a wingnut group of doctors. Predictably, it's garbage.
But the interesting question is how a longtime politician could make such a blunder. I think a commenter, d cwilson, at Ed Brayton's blog may have the answer:
I think we're starting to see the serious damage the Fox echo chamber is having on the conservative brain. They're so used to having whatever batshit crazy idea that pops into head being greeted with nods of approval that they're genuinely surprised when sane people react with horror [over] their casual remarks.When the only feedback you get is from crazy people, you're going to get crazier yourself.
Comments:
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It's little (well, actually, not so little) slips like this that let you glimpse the sort of attitudes that lie festering at the Tea Party core of the Republican Party. You get the impression that they wish many of the gains in women's rights in the last hundred years or more had never happened and that they'd roll them back given half a chance.
As for this "legitimate rape" nonsense, what's wrong with the simple principle that 'no' means 'no'?
As for this "legitimate rape" nonsense, what's wrong with the simple principle that 'no' means 'no'?
You get the impression that they wish many of the gains in women's rights in the last hundred years or more had never happened and that they'd roll them back given half a chance.
I think it's more than just an impression.
I think it's more than just an impression.
Wow, so in the end it goes back to the "they weren't rape because they really wanted it" line. It is amazing in how horrible it is.
Aiken co-sponsored a loathsome bill (since withddrawn) that would ban abortions in the case of "forcible" rape. And he said something very foolish.
Paul Ryan was the other cosponsor of that bill. But Ryan did not say the same sort of very foolish thing, so he did not get as much attention. Yet.
Ryan and Aiken have cosponsored quite a few bills intended to prohibit abortion, or at least make it more difficult to obtain, including the "Sanctity of Life Act." That's the one that says “every human being shall have all the legal and constitutional attributes and privileges of personhood.” That especially includes a single cell. If only they cared as much for people after they were born.
Paul Ryan was the other cosponsor of that bill. But Ryan did not say the same sort of very foolish thing, so he did not get as much attention. Yet.
Ryan and Aiken have cosponsored quite a few bills intended to prohibit abortion, or at least make it more difficult to obtain, including the "Sanctity of Life Act." That's the one that says “every human being shall have all the legal and constitutional attributes and privileges of personhood.” That especially includes a single cell. If only they cared as much for people after they were born.
I'd like to see Akin on The View with Whoppi Goldberg. Then they can argue the difference between "Legitimate Rape" and "Rape Rape"
# posted by 
: 10:11 AM
: 10:11 AM
It seems that Akin is also an HIV-denier.
And he is on the science committee of the House of Representatives.
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And he is on the science committee of the House of Representatives.
# posted by : 12:35 PM
: 12:35 PM << Home
