Growing Number Of Conservatives Call On Akin To Withdraw After ‘Legitimate Rape’ Comments

[brooklynite]

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” don’t 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 Kristol’s 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]

1. He said this too close to election time is why they want him to step down

Had this happened six months ago they would not have cared. Ass holes!

[Cha]

24. Yeah. nt

[bushisanidiot]

46. Yep! They usually double down on this type of crazy

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]

2. I'm sure there are conservatives out there who have suffered the agony

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]

3. But his position is the same as the Republican Party platform!

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]

5. Too close to November this time is my guess

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]

6. Ryan on same track as Akin

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]

34. Jesus has been sad about the RW for a LONG, LONG time.

He lamented conservative BS 2000 years ago, and things haven't improved.

[jsr]

16. Rape is an old theme in the GOP

http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Lawmaker-Says-Rape-Can-t-Cause-Pregnancy-3036411.php

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]

4. Here's what he looks like, and the sentiment of some of his "fans"?

[dtom67]

7. I don't understand...

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]

8. Even some freepers do...

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2920431/posts

Post 3:

“The female body has a way to shut down rape.”

Who elected this idiot?

Post 4:

If the liberals want to destroy you, you shouldn’t make their job easier, as he just did.

Post 6:

Good grief, is that quote for real?

If so, MO sure should have heeded Palin’s endorsement and gone with that Sarah Steelman gal instead!

Post 9:

Looks like Akin is trying to lose a slam-dunk election. Ugh.

Post 11:

It looks like he is doing a good job of destroying himself, without any help from liberals. This looks like it may be another "sure win" senate race turning into a certain loss.

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]

26. Thanks alp..that was

entertaining. Which begs the question...Why didn't the MO teabag primary elect palin's endorsement?

[wilsonbooks]

28. Missouri dems voted for akin in the republican primary

and helped him win. He was behind in the polls.

[Cha]

49. WOW!

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]

39. I think it be competitive

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]

9. Any wonder why Clair McCaskill had an interest in this boob winning the primary?

[Baitball Blogger]

10. You mean we finally found that line where even conservatives can't go beyond because it's just

too stupid?

[aquart]

29. This year.

[IndyJones]

11. It's so ignorant that people still believe that. When I was in school (RCC), that is what we were

told.

[Angry Dragon]

12. toad akin seems to be brain dead

[Dawson Leery]

13. Here come the John Bircher's!

[Quixote1818]

14. This may have cost Republican's the Senate. Big blunder doing major damage to GOP! nt

[nobodyspecial]

32. We can only hope

I hope he sticks to his "misspoke" comment and forges on.

[pstokely]

40. If not in MO, then in other places

nt

[OmahaBlueDog]

15. You can't unring the bell

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]

17. I just donated to Claire's campaign

In case anybody else wants to here is the link.

http://wfc2.wiredforchange.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=uuqazGTKnUm3t2VydyQEGOaSovxaanIF&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwfc2.wiredforchange.com%2Fo%2F8%2Fcontent_item%2Fmccaskill-womens-rights%3Ftrack%3Dema_20120819

[Cha]

27. Thanks LibinMo.. donated in

Todd Aikin's name..As in KEEP HIS STUPID UGLY MIND OUT.

[secondvariety]

18. Never underestimate the stupidity of voters.

Candidates have said and done worse (Rick Scott) and still won.

[pstokely]

40. He's toast if Dems come out

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]

19. Republicans Attacking Their Own Platform

Sweet.

How exactly did he decide to make these statements?

[GaYellowDawg]

20. I think we should be SUPPORTIVE of these conservatives

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]

21. are the R's eating their own again? I thought their stance was you're forced to have the baby in

the case of rape or incest---now no baby will result, right?

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

22. Feigned outrage! They probably agree with this fool 100%, but just got caught!

[Zoonart]

23. Toad Lickers

Here come the Toad Lickers (Thomas Dolby) hysterical

[Firebrand Gary]

25. We will hang this around the neck of the Missouri GOP's entire party! You cannot un-speak words.

[maxrandb]

30. Fuck You Repukes!

You nominated this asshat, deal with it. He stays on the God Damned ballot as a example of YOUR complete idiocy!

[bluestateguy]

31. No,no,no, no, no.

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]

33. Damn Repukes hit new lows...if that's even possible

[Tx4obama]

35. Let's just hope that Akin does NOT step down until after Tuesday 5pm.

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:

-snip-

MIssouri’s §115.359 appears to require a candidate to withdraw “no later than the eleventh Tuesday prior to the general election” — which, if you’re counting, is this Tuesday. Absent some pretty effective lobbying by Missouri Republicans, there’s little chance Rep. Akin will willingly step down before that deadline. And any lobbying won’t have the benefit of poll numbers, as there’s little time to even conduct a poll before Tuesday. Not that it would matter much, as Rep. Akin’s comments won’t have saturated the electorate, meaning any polls wouldn’t 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]

40. Who would they replace him with?

nt

[dsharp88]

36. For crying out loud, KEEP THIS GUY IN THE RACE!!!!!

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]

37. Just a WTF moment please.

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]

38. Who would they replace him with?

Would his name stay on the ballot? Missouri has a centrist Dem governor who will probably get another term

[Tx4obama]

43. There were three folks that ran in the GOP primary for that senate seat

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]

44. Here's some info on the other 'three' folks that ran in the primary

... 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]

45. Don't do it Todd! Stay in! You can do it!!!!!

Might just send him some words of encouragment - "We need this debate, we want this debate....."

:&gt

[Remmah2]

47. Holy crap.

What a heartless, clueless bastard.

[Blue Owl]

48. Todd, regarding your campaign -- just shut the whole thing down.

It's over, fucko.