Advice Regarding Akin (honey vs vinegar)

The Weekly Standard ^ | 8/22/2012 | William Kristol

[Kolath]

My advice, for what it's worth, to conservatives and Republicans desperate to see Todd Akin off the ballot in Missouri: You've made your point. You've bewailed and denounced and threatened. Now it's time to hearken to the words of Lincoln, in his great Temperance Address, delivered on Washington's birthday in 1842 in Springfield, Illinois, addressing the fervent and fervid temperance advocates of his time—but also the fervent and fervid of all times:

[TruthShallSetYouFree]

Here's a website started by children born out of rape. Itappears to be legit, at least to me.

Forgotten Victims of Rape.

[spel_grammer_an_punct_polise]

“And, if you extend Akin’s analysis—that the reproductive system shuts down after a (legitimate) rape—the inference is that pregnant women who claim to have been raped are lying, because if they really had been raped, they couldn’t get pregnant. It’s an insult to women, an insult to medical science, and an insult to our collective intelligence.

Bottom line: the answer to the left’s loaded question on abortion to us on the pro-life side of “Well, what about in the case of rape?” should not be, “Women who get raped don’t get pregnant.””

Everything you say is true but Akin is not ‘delusional’. He was using information from some doctor who claims that the female reproductive system shuts down during rape. True? I have no idea but it wasn’t Akin’s ‘delusional’ opinion.

There was a post on one of the Akin threads yesterday that cited the doctor’s name.

[spel_grammer_an_punct_polise]

“Here’s a website started by children born out of rape. Itappears to be legit, at least to me.”

I’m not a doctor. It just seems to me that if the egg is there where it is supposed to be during ovulation, then BINGO! It is extremely difficult for me to believe that a female’s system ‘shuts down’ during rape. I was merely sharing information from yesterday’s thread. :-)

[monday]

"It would seem that these days politics is not about persuasion but about bullying. More and more we don’t say, “I disagree” with someone. We call them an idiot or a moron. Maybe the point is to turn as many voters as possible off so that the extremes can own the stage. I don’t know."

In discussing political positions one can have disagreements and still maintain a civil discourse. Akin's blunder wasn't one of policy however, it was one of biology where the facts are clear. Women cannot somehow prevent themselves from getting pregnant if they are raped. Legitimately raped or otherwise.

Since Akin believes they can, he is obviously an idiot or moron. It's true one can be civil in pointing it out, but the point must be made. He is not remotely qualified to represent anyone in congress.

[uncbob]

Thanks

[brytlea]

Actually if an understanding of science and biology is a prerequisite for holding a position in Congress I think most of them should be turned out. Yeah, he was wrong, but most people in this country are woefully uneducated about those subjects. I’m a former biology teacher and I hear all kinds of silly things from people. Your comment that it makes him not “remotely qualified” seems quite over the top to me. I think what makes someone not “remotely qualified” is a desire to hand out tax dollars to buy votes or a belief that the government should run every aspect of our lives, or that the Federal government can force me to buy health insurance, etc. But maybe that’s just me.

[monday]

"Actually if an understanding of science and biology is a prerequisite for holding a position in Congress I think most of them should be turned out."

They should. There are, sadly, more morons in congress than should be possible, but come on. Akin doesn't even know how babies are made. You have to admit, that is pretty dumb.

[brytlea]

I’m sure he knows how they are made. I’m sure he heard this from someone he trusts. Lots and lots of people don’t know much about the mechanics of the human body. I used to teach sex ed as well as biology (it was part of the health curriculum). The amount of ignorance was astounding. This IS a little out there, but if your world view is against abortion and someone (I bet a doctor) tells you something like this with some sort of sciencey sounding explanation, you may think, “sure, why not.” Especially if you don’t know a lot about the subject.
I am NOT saying it’s good science. I’m saying if your tilt was toward wanting to believe that it was harder to get pregnant by rape and someone you trusted told you some mechanism that made it so, you might buy it. That’s all. This does not make him a moron. I don’t know if he is one or not. It’s hard for me to say if it’s dumb or not because as I said I have a background in this stuff, so I hate to gauge someone based on what I know. It’s just hard to judge someone based on our own knowledge base. I don’t know much about him.

But I DO know that the left is lower than low and uses underhanded tactics and we have got to start standing up to them or we will lose every single time. That’s all. And I don’t really want to fight with my fellow conservatives. We need to be united.

[schaef21]

He’s been representing me for years and has been the prototype for what people on this website want..... a conservative first, Republican second representative.

There are doctors that say the trauma and stress that a woman undergoes during a forcible rape can do exactly what Akin said. He never said that women “can somehow prevent themselves from getting pregnant”.

His inartful use of words has cost him big time.... but stop with the denigration. He’s a good man who screwed up.