Posted on 08/20/2012 3:47:45 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Via BuzzFeed, it’s important that people like Hannity, Coulter, and the boss emeritus are leaning on this guy too, not just Romney and Reince Priebus. Without pressure from all-stars on the right, he can dig in and turn it into a “weak-ass establishment RINOs are selling me out to the Democrats” populist attack on D.C. Republicans. That might be enough to rally grassroots conservatives to his side and keep him in the race, but not enough to prevent him from losing to McCaskill and, just maybe, dragging the ticket down with him. How lucky do you feel? Want to bet the future of repealing ObamaCare on Akin’s ability to not only recover from his theory of the female body’s magical defenses against rape-sperm but to avoid other goofy errors between now and November? John Brunner, who finished second to Akin in the primary, is reportedly already angling to replace him if he drops; Sarah Steelman, who finished within a point of Brunner, is almost certainly interested too, especially since she’d be inoculated from Akin’s comments due to her gender. If the game’s on the line in the late innings and your pitcher’s getting shelled, why not go to the pen while you can? Even the Tea Party Express, imagining another Angle/O’Donnell nightmare scenario in November, is unsparing:
daveweigel✔ @daveweigel
Tea Party Express, which backed Sharron Angle, calls for Akin to go, based on "the lessons we learned in 2010" about bad candidates
20 Aug 12 Reply Retweet Favorite
Akin’s been consistent today about saying he’ll stay in, but I keep seeing reports like this from plugged-in pundits on Twitter:
Richard Grenell@RichardGrenell
Breaking: Senior GOP official: Akin advisors making preparations for a withdrawal tomorrow.
20 Aug 12 Reply Retweet Favorite
Erick Erickson✔ @EWErickson
Just to be clear one more time, consultants involved are telling me Akin will withdraw. Akin & his campaign deny he will withdraw.
20 Aug 12 Reply Retweet Favorite
David Harsanyi@davidharsanyi
Longtime Missouri GOP insider tells me that Akin is meeting with staff and having a prayer vigil tonight. Looking for way out "gracefully"
20 Aug 12 Reply Retweet Favorite
BuzzFeed’s getting mixed signals:
“Akin is taking concrete steps to withdraw by tomorrow at 5:00 p.m.,” a senior Republican told BuzzFeed, adding that Akin could still change his mind.
But a Republican close to Akin said his position hasn’t changed: He’s still in the race.
Tomorrow afternoon is an important deadline: If he files papers to end his candidacy in Jefferson City tomorrow he can end his candidacy unilaterally; after that, he would have to file an application in court.
Could be that Akin hasn’t given any indication privately about quitting but that the consultants, who suspect he’s DOA if he stays in, are trying to shove him towards the exit by creating a false narrative in the media about him supposedly dropping out. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy: The more the press reports that he’s on his way out and the more positive feedback those reports receive from the right, the more Akin might feel that he has no allies left and is better off quitting. The thing is, if he decided to stick with it, how likely is it really that the NRSC and Republican Super PACs would follow through on their threats and refuse to spend any money on his race in the fall? He may lag behind McCaskill, but probably not by so much that the race’s outcome will become a foregone conclusion; if we get to October and he’s within five or six points, the pressure on the NRSC and outside groups to come to his rescue will be tremendous, even though the money they’d be spending on him could also be useful in other races. The reason they’re threatening to withhold funds now is purely a bluff to convince him that he has zero chance of winning and therefore stands to gain nothing by staying in. But if he does stay in, and ends up being the only game in town for Republicans, will they really cut him off?
Two exit quotations for this one. The first, from NBC: “[A] source with ties to Akin’s political operation tells First Read that the GOP congressman most likely won’t quit the contest, saying Akin believes this race is ‘providential’ and even if Akin was ready to get out, his wife would never let him quit.” The second, from Philip Klein: “At this point, if Akin doesn’t drop, McCaskill can run ads all fall simply quoting Republicans condemning him.”
(VIDEO AT LINK)
McCaskill was just on making a statement that he should stay in and not let the party bosses undemocratically choose another candidate. I guess if I spent 2 million bucks trying to make sure he won the primary I would be encouraging him to stay.
Did you realize that there are three full generations of McCaskill idiots who’ve never held a real job. They’re like the Kallikak family covered in a really interesting book http://digitalarchive.gsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1006&context=col_facpub&sei-redir=1&referer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Furl%3Fsa%3Dt%26rct%3Dj%26q%3Dthe%2520kallikak%2520family%2520a%2520study%2520in%2520the%2520heredity%2520of%2520feeble-mindedness%26source%3Dweb%26cd%3D2%26ved%3D0CE4QFjAB%26url%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fdigitalarchive.gsu.edu%252Fcgi%252Fviewcontent.cgi%253Farticle%253D1006%2526context%253Dcol_facpub%26ei%3DOsUyUM6AJOOI6AGu7YHQCA%26usg%3DAFQjCNE9nayclMvfscXwHA8TwOa3VMVgUg#search=%22kallikak%20family%20study%20heredity%20feeble-mindedness%22
I worked for a man running for president who made one “misstatement” that wasn’t even wrong, but the press made it look like a power grab and they kept using it against him, over and over and over. Best thing we can do in a situation like this is punt.
“The second, from Philip Klein: “At this point, if Akin doesn’t drop, McCaskill can run ads all fall simply quoting Republicans condemning him.”
so again the Dims manage to get RINOS to help the GOP eat their own, while the entire Dim structure and the Dim candidate would show more backbone and that alone would help fend off the results of a gaffe
not the GOP, they’re not really out to do battle, they live to abide by the media’s agenda, and since they don’t buck that agenda, the media obliges
I quit watching choir boy Hannity some years ago.
What I don’t get is why the people of MO voted for this guy in the first place. Don’t they understand that when demoncrats “help” one of their opponents they have a reason and it’s not really to help. Beware Greeks bearing gifts.
However, a little good news ...
MARK LEVIN has just announced that according to his call screener, the "vast majority" of callers want Akin to "not resign" from his candidacy.
What's more, Levin said that these callers to his radio show are "furious" with those in the media, bloggers, beltway types etc who are calling on Akin to resign.
Levin said this is a good sign -- that the grass roots are rejecting an "injustice" against Akin.
Levin now says that if he "had his druthers," Akin would "go away." But he says that Akin is a good man, a strong conservative, and a very "moral and decent man;" and that if Akin chooses to stay, that he will have Levin's full support.
I guarantee, this is only the beginning. They’ve started a feeding frenzy that will not end here.
Akin has to go. I personally favor getting Jim Talent as the new candidate. He would crush McCaskill.
Todd Akin cannot draw any contrast between himself and the caricature made of “stupid Republicans”.
There is no way, today or within the next several years, that he can distance himself from this “Macaca moment”, and walk this back. This may not only affect this race, but other much closer Republican Senate candidates as well.
Remember how Mark Foley, making a equally questionable statement in e-mails that were made public before the 2006 election, got so badly burned, and how Nancy Pelosi trumpeted that into a “culture of corruption” and took the House in 2006. Essentially it set the stage for 2008 and Obama’s entrenchment in the White Hut.
“He ain’t ever going to unring that bell.” I used that same phrase in conjunction with somebody else, but it is just as applicable here.
Would that man be Al Haig?
Didn’t Whoopie Goldberg say something about the director Roman Polanski wasn’t really guilty of rape, she said it wasn’t “rape-rape” and she is still on the air.
Of course Claire wants him to stay in. She wanted him in the first place. That should have been the first clue to the Republicans in MO that Akin was not the guy to vote for. Dems never do anything without a nefarious reason. Get a clue people. Demons/rats are not good people.
A man claiming to be a Republican, an election away from the USA Senate, openly stated women don't get pregnant from “legitimate rape” (one may charitably assume he meant forcible, violent rape).
That is well beyond ignorant, bypasses stupidity, and attains the level of insanity.
There is no possible way to “walk that back”.
Was he always on McCaskill’s payroll? Because I wouldn't vote for him for any office after that little glimpse into his mental processes.
What was his stance on the death penalty for criminals convicted of heinous crimes?
The pure pro-life stand is also anti-death penalty.
Akin didn't say anything remotely like "magical."
This ridicule of the concept he was trying to articulate (of female endocrine changes in response to a traumatic attack) is more typical of a Leftist attack, than of Right-wing reason.
Why are people who are allegedly on the Right, now parroting the Alinsky-ites?
That's exactly what Republicans are doing who are piling on Akin, using the ridicule and the language of the Left.
His wife ought to tell him he has ZERO chance of winning because of his big, fat mouth. Obviously, he is too stupid to be in office and too stubborn and selfish to see what a stinking mess he is causing the GOP.
I think the senate race in MO had many contestants, so Akin probably received no where over 50% of vote. He won because of dividing of votes by others. Also his complete lack of political competence was not well known before the election.
Even if Akin stays in and loses I don’t see how the Dems keep the senate. Missouri is only one of half a dozen vulnerable seats.
She is not running for elected office in any capacity.
Much less a position as a member of the USA Senate.
People on right are just shocked at the complete lack of political competence on part of Akin. No matter how principled a candidate is, he/she still needs to avoid stupid statements. Saying a woman has remote chance of getting pregnant due to rape is simply moronic, untrue, and idiotic.
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