He apologized, sounded very heartfelt. How come Christians and Conservatives always shoot our wounded?
I happen to agree with you. This long time rep from Missouri benefitted from McCaskill’s PACs running ads for him during the primaries and trashing his opponents. This man is a fraud at best and just down right disgusting and hypocritical at worst. His ego is soooo big that he is willing to run the risk of not having a majority in the senate so he can have his day in the spotlight. Well he will get his 15 minutes.....I hope it doesn’t cost us anything more than his fading into the sunset...because he will lose his house seat too
Akin used the word to mean "true" or "genuine" rape. He did not claim there exists such a thing as some sort of justifiable rape (as in justifiable homicide), as the baying morons would have it. As anyone with normal fluency in English would understand, he meant to distinguish truly reported forcible rape from statutory rape and falsely reported rape (for the purpose of availing oneself of a rape exception in abortion law).
that a woman has a defense reproductive mechanism against rape is unacceptable.
That's a scientific question. Akin did cite "doctors". You can find studies supporting and refuting his contention. Questionable? Yes. But "unacceptable" is an unacceptable characterization.
I will agree, he acted stupidly. He should not have ventured where he ventured. He should have changed the subject or dismissed abortion policy as a matter for the states, not the US Senate (except for judicial appointments), or told a heart-warming story about a child raised by a rape victim who went on to be a great American.
Much ado about nothing.
I think all Aikin meant was that if a woman is raped because she was wearing provocative clothing, then she wasn’t legitimately raped. She was asking for it. I think that’s all Aikin meant. He just said it clumsy.
Back in the 1960’s the phrase “legitamate rape” had no meaning. But roundabout the late 80s / early 90s, liberal “researchers” began redefining rape to include all sorts of things that weren’t in the law books.
Read “Who Stole Feminism” by Christina Sommers. Chapter 10, “Rape Research.”
What offends me is the phrase “rape is rape.” This suggests that a violent, forcible rape by a complete stranger is no worse than consenting sex between two people where one of them happens to be below the age of consent.
If I were trying impress someone, I would have carefully rehearsed my answers to the top ten “gotcha” questions WELL KNOWN to be slung by my opposition. I would wear a clean suit. My hair would be combed. I would make sure that my lunch wasn’t staining my tie. And I would have a spare tie and a spare shirt in case I spewed some food on myself. It’s grossly unfortunate that a slip of the tongue on this guy’s part did him in, but it did.
I was posting on a “chess” thread the other day, and I opined that a good chess player must not only know strategy, but he/she must know the most common openings and the most popular variations thereof. Those can be learned systematically, by rote, from books. Why? Because a mediocre player who really knows openings can develop a winning advantage early in the game against a very good player just by knowing some slick openings.
I have a been a working musician at many times in my life. When it comes time to play a solo, although I consider myself a very strong improviser, I insist on knowing a “prefab” beginning or two or three) for tunes I will be called to solo on every night. Just the first half dozen notes or an opening figure is enough. Why? Because it is not every night that I can count on being a fountainhead of creativity able to pull stuff out of the air. Maybe I do not use my Sears catalog solo-start. Maybe I do. It is part of being a pro, of being prepared.
This is the same. This is what is known as “your playbook”. Not having one is a dead giveaway for being an amateur. Sad but true. We don’t have to like it. But it is a fact of life. It’s a darned shame that this error was made and blah blah blah, but it plays so well into the “war on women” dialog. This stuff hurt the Tea Party badly, fatally, in the case of Sharron Engle and Christine O’Donnell. Have we learned anything from those experiences? True, 0bama is hurting, we think. True, McCaskill is not well liked in MO. Maybe that will allow this guy to squeek by. Maybe not. Politics in 2012 is not a game for amateurs but more importantly, the election of 2012 is so crucial in so many ways that we cannot afford this kind of gimme. Especially one that will echo so badly and plays right into their trap. This was a “not ready for prime time” error, but even worse, it will likely become a talking point that won’t go away, it plays into a liberal meme, and it detracts from the economy dialog which is infinitely more important. If I had faith that the GOP could freeze and mock the Dems Alinsky-style for what will unquestionably be relentless attempts to smear the GOP with this, I could overlook it. But I have no such faith, and this guy staying in is ego-driven and amateurish. I also deeply resent that we end up stuck on stupid over this.
He is either too dumb or too ego-maniacal to know any better.
He clearly engaged his mouth before his brain. It happens.
At least he can see how ridiculous his statement sounds. Rep. Hank Johnson is still trying to figure out why too many people on an island would not cause it to capsize.
Life is not fair and neither is politics in the U.S. The MSM controls the dialogue to further the agenda of the left. This story has provided another opportunity for the MSM to divert attention away from things that reflect negatively Obama.
By the way, I don’t support abortion even in the instance of rape. I know many wonderful families that would adopt that child and love him/her.
It is unacceptable. I still can’t believe he said it.
However, something else is unacceptable to: I’m having so much sex I can’t afford my birth control.
(Of course the later statement would conclude that it was stated by a slut but you would be a fault for thinking this.)
Impress me by defining “illegitimate rape”.
He does have unique biological theories.
Then there are situations that fall into a grey zone. 17YO men seduced by a 25+YO teacher? Yeah, right. Like I wouldn't sign up for a tour.
Then there are the false claims.
Again, all debatable. Rape is a horrid, violent crime that should be subject to the death penalty. In saying that I'd carefully consider what I label "rape".
Anyways, I'd be willing to overlook the statements if I thought he could win. Screw the left. All I'm interested in is destroying socialist power.
Seriously.