Victory for Akin Seen as Difficult, but Still Possible

nyt ^ | August 22, 2012 | JOHN ELIGON and MONICA DAVEY

[Red Steel]

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — In the end, Representative Todd Akin’s fate will depend not on what happens in Washington or Tampa, Fla., or on a talk radio show, but on the voters of Missouri.

A number of voters and strategists here believe it is not a foregone conclusion that Mr. Akin faces the certain defeat predicted by establishment Republican leaders calling on him to abandon his Senate bid after he made controversial comments about rape and abortion.

A pile of factors, they say, could make the situation survivable: local backlash against all the national party meddling, an intensely grass-roots fund-raising effort (Mr. Akin, a six-term congressman, has sent e-mails seeking $3 contributions from supporters in recent days), an influx of aid from some Christian groups, and a state that has in recent years grown more conservative than the national bellwether it was once seen as.

-snip-

Leaders of several conservative Christian and social-issues groups said they would step in with organizational, financial and news-media help. The Family Research Council said it now hoped to sponsor independent advertising and phone banks and solicit donations for Mr. Akin. And by Wednesday evening, those tiny donations requested by Mr. Akin’s campaign several times this week were starting to add up. Mr. Akin’s Twitter account reported that he had set a goal to raise $100,000 by midnight and had raised $88,000.

[FlingWingFlyer]

One thing that the state run “media” and their “pollsters” are not taking into consideration is that Americans are in a very foul mood right now. They hate the fact that Barry and the ‘RATS are destroying America and our Constitution.

[svcw]

Personally I hope he wins.
He said something that is probably true but in a very awkward way as to be ridiculed. Hey, besides he will drive the liberal crazier than they are, that's got to be a plus.

[hecht]

probably true ?????

[re_nortex]

Not being from Missouri, I'll admit to not being very familiar with Todd Akin and I certainly won't give much credence to the knuckleheads at the New York Times. I've been following the various threads here on Free Republic, a news source that does have credibility.

So what's the real story on Akin? I've seen some FReepers point out that he's a solid Christian, 100% pro-life, ex-military and has been a Conservative stalwart, opposing President George Bush's "No Child Left Behind" and other dubious programs. On the other hand, some long-tenured FReepers with sterling reputations explain that he was used as tool by the DemonRATS who contributed to his primary campaign coffers.

I'd appreciate any further enlightenment by the smartest collection of individuals anywhere, the members of Free Republic. By the way, I don't wish to engage in argument. I'm simply seeking information from people I know are above reproach -- FReepers. Thanks to all in advance from a Texan looking forward to our new Senator -- Ted Cruz!

[PhxTM06]

"He said something that was probably true."

Sure it was, for an encore he should have said the earth was flat as well, there's at least a few who would have fallen for it too.

"In a Tuesday interview with The Christian Post, Dr. Gene Rudd, an obstetrician-gynecologist who is also senior vice president of Christian Medical & Dental Associations, said there is no evidence that pregnancies are rare among rape victims. "I don't know where [Akins is] coming from, but what he said, there's no basis for it," Rudd explained.

Read more at http://www.christianpost.com/news/rape-pregnancies-not-rare-ob-gyn-says-80369/#UBwIimxuQsBAVBSg.99 "

“There are no words for this — it is just nuts,” said Michael Greene, a professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive biology at Harvard Medical School."

[Reddon]

I hope he wins too. Not that I know all that much about him at this point, but I would like to see a big “up yours” signal sent to all the Republican establishment telling him to quit and back down and run away. Republicans do too much quitting, apologizing, and backing down. Nice to see a Republican with some fight in them for a change. Republicans quitting when they could have stayed in the fight is why we have a Presidential candidate like Mitt Romney right now.

[Red Steel]

Here’s the political calculation that will go on in the average Missourian’s mind:

Akin said something dumb but he promptly apologized for doing so versus McCaskill who is a very good OBot supporting that Epic Failure Obama?

Gee, what’s going to cost me more?? Supporting Epic Failures McCaskill/OBama v. change for the better life?

The choice is very easy here.

[PhxTM06]

Your average Missourian elected a dead guy as governor. All bets are off.

[Republican1795.]

Well sorry to burst your bubble but rape pregnancies are in fact quite rare. Rape Pregnancies are Rare. This Rudd claims that there "is no evidence" but he is simply IGNORING the said evidence. That is an old propaganda trick. Like the government's old but hilarious "swamp gas" cant.

[Republican1795.]

Well it is “probably true”. Check it out.

[Red Steel]

I'll admit to not being very familiar with Todd Akin and I certainly won't give much credence to the knuckleheads at the New York Times. I've been following the various threads here on Free Republic, a news source that does have credibility.

Sometimes even the Slimes have random acts of real journalism. This article appears to be so.

[Republican1795.]

Well if he wins the left will go nuts - more than usual.

[PhxTM06]

How did I know this was going to be the same discredited Willke nonsense that has been posting 1000 times over here already. Willke has no credibility in the medical community, he's conducted no studies, has no lab work, nothing to back up any of his claims. Nice try.

Nobody is arguing that rape pregnancies are rare, but not as rare as Willke tries to claim. Women have about a 5% chance of getting pregnant as a result of rape. There's anywhere from 15,000-30,000 women a year that end up pregnant as a result of rape. Those numbers have been clearly established by a variety of studies while Willke....well, he's like that little old man at the corner health shop telling you that colloidal silver will cure your hepatitis.

His ideas derived from the 1970s and earlier, back when people still thought that when a woman got raped, she was "secretly asking for it." Just more old wives tales that survive because people keep going back to the same ignorance.

[Biblebelter]

Faux News whores like Hannity and Crazy Annie Coulter are slapping the bejesus out of Akin and the old grey lady is seeking to legitimize the guy and keep him in the race.

I doubt if Missouri voters take voting intstructions from MSM media elites like the NYT or whores like Hannity and Coulter in the stable of globalist media moguls like Rupert Murdoch.

Just because Akin is an idiot does not disqualify him to be elected to the Senate. After all Missouri elected an idiot like McCaskill and forty nine other states elected 98 other idiots to that den of treachery and deceit known as the United States Senate.

[PhxTM06]

And if he loses, when the Republicans could have replaced him with another strong pro-life conservative and McCaskill ends up preventing Obamacare from being repealed, all the pro Akin cultists will be ecstatic.

When your strongest supporter in the world seems to be your Democrat opponent......you're doing it wrong. Not only that but she spent about $2 million on helping him get past the primary, so she clearly had his number from Day 1.

[Red Steel]

Nice to see a Republican with some fight in them for a change. Republicans quitting when they could have stayed in the fight is why we have a Presidential candidate like Mitt Romney right now.

And what I've seen, if Akin is pushed out, a RINO may take his place. Better to have someone who will help squish Romney to do the right thang if Romney wins.

[tsowellfan]

I like 99% of issues Akin stands for politically.

He seems to be a nice man and I really do feel bad for what has happened to him.

Unfortunately, he did it to himself. He made a mistake. He should have stepped down and just tried to keep his seat he presently holds.

[dadfly]

yes. translating the thrust of his statement, from his garbled way of answering a gotcha liberal media question, he most likely meant to say:

1. assuming criminal rape (legitimate was not the right word to use) was committed, pregancy is rare. this is a true statement

2. for the very plausible reason that the stress and mental state of the woman can affect the probablity of conception. again a true statement. just ask any adoption agency about couples who concieve *after* they have decided to pursue adoption.

bottom line: this guy is apparently pro-life, anti-crime (will be the best line of defense against crime, including rape), humble enough to apologize for offense given, strong enough to stand against the pandering, panicky republican establishment. that’s a polititican i’m going to back to the hilt.

[RC one]

he said nothing that was true or defensible in any way.

[chae]

Here is the scoop from rural Missouri. Claire blanketed the state with ads supporting Akin in the primary. Missouri is an open primary, and there were a lot of crossover Dem voters. Of the 3 main candidates, all of them had Double digit leads over Claire, but Akin had the smallest margin. That lead has disappeared. I’m sure he’s a great guy, but he is toast in this election. Bottom line: we can’t let Claire continue as a senator, and its looking like that will happen if Akin stays in. As of right now, the only political person saying Akin should stay in is Claire, and that should give people here a bit of a pause.

[tsowellfan]

all the pro Akin cultists will be ecstatic

Correction: They will pretend to be ecstatic. These people are from the same crowd that has vowed to let Obama win to teach the GOPe a lesson.

They may not realize it yet but they just took the heat off Romney.

While I was going to do everything possible to see to it that Obama got defeated in November, in the back of my head I knew that if Obama had won I could blame the GOP Establishment and their forcing Romney on us. Well, thanks to Akin (and his supporters (outside of his own state) that's out the window now.

Unless Akins beats McCaskill AND Romney wins the State of Missouri but loses the general, the heat is now OFF Romney and the GOPe if Obama wins a second term.

That's how everything has changed since last week.

[chris37]

One thing is for certain.

If we are going to defeat our predators, then we must stop being their prey.

They are pushing our buttons, playing us like fiddles, shoving us along with cattle prods that we gave them.

This is a war for our existence, they very existence of our country, and the existence of freedom itself. Not every soldier in our army is perfect. In fact every soldier is imperfect. We do not abandon our soldiers when they come under fire, even if they stuck their ass up out of the fox hole.

We sack up and beat the damn snot out of our enemy for daring to snipe at our exposed soldier.

This is war, and it is time to fight. If you run, they will shoot you in the back.

Face them down and make them run.

[onyx]

Thank you very much. Your the third member to post the almost exact same comment: Claire’s funded candidate. NO THANKS!

[re_nortex]

Here is the scoop from rural Missouri.

Thanks.

I knew that this was the best source to get thoughtful, spin-free feedback. I'll be looking forward to additional responses -- especially from others in Missouri. Regardless of where one might reside, we're all impacted by those serving in the US Senate, but Missourians have a real stake in this particular matter.

[re_nortex]

Hey onyx! How are you doing at this early hour (at least for me since I'm writing this while on vacation way up yonder in Pennsylvania)?

It seems like we've run into each other a lot in the past 24-hours with the FReepathon and the thread with the map of our beloved Dixieland. Anyway, take care and thanks for all that you do!

[RC one]

Rape-related pregnancy: estimates and descriptive characteristics from a national sample of women.

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: We attempted to determine the national rape-related pregnancy rate and provide descriptive characteristics of pregnancies that result from rape.

STUDY DESIGN: A national probability sample of 4008 adult American women took part in a 3-year longitudinal survey that assessed the prevalence and incidence of rape and related physical and mental health outcomes.

RESULTS: The national rape-related pregnancy rate is 5.0% per rape among victims of reproductive age (aged 12 to 45); among adult women an estimated 32,101 pregnancies result from rape each year. Among 34 cases of rape-related pregnancy, the majority occurred among adolescents and resulted from assault by a known, often related perpetrator. Only 11.7% of these victims received immediate medical attention after the assault, and 47.1% received no medical attention related to the rape. A total 32.4% of these victims did not discover they were pregnant until they had already entered the second trimester; 32.2% opted to keep the infant whereas 50% underwent abortion and 5.9% placed the infant for adoption; an additional 11.8% had spontaneous abortion.

CONCLUSIONS: Rape-related pregnancy occurs with significant frequency. It is a cause of many unwanted pregnancies and is closely linked with family and domestic violence. As we address the epidemic of unintended pregnancies in the United States, greater attention and effort should be aimed at preventing and identifying unwanted pregnancies that result from sexual victimization.

[fr_freak]

And if he loses, when the Republicans could have replaced him with another strong pro-life conservative and McCaskill ends up preventing Obamacare from being repealed, all the pro Akin cultists will be ecstatic.

Oh, so now anyone here on FR who doesn't think Akin should be abandoned and crucified are now "cultists"? This is the kind of debate I would expect from a child. Go screw yourself, newbie.

[tsowellfan]

If Akins beats McCaskill AND Romney wins the State of Missouri PhxTM06 will be proven wrong.

But, if Akins loses to McCaskill and/or Romney loses the State of Missouri and the general election, the heat is now off the GOPe for forcing a RINO onto us. Unfortunately for the conservative movement we would no longer be able to blame the GOPe for that defeat.

That's the shame of it all.

[DoughtyOne]

I hate to burst your bubble, but when it comes to medicine you can almost always find conflicting studies.

http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2012-08/rape-results-more-pregnancies-not-less

[spokeshave]

And by Wednesday evening, those tiny donations requested by Mr. Akin’s campaign several times this week were starting to add up. Mr. Akin’s Twitter account reported that he had set a goal to raise $100,000 by midnight and had raised $88,000.

I think you lost a zero (no pun intended)

Last time I looked Akin has collected $$95,500

you can donate here: https://www.akin.org/contribute/?utm_method=akin_nav

[tsowellfan]

Just making it clickable for you

you can donate here:

https://www.akin.org/contribute/?utm_method=akin_nav

[Tennessee Nana]

[Gene Eric]

>> Reproductive resistance

A dubious theory that was used to bolster his point about the impact rape has on this issue of abortion. Ultimately, the theory is not germane to his argument that abortion is not justifiable in the case rape is not a factor.

[onyx]

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[chris37]

It doesn’t matter.

Defend him anyway.

[Gene Eric]

>> assuming criminal rape (legitimate was not the right word to use) was committed

You just pulled an Akin! Both modifiers, “criminal” and “legitimate”, are valueless as rape is by definition illegal.

True rape, criminal rape, legitimate rape, actual rape — nothing more or less than rape. The only legally recognized modifier that I’m aware of is “statutory”.

>> for the very plausible reason that the stress and mental state

I’m doubtful about the theory Akin used to bolster his argument on the matter. It would be a great defense mechanism, but one that defies certain historical patterns of reproduction.

As far as I’m concerned, the only reasonable conclusion that can be made from Akin’s original remarks is: abortion is not justifiable in the case rape is not a factor.

[RC one]

hell no.

[Ann Archy]

We ALL need to PRAY for AKIN now!!! Pray OFTEN and HARD!

[Utmost Certainty]

I don’t think there’s any walking back a comment as stupid as the one he made. Akin needs to go.

[good1]

I don't see how this disqualifies him from office. I'm from Missouri and I will gladly vote for Aiken; I already did in the primary.

I'll even grant you the point that he is wrong, but name me one politician who isn't wrong about 1 or more views they hold. Don't even mention Joe Biden, there isn't enough bandwidth.

Go Aiken!

[tobyhill]

People are so sick and tired of Obama, Biden and the other Rats that even a Freudian Slip like this won't hurt the GOP.

[philman_36]

Oh, no, it backfired! All that hype for nothing.

[philman_36]

How about some new stuff instead of the same old, same old from you.

Cortisol and Stress: How to Stay Healthy By Elizabeth Scott, M.S.
Although stress isn’t the only reason that cortisol is secreted into the bloodstream, it has been termed “the stress hormone” because it’s also secreted in higher levels during the body’s ‘fight or flight’ response to stress, and is responsible for several stress-related changes in the body.

Stress: Constant stress puts your health at risk
The long-term activation of the stress-response system — and the subsequent overexposure to cortisol and other stress hormones — can disrupt almost all your body's processes.

Elevated cortisol from stress after the rape can be how a woman prevents herself from becoming pregnant.
How hard is this to grasp?!

So your 'fight or flight' mechanism is reduced when you're stressed out all of the time.

No wonder liberals want us all worried all of the time.
If we're "stressed out" all of the time we won't fight back as we naturally would.

[philman_36]

I'd vote for Romney if I could find a single instance of him recognizing America as a Constitutional Republic instead of a democracy.

That's been my standard for decades.

Can you help me out?

[House Atreides]

“.....Hey, besides he will drive the liberal crazier than they are, that’s got to be a plus.”
**************************************************************
The sounds you hear coming from the direction of the liberals are not the sounds of craziness...they’re the sounds of unconstrained GLEE.

And the other sounds you hear are that of echos from the Akin residual supporters. The Akin campaign is having various “services” sending out emails soliciting donations (I received 3 of them just yesterday —”please, just $5” will help) for donations and is set up to receive those donations. However, just try to communicate with his campaign through the source of those email solicitations (undeliverable message alerts come back) or through his website (”this site is no longer accepting emails” messages come back).

[House Atreides]

“I’d vote for Romney if I could find a single instance of him recognizing America as a Constitutional Republic instead of a democracy.....”
******************************************************************
Oh, it’s you again. I see that you’re continuing your jihad against those Republicans defeating Obama.

[House Atreides]

“I’d vote for Romney if I could find a single instance of him recognizing America as a Constitutional Republic instead of a democracy.....”
******************************************************************
Oh, it’s you again. I see that you’re continuing your jihad against those Republicans attempting to defeat Obama.

[philman_36]

Oh, it’s you again.

I see you've still got nothing again.

[stuartcr]

Stranger things have happened...look who got the GOP nomination!