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GOP pollster: Stop talking about rape
Politico ^ | 01/17/2013 | JAKE SHERMAN and JOHN BRESNAHAN |

Posted on 01/17/2013 2:12:48 PM PST by SeekAndFind

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. — It’s way past time: House Republicans need to stop talking about rape.

That’s the message GOP lawmakers got here Wednesday evening from Kellyanne Conway, a top GOP pollster.

Conway dispensed the stern advice as part of a polling presentation she made alongside fellow GOP pollsters David Winston — an adviser to House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) — and Dave Sackett. The comment was described by several sources in the room.

Conway said rape is a “four-letter word,” and Republicans simply need to stop talking about it in their races for office.

Several GOP candidates got themselves in hot water during the 2012 campaign by talking about rape. Former Rep. Todd Akin (R-Mo.) said a woman could terminate a pregnancy resulting from a “legitimate rape.” Richard Mourdock, who lost his race for a Senate seat in Indiana, said babies resulting from rape were a “gift from God.”

Last week, Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-Ga.) — an OB-GYN since 1975 and co-chairman of the House GOP Doctors Caucus — commented that Akin was “partly right” in saying that female rape victims have a way of shutting down the body during “legitimate rape” that will prevent pregnancy.

Last Friday, Gingrey’s office provided a statement in which he appeared to distance himself from the remarks, which he said were misconstrued.

(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: abortion; gop; rape
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My take is this -- It is not that the GOP candidates LIKE to talk about RAPE, it's that the lamestream media KEEP ASKING ABOUT IT as it relates to abortion policy.

In other words, you might not want it to be brought up BUT IT WILL. Those who want to paint you as extreme WILL bring it up.

So, you must be prepared for a response whether you like it or not.

1 posted on 01/17/2013 2:12:55 PM PST by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

Who is talking about rape right now? (Aside from this pollster)


2 posted on 01/17/2013 2:14:55 PM PST by cripplecreek (REMEMBER THE RIVER RAISIN!)
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To: SeekAndFind
So, you must be prepared for a response whether you like it or not.

Exactly

3 posted on 01/17/2013 2:15:07 PM PST by tsowellfan (cafenetamerica.com)
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To: SeekAndFind
Several GOP candidates got themselves in hot water during the 2012 campaign by talking about rape. Former Rep. Todd Akin (R-Mo.) said a woman could terminate a pregnancy resulting from a “legitimate rape.”

Liberals think they have conservatives cornered when they ask about abortion for rape. To shut them up, a conservative can answer, 'OK, let's limit abortion to just rapes." With this answer, the liberal is then backed into a corner they don't want to be in.

4 posted on 01/17/2013 2:17:33 PM PST by aimhigh ( Guns do not kill people. Planned Parenthood kills people.)
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To: SeekAndFind

What? The only rape going on around here is the regimes daily talking points and by RINOs.


5 posted on 01/17/2013 2:18:58 PM PST by ColdOne (I miss my poochie... Tasha 2000~3/14/11)
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To: SeekAndFind

Well if you’re supposedly smart enough to get elected to office, you should be able to sidestep the question without using the word. These idiots (Akin, etc.) dug their own graves.

Any male politician who utters the word “rape” in ANY context is an idiot. Period.


6 posted on 01/17/2013 2:19:40 PM PST by bigdaddy45
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To: SeekAndFind
So, you must be prepared for a response whether you like it or not.

Yes, just make sure the response isn't something stupid such as pontificating about women's bodies magically shutting down during rape, or what may or may not constitute a "legitimate" rape, etc. Good grief, just have a canned answer and stick to it.

7 posted on 01/17/2013 2:20:50 PM PST by Longbow1969
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To: SeekAndFind

This guarantees the MSM will bring it up all the time now.


8 posted on 01/17/2013 2:22:13 PM PST by GeronL (http://asspos.blogspot.com)
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To: bigdaddy45
These idiots (Akin, etc.) dug their own graves.

That's why, in the case of Akin, Democrats funneled money (over a million dollars) into his primary campaign. They knew Akin had foot in mouth disease and wouldn't be able to cut it as a statewide candidate outside his very conservative district. Unfortunately, we had idiots like Mike Huckabee in there convincing Akin and his supporters he could win. Of course he predictably lost and gave Claire another 6 years in that seat.

9 posted on 01/17/2013 2:24:04 PM PST by Longbow1969
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To: cripplecreek

(from the article)~: “Conway dispensed the stern advice as part of a polling presentation she made alongside fellow GOP pollsters David Winston — an adviser to House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) — and Dave Sackett. “

I’ve always been brought up : “you are known by the company that you keep “ .
If Conway hangs with Boehner’s pollster ,
that’s all I need to know !!
LOSER !!

The only rape that is going on in this country right now is
Boehner (and his pollster) allowing the financial, social ,
moral and legal rape of this country by the most
progressive , Socialist , Marxist POS who is out campainging


10 posted on 01/17/2013 2:26:08 PM PST by Tilted Irish Kilt (Pay attention - the inmates ARE running the asylum!)
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To: SeekAndFind

They need a canned response or no comment. Otherwise they should shut the heck up about it.


11 posted on 01/17/2013 2:33:34 PM PST by Qwackertoo (Going into Politic Free Zone Momma Grizzly hibernation for a while after this week, maybe forever.)
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To: Tilted Irish Kilt

RINOs themselves love to bring it up and that includes the FReepers who flap their gums about how conservative they are only to turn around and join the mediatards in attacking the conservative.

Despite the jackals, more tea partiers won than lost in this last election cycle.


12 posted on 01/17/2013 2:35:00 PM PST by cripplecreek (REMEMBER THE RIVER RAISIN!)
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To: Qwackertoo

RE: Otherwise they should shut the heck up about it.

You mean like this?

Reporter: “Mr. Akin, what policy do you plan to adopt for women who get pregnant because of rape?”

Todd Akin: “No comment.”


13 posted on 01/17/2013 2:36:46 PM PST by SeekAndFind
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To: cripplecreek

RE: Despite the jackals, more tea partiers won than lost in this last election cycle.

I can name several big names who did not win...

Allen West, Connie Mack (Both of Florida, Wendy Long ( beaten by Kirsten Gillebrand in NY ).

Tea Party Darling Michelle Bachmann won by the skin of her teeth.


14 posted on 01/17/2013 2:38:55 PM PST by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

You don’t have to be an overpaid GOP pollster to realize that the ‘GOP loves rape’ meme, which social media like Facebook is saturated in, is horrifically annihilating GOP popularity among low information voters.

But it helps.


15 posted on 01/17/2013 2:39:50 PM PST by Steel Wolf ("Few men desire liberty; most men wish only for a just master." - Gaius Sallustius Crispus)
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To: SeekAndFind

I’m a taxpayer.

I’m being raped financially.

The GOP is complicit in that action.


16 posted on 01/17/2013 2:40:51 PM PST by Arm_Bears (Ted Kennedy's Oldsmobile has killed more people than my guns.)
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To: SeekAndFind
Professional political analysts who are oblivious to the fact that it is simply in responding to leftwingtard MSM agents that's the problem really shouldn't be hired in the future for political campaigns.

I was thinking of the way Congresscritters were kept appraised of what was going on in the Clinton trial ~ private individuals at their own expense DELIVERED detailed information to every Congressman.

Sure, most of the New York crowd skipped over it, and the majority of the California Democrats can't even read English, but it worked with the House in general.

Next campaign we need to be prepared to blanket all Republican campaigns for every open office ~ even state offices ~ of a quick guide to SUCCESSFUL CANDIDATE BEHAVIOR.

3X5 X24 pages probably ought to do it. Rule 1 ~ never go one on one with a leftwing msm agent. Rule 2 ~ never acknowledge a question from a leftwing msm agent. Rule 3 ~ put up a sign at every campaign stop where YOU are renting the hall/site that NO CAMERAS OR RECORDINGS ALLOWED WITHOUT THE EXPLICIT PERMISSION OF THE CANDIDATE ~ HE"S PAID THE RENT NOT YOU.

We could probably come up with 100 basic rules in a good half hour just thinking of things we know that worked.

17 posted on 01/17/2013 2:41:21 PM PST by muawiyah
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To: SeekAndFind
Todd Akin: “No comment.”

I hope you aren't trying to pretend that would be the end of it because most FReepers aren't little children and know better than think that would end right there.
18 posted on 01/17/2013 2:42:44 PM PST by cripplecreek (REMEMBER THE RIVER RAISIN!)
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To: SeekAndFind

Question list for the next ABC debates:

1. Mr. Republicant, what are your views on rape, the fetuses conceived by rape, and the physiology of a woman’s body as it relates to the act of rape?

a. Follow up: When did you commit your first rape?

2. How old do you think the earth is?

3. Do you support or are you a member of the Nazi Rifle Association and do you own an Assault Rifle-15?

b. Follow up: Where do you buy your armor piercing rounds and do you believe armor piercing rounds are necessary to kill a child?


19 posted on 01/17/2013 2:45:10 PM PST by chris37 (Heartless.)
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To: cripplecreek

I was being facetious.

Of course it isn’t going to end right there.

That’s why Pro-life candidates ought to think carefully regarding a response that does not damage them like it did Todd Akin or Richard Murdock.

Believe me — IT WILL BE BROUGHT UP (whether they lie it or not ). In fact, any taped statements they made in the past will be dug up and played on TV and radio and used in ads against them.

So, in regards to the title of this thread -— NOPE, GOP CANDIDATES WON’T BRING IT UP, BUT WHAT DO YOU KNOW WHEN IT *IS* BROUGHT UP AS IT INEVITABLY WILL?

This GOP pollster did not give an answer to this.


20 posted on 01/17/2013 2:48:22 PM PST by SeekAndFind
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