JENNIFER RUBIN: Trump, Cruz and Paul emerge as Todd Akin Republicans

The Washington Post's Right Turn ^ | June 30, 2015 | Jennifer Rubin, Queen of the CINOs

[2ndDivisionVet]

In 2012, then-Rep. Todd Akin (R-Mo.) took a winnable Senate race and turned it into a debacle for the whole party. His comments on rape were front and center at the Democratic National Convention. One news cycle after another was devoted to his ignorant remarks. He lived up to the cartoon portrait of a clueless misogynist and made the party once again seem like the party of rich, old white guys who cannot relate to modern America.

In the 2016 election, Donald Trump appears on the scene popping off about immigrants and spewing nasty rhetoric. It was enough to cause NBC to break its ties with him, and the network will not air either “The Apprentice” or the Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants:

The network, which has been under pressure to fire Trump since last week when Univision announced it would not air Trump’s Miss USA pageant in Spanish, said in a statement that “respect and dignity for all people are cornerstones of our values.”

“Due to the recent derogatory statements by Donald Trump regarding immigrants, NBCUniversal is ending its business relationship with Mr. Trump,” the statement said. . . .

[firebrand]

All these critics in the TV industry and the retail trade have undoubtedly read Chapter 9 of Ann Coulter’s new book—including the notes to that chapter—and are eminently qualified to judge who our presidential candidates should be.

How mature and dignified of them to use their petty power to take a quick snipe.

Mr. Trump, the latest news from NBC is that you are over the target.

[darrellmaurina]

Look... unlike most people who talk about Todd Akin, I actually live in Missouri and actually saw how he ran his primary campaign to the point that he came out on top in what was mainly a three-way race. Perhaps more relevantly, I saw how his primary opponents ran their campaigns and failed to reach strongly committed conservatives and former conservative Democrats, often evangelicals, who in recent years have become Republicans.

And then I saw how in the general election, one single stupid comment, based on wrong information he apparently sincerely believed to be true, got turned from a molehill into a mountain. A female Democratic candidate who had a long history of prosecuting rape cases was able to pull victory out of the jaws of defeat by attacking a Republican man who appeared to be clueless about the effects of rape on women's bodies. Her efforts were aided in large measure by Republicans who, once private efforts had failed to convince Akin to drop out, decided to go public with their attacks on him. I understand they were trying to protect other Republicans elsewhere, but Missouri has become such a deep red state in recent years that I still think Akin might have managed a victory if the Republicans hadn't publicly and repeatedly attacked him, doing the work of the Democrats more effectively than the Democrats.

There are a lot of lessons to be learned from the Todd Akin debacle. In many cases the wrong lessons are being cited — for example, that Christian conservatives are stupid idiots who need to be milked for votes but never allowed to win primaries.

But I'm not at all sure Akin’s example has much of any relevance to Trump or Cruz.

Here's why.

Trump's entire brand is brashness on parade. When Akin said something stupid, it made him look stupid and therefore a bad candidate. When Trump says something which for other candidates would destroy their campaigns, Trump says it again in a louder voice and keeps shouting, claiming he has the courage to say what others won't. He's been acting that way for decades in business and on his TV shows. Voters expect it and are inoculated to the effects of his comments.

As for Cruz, he's a trained lawyer who thinks on his feet. He may someday say something stupid — most candidates do, sooner or later — but so far he gives every indication that his more fiery and radical statements are done deliberately and are well-aimed guided missiles, not scattershot. Maybe in Jennifer Rubin's world of Washington it sounds like a career-killer to encourage people to ignore Supreme Court rulings, but in the deep red states, and for a lot of conservative voters in light red and purple swing states, Cruz is throwing out exactly the kind of red meat that it takes to attract workers in primaries and caucuses. Right now, getting an on-the-ground organization is key, and since Cruz can't buy ground troops like Bush or Trump, throwing out red meat is a real good strategy.

For whatever it may be worth, I personally think the biggest lesson to be learned from the Akin experience is to "stay in your lane." Every pro-life Republican will be asked about rape and incest exceptions; it's a predictable question and there's no excuse for not preparing your answer in advance. If you don't have medical knowledge, stay away from things you don't know and stick with what you do know. Relying on advice from experts is necessary once elected since you will have to vote on subjects you don't personally understand. But in a campaign, you're talking in sound bites, and you'd better make sure the sound bites you dish up aren't served from a can of worms. If you don't know your comments are correct, keep them to yourself before you get them checked by people who do know.