Free Republic

The controversy over Missouri Republican Senate candidate Todd Akin’s abortion comments was started by a George Soros-funded Democratic Party Super-PAC and the “bait” was taken by Republican Party officials who wanted him out of the race for other reasons, says John Putnam, Missouri state coordinator for the national Tea Party Patriots group.

As the Democratic Party convention gets under way, the public focus should rightly be on the bankrupt philosophy, the stench of corruption and the atmosphere of failure that pervades the political organization headed by Barack Obama. But something is blocking a clear view right now – and it’s not a slip of the tongue by Missouri Republican Senate candidate Todd Akin, who once again leads his Democratic opponent, Claire McCaskill, in the polls. It's the person who, more than anyone else, tried to demonize and vilify Akin for that slip of the tongue. No, I’m not talking about Rachel Maddow...

DAVID GREGORY: Understanding, Mr. Speaker, the difference between Todd Akin talking about rape versus the abortion plank of the platform, I understand there is that distinction. Nevertheless, the question, social issues versus economic issues as being a big motivator for women, is a question. NEWT GINGRICH: Let me just take a second to disagree with Carly [Fiorina]. I think Todd Akin was the choice of the people of Missouri. I think Todd Akin has publicly apologized, and the last poll shows he's beating the Democratic senator. I think that we ought to go on from that. Karl Rove said some...

Any time a political consultant writes an op-ed, first find out who is signing his paycheck so you can have a better-informed opinion of his opinion. Last week Curt Anderson called in these pages for Todd Akin to get out of the Missouri Senate race for comments Akin made in a television interview last month. If you go to the website of Anderson’s company, OnMessage, you can see that his clients include the Republican National Committee (RNC) and the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), whose chairmen have called on Akin to get out of the race and are increasingly angry...

A growing list of Republicans and conservatives are calling for longtime Republican adviser Karl Rove to step away from GOP campaign efforts after the strategist jested that he might have to murder Rep. Todd Akin, R-Mo. William Murray, who heads the Government is Not God Political Action Committee and chairs the Religious Freedom Coalition, said today that the comment “was so distasteful as to shame the entire Republican Party.” “Congressman Akin made a misstatement on the subject of rape and conception for which he apologized,” he said. “Apparently Karl Rove believes the apology is not enough and that Akin should...

A growing list of Republicans and conservatives are calling for longtime Republican adviser Karl Rove to step away from GOP campaign efforts after the strategist jested that he might have to murder Rep. Todd Akin, R-Mo. William Murray, who heads the Government is Not God Political Action Committee and chairs the Religious Freedom Coalition, said today that the comment “was so distasteful as to shame the entire Republican Party.” “Congressman Akin made a misstatement on the subject of rape and conception for which he apologized,” he said. “Apparently Karl Rove believes the apology is not enough and that Akin should...

Those of you who listened to Rush yesterday already know this, but: Just as he was coming upon a commercial break, at one point in the broadcast, he closed out with this statement: "Latest poll shows 77 percent of Missourians forgive Todd Akin. He trails McCaskill by only one point. Hmmmmmmm.........."

Newt Gingrich on Thursday came to Todd Akin’s defense, calling the embattled Missouri Senate candidate “honorable” and “sincere.” Speaking to POLITICO’s Mike Allen at the Playbook Afternoon Snack event here, the former House speaker said the controversy surrounding Akin’s recent “legitimate rape” comments was a “good example of why the power structure in Washington sometimes ought to take a deep breath.” “Todd Akin made a mistake. He’s an honorable guy, he’s a sincere guy. He said something stupid. There was a firestorm,” Gingrich said.

Akin's spokesman Ryan Hite confirmed that some members of Akin's campaign staff, and some volunteers, have received threatening emails, some of which assert their careers might be ruined if they stay with Akin. A source close to Akin provided the Beacon a copy of one such email that allegedly came from a GOP committeeperson in central Missouri. The sender’s name had been blacked out. “Many within the Republican Party have noticed your energetic and passionate work with Todd Akin’s Senate campaign,” the note read. “You are young, well spoken, and likeable. I have spoken with many other state committeemen and...

Opinion 78 ASif being spineless isn’t bad enough, American Crossroads’ Karl Rove jokes about being murderous. At a fundraiser breakfast at the Republican National Convention, Rove was quoted as saying: “We should sink Todd Akin. If he’s found mysteriously murdered, don’t look for my whereabouts.” That’s about as hilarious as a rape joke, which apparently isn’t enough to spur liberals to denounce their favorite “comedians”. Rove’s not a comedian either, and I’m sure Akin’s family wouldn’t be laughing about the political guru’s punch line. His comment is far more outrageous than Akin’s feeble attempt to answer a question about abortion...

In a closed-door fundraiser at the Republican National Convention, Karl Rove reportedly joked about the murder of Missouri GOP Senate candidate Todd Akin. “We should sink Todd Akin. If he’s found mysteriously murdered, don’t look for my whereabouts!” joked Rove, according to a Businessweek report of the fundraiser. Sheelah Kolhatkar, an editor for Bloomberg Businessweek, was invited to the event as a guest of top Republican donor who was aware she was a journalist. The invite gave her a behind-the-scenes look at the otherwise-private event. At the event, Rove urged attendees to urge Akin to get out of the race,...

....Karl Rove has repeatedly tried to push the crazies out of the Republican Party—Sarah Palin and Christine O'Donnell got subtle nudges, for example—but with Todd Akin, the Senate candidate in Missouri with odd theories about rape, Rove is giving more of a shove. Right over a cliff. Bloomberg Businessweek's Sheelah Kolhatkar reports that a breakfast with Republican donors on in Tampa Thursday, Rove joked, "We should sink Todd Akin. If he’s found mysteriously murdered, don’t look for my whereabouts!"

Despite widespread assertions that Missouri Republican Rep. W. Todd Akin's abortion remarks have made him a heavy underdog in the state's U.S. Senate race, a Democratic-leaning polling firm released a poll Thursday showing him in a virtual dead heat with incumbent Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill. According to the survey by Public Policy Polling, Mrs. McCaskill has support from 45 percent of likely Missouri voters compared with 44 percent for Mr. Akin...

Looks as if PPP a Democrat Polling firm has confirmed the FRC poll of just 2 days ago showing Akin surging back on McCaskill. Looks as if the reports of the (political) death of Akin were a tad premature.

WASHINGTON, DC, August 29, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A poll of likely Missouri general election voters released this morning shows that, far from being out of the race, embattled Senate candidate Todd Akin has regained his lead over Senator Claire McCaskill by a 45% to 42% margin, with 13% undecided. The survey conducted by Wenzel Strategies commissioned by Family Research Council Action also shows Akin leading by 10 points among independent voters. “Despite the firestorm of news in the Senate race over the past few weeks, most voters have already made up their mind in the race, the survey shows,” said...

............[Mary Matalin]urged that Akin drop out, to be replaced by Ann Wagner, a former co-chair of the RepublicanNationalCommittee, who is the GOP nominee for Akin’s vacant House seat. Akin “may be dug in, but he’s not going to have a shovel to continuing digging, because he’s not going to have any money,” Matalin told ABC. “We’re going to win Missouri. Ann Wagner is going to end up being our candidate. The party is going to get Ann Wagner in.” Wagner aides hotly dispute that their candidate is involved in any negotiations about switching races. But sources close to Akin acknowledge...

Todd Akin WASHINGTON, DC, August 29, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A poll of likely Missouri general election voters released this morning shows that, far from being out of the race, embattled Senate candidate Todd Akin has regained his lead over Senator Claire McCaskill by a 45% to 42% margin, with 13% undecided. The survey conducted by Wenzel Strategies commissioned by Family Research Council Action also shows Akin leading by 10 points among independent voters. “Despite the firestorm of news in the Senate race over the past few weeks, most voters have already made up their mind in the race, the survey...

Dr. Thomas Hilgers, a Creighton University obstetrics professor and director of the Pope Paul VI Institute for the Study of Human Reproduction, has revealed that statistics show women are less likely to become pregnant when they are raped than when they engage in consensual intercourse. Noting that “the emotional impact of rape often clouds a legitimate and truthful discussion,” Dr. Hilgers said that a study of rape victims in Nebraska found that only 1.6% became pregnant, whereas a random sample would have found 2-4% of all women pregnant after an act of intercourse. He concluded that “complex mechanisms of human...

The Family Research Council poll was conducted by Wenzel Strategies from Aug. 27 to Aug. 28, testing 829 voters for a margin of error of plus or minus 3.38 percent. The sample was 32.7 percent Democrats, 34.1 percent Republicans and 33.2 percent independents. I don’t remotely believe that Akin is winning right now, but I also don’t believe that McCaskill’s double-digit margin will survive September. Hence Reince Priebus’s conundrum. Roy Blunt also said this morning that he still thinks Akin will quit, but I’m not sure he himself quite believes it. Supposedly people are leaning on Huckabee too to get...

A new poll paid for by the Family Research Council, a pro-life group, indicates pro-life Missouri Senate candidate Todd Akin now leads pro-abortion Sen. Clair McCaskill in the race despite the controversial comments he made about abortion and rape. The pro-life group says the poll is evidence that Akin should not drop out of the race and that calls for him to do so were premature. The new survey conducted by Wenzel Strategies of likely Missouri general election voters shows that Senate candidate Todd Akin has regained his lead over Senator Claire McCaskill by a 45% to 42% margin, with...