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"In an interview for Revealing Politics today, RNC Chairman Reince Priebus was asked, among other things, if the party’s position on Akin would eventually change if Akin refused to step out of the race: The question is: “If he stays in, is your position eventually going to change? Are you going to have to support him? The Chairman replies “No, no. No. He could be tied. We’re not going to send him a penny.”

Exclusive: Jane M. Orient, M.D., says political demagoguery is replacing science “From what I understand from doctors, that’s (conception as a result of rape) really rare. If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down. But let’s assume that maybe that didn’t work or something, I think there should be some punishment, but the punishment ought to be of the rapist, and not attacking the child.” – Rep. Todd Akin, R-Mo. All decent people, including U.S. Senate candidate Todd Akin, agree that forcible rape is a heinous crime. Almost all would...

TAMPA -- Giant, walking vaginas have descended upon the Republican National convention. Several demonstrators from Code Pink, a feminist group, wore frilly pink costumes while others adorned with cardboard cutouts resembling the sexual organ were milling about on Sunday looking for Republicans. PHOTOS: The 20 Biggest Political Players In Hollywood A Florida website called Shark-Tank.net captured video of some of them during their preparation (video below). The protesters carried signs saying such things as: “Read my lips. Leave my vagina alone,” and argued that pro-life Republicans are waging a war against women. But with the official proceedings, along with two...

Todd Akin’s grossly irresponsible remarks about “legitimate rape” and conception have received much media attention. As well they should. The sheer weirdness of the remarks calls into question both his intelligence and his personal integrity. How could someone conclude logically that a rape victim’s body has the capacity to prevent conception in the wake of sexual assault? And why would someone assert that the conclusion had been supported by doctors with whom he had spoken? Clearly, Akin contrived the idea on the spot and then contrived the claim that there were doctors who had informed and/or supported his assertion. All...

Abortion is front-and-center in the presidential campaign due to a congressman's flub on national TV.In case you've missed the news, Todd Akin, a Republican congressman from Missouri running for the Senate, was asked about abortion in the case of rape. His response: "First of all, from what I understand from doctors, that's really rare... "If it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down." Needless to say, such remarks proved offensive. Akin appeared to be making distinctions between violent rape and other forms (statutory perhaps?) as he sought to answer the question...

Liberal pundits are declaring they have no idea what Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO) meant when he referred to “legitimate rape” in an interview this past week. Akin stated, "In cases of legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down." It was an awkward, inarticulate statement, but the substance of it was correct. Explaining what he meant since then would be a bit crude, so he has not been able to adequately defend himself. His attackers have used the awkwardness to pounce on him and pretend they don't know what he meant, or make...

Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan and the GOP establishment aren't the only ones who want Rep. Todd Akin out of the Missouri Senate race due to his controversial "legitimate rape" comments. A Missouri poll shows that even his best supporters, by a whopping 17 points, want him to drop out. Only Democrats want him to stay in the race. According to a new St. Louis Post-Dispatch/News 4 poll, self-described Akin supporters want him to quit by a 50-34 margin. His image in the new poll is abysmal, with just 17 percent viewing him favorably and 56 unfavorably. And the bottom line...

Timing is everything. Maybe Todd Akin chose his words with care. More likely, he didn't. The über-conservative congressman from Missouri was a favorite to snatch a coveted Senate seat in November and thus perhaps help his Republican Party reclaim the majority in both chambers of Congress. Then came Sunday. In a local TV interview, Akin held forth about a favorite issue of his. Abortion, he said, should be illegal even in rape cases because, he claimed, a "legitimate rape" rarely leads to pregnancy: "The female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down." … Tough luck if...

Like most Conservatives, I wanted US Congressman Todd Akin to step out of the US Senate race for Missouri when he abhorrently used the "L" word ("legitimate") about the act of rape. At the time Akin had a nine-point lead over one of the most incompetent  Senators in the country, Claire McCaskill. I'm skipping over the details of Akin refusing to bow out, and the shunning given him by the GOP.  My opinion: IF Akin is the candidate, we MUST get onboard and support him. I understand that "Independents" are thought to rule the day, but if Independents want smaller...

Live on Greta. "We cannot quash this opportunity in Missouri!" She's more fired up than I've seen her in awhile, looks like she's ready to get up and start throwing stuff around the studio.

As Obama’s campaign seizes on Rep. Todd Akin’s clumsy comments to paint the Republicans as extremists, pro-lifers are rightfully pointing out that Obama doesn’t have a leg stand on when it comes to abortion extremism. Despite Akin’s misuse of words, millions of Americans agree with him in opposing abortion in cases of rape. But how many would agree with Obama’s votes for the right to kill a child who’s been born alive during abortion? While Obama has contested the charge by pro-lifers that these votes were pro-infanticide, he is on the record supporting something the vast majority of Americans also...

When Missouri Senate candidate Todd Akin went on television last weekend and uttered the words "legitimate rape," veterans of the Sharron Angle campaign had a collective flashback, PTSD-style. Angle, the Republican Senate candidate who ran against Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in 2010, is best remembered for out-there statements like suggesting that "Second Amendment remedies" might be necessary to restore liberty. Her loss to Reid helped ensure that the GOP would fall short of the Senate majority in the midterm elections. Angle's candidacy is a case study in the ability of a deeply flawed candidate to squander an otherwise winnable...

I have been out of pocket this week and until now unable to comment on the controversy surrounding Rep. Todd Akin’s remarks about rape. As a result, much of what needs to be said in response to this enormous gaffe has already been said by others. Nevertheless, I would add one observation to the discussion that has been bugging me all week. Politics vs. Principle I have been disappointed by Republican responses to Akin that are driven more by politics than by pro-life principles. Over and over, I have seen politicos trying to dissociate the Republican presidential nominee from Akin’s...

Before Mitt Romney appeared via satellite on an Ohio TV station WHIO Thursday, his campaign told a reporter it would prefer Romney did not get questions about Todd Akin. Fortunately for the Romney campaign, Akin wasn’t on the WHIO agenda. “They were chatting and it came up and I believe [a Romney staffer’s] wording was that they prefer not to talk about it,” assistant news director Tim Wolff told TPM. “But we didn’t care because we were going to talk about Ohio stuff.” The WHIO interview was one of four satellite appearances Romney made on local TV stations Thursday. Per...

Embattled Senate candidate Todd Akin just told reporters in Chesterfield that he is staying in the Senate race against Democratic incumbent Claire McCaskill. Akin repeated the kinds of statements he'd made previously to national media, asserting that he's never had the support of the Republican party establishment anyway. [...]

"I think he's been a great leader but I don't want my daughter near him." McCaskill said this a few years ago while in a hotly contested senate race against Republican Jim Talent. In light of the recent discussion on rape, does the Senator feel the same way today, and will she be in attendance cheering on an accused rapist at the DNC?

Debate over abortion-related legislation took a combative turn in the Assembly today when a Pomona Democrat blasted male ignorance of women's bodies, then defied house floor leaders who asked her to stop. Assemblywoman Norma Torres' outburst ended nearly an hour of fierce debate over Senate Bill 623 to continue a pilot project in which physician assistants, nurse practitioners and nurse midwives provide first-trimester aspiration abortions. The measure ultimately passed, 46-24, despite Republican opposition. Torres began her floor speech by noting the words of Todd Akin - though not mentioning his name. The U.S. Senate candidate from Missouri sparked a national...

Prediction: If the GOP establishment doesn’t follow Republican Rep. Todd Akin’s example with a big, fat apology – to Akin – the whole party goes down in flames come November. I don’t mean every Republican will lose, but there is great political peril in not sealing the hole in Republican armor that has opened in Missouri and instead permitting it to remain a Democratic pressure point. Further, “for the good of the country” (the mantra accompanying the party-wide chorus of pleas to Akin to drop out of his U.S. Senate race), Republicans must resume funding Akin’s viable campaign ASAP, after...

If the Republican Party needed any more proof that Missouri Republican Senate candidate Rep. Todd Akin was poison to all GOP-ers, they've got it in a new Missouri presidential poll just published by Rasmussen Reports. After consistently trailing Mitt Romney in Missouri, President Obama is now beating him. It's by just one point, 47 percent to 46 percent, but it represents a big change from Romney's 50 percent-46 percent lead he had a month ago. Worse for the Republican: Romney has led in Missouri all year--until the Akin "legitimate rape" scandal. The poll could be proof that the scandal has...

While Missouri is always a tough state for both parties in presidential elections, until recently Mitt Romney didn’t have much to worry about. Rasmussen’s series of polls gave him a significant-if-not-quite-comfortable six-point margin in the Show Me State … at least until Todd Akin shared his views on the legitimacy of rape claims from pregnant victims. In today’s Rasmussen poll, Romney now slightly trails Obama, 47/46: As the controversy over Republican Senate candidate Todd Akin’s “legitimate rape” comment continues, Mitt Romney’s lead in Missouri has vanished. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Missouri Voters finds President Obama with...