I wouldn't say he's stupid - I'd say he's spent so much time preaching to the converted that he thinks other people will agree with him if he just repeats himself. He's learning the hard way that trying to get other people to agree with you is a hard, hard thing, especially if they already have firm, well-established beliefs. Another way of saying this? The guy's not really a politician - a politician can express his views in ways that everybody can agree with. This guy is the opposite of a politician - he talks about his views and even people who share his political alignment disagree with him.
Zhang, that may be one of the most intelligent comments on this whole thread.
Christian conservatives have a bad habit of not asking ourselves what our words sound like outside our subculture.
It wouldn't at all surprise me if Todd Akin had been told hundreds of times that rape rarely results in pregnancy, and repeated that in front of a reporter who knew how explosive that comment would be.
This whole stupid discussion about whether rape can result in pregnancy isn't an issue addressed by Scripture, but there are plenty of Scriptural arguments that sound really bad to a secular audience. If we're going to make those arguments we need to know right up front that they will cause some of our enemies to mock, some to get angry, and others to scratch their heads. That's not necessarily bad, but we need to avoid unnecessary offense at the same time that we understand that some offense **IS** necessary to win. Truth hurts.
We need to be prepared to defend pro-life positions using arguments that convince not only ourselves but others. Akin really blew it.
The question is what do we do now as conservatives, and that is not at all clear.