Thank you, NYer. I hope Todd Akin will take advantage of the harsh spotlight that is on him now, and ask people like Rebecca Kiessling to share the stage with him. If he does, that will be not only a smart move, but it could help some people see the light.
I'm a woman; I've had five pregnancies. Lost one due to stress. Am I allowed to express my opinion that there is some truth in what Akin said (or was trying to say), without being called an idiot? I hope so.
I've been trying to shout from the rooftops that what Akin said was NOT "repugnant" or "imbecilic" or any other the other insulting characterizations that have been hurled at him -- most shamefully by some on the Right.
What Akin is guilty of, at worst, is clumsy phrasing. He has apologized, over and over now, for the clumsy phrasing. If we conservatives must parrot the Left in any of our own phrases, then we should parrot this one: MOVE ON.
Let the voters of Missouri decide. IF conservatives stop it with the circular firing squad, I think is a possibility Akin will WIN Missouri. Missourians don't like RINOs and scared pantywaists ridiculing them or telling them what to do.
You are absolutely right .. AND .. everyone understands that is precisely what happened. Rush Limbaugh said pretty much what you did, both yesterday and today.
RUSH: Let me short-circuit this, 'cause I know exactly what Congressman Akin was trying to say. There are people who don't believe in a rape exception because they don't believe it's ever the baby's fault. To them, the baby is the essence of innocence. It is guilty of nothing, no matter what else. It doesn't matter. And they believe, to be consistent, if they're pro-life and it's based on life as first and foremost above all other issues -- and that the baby is the essence of innocence -- then there is no way, at any time, you take the life of the baby. There's no way. Now, you have to be very articulate to explain this to people, and he isn't. And that's where this legitimate rape/illegitimate rape came from. All he was trying to say was... I know it.
The concern, FWIU, is that the Dems will use Akin's remark to rob one senate seat from MO. Interestingly enough, one of the callers to Rush's radio program today, claims that Akin's statement about a rape victim's body, comes from a study published by the Guttmacher Institute. You can read the program's transcript below.