I am defending Akin because he has been treated unfairly by the GOP Establishment. I don't think what he said (and apologized immediately thereafter) deserved/warranted such a reaction from his own party. The GOP's swift repsonse one day after his remark coming from all corners of the country including the RNC calling for his withdrawal, cutting off funds, and disinviting him from the convention was petty and vindictive for a man who served the party well for 24 years. There had to be another agenda at work to cause such a response.
This Senate seat is more important than any one person. Period.
Should Mourdock have not challenged Lugar? Lugar was a dead lock on reelection. Mourdock has certainly put that seat in play. We heard the same blather about putting Mike Castle in the Senate rather than have Christine O'Donnell run. McCain and the Establishment wanted Charlie Crist to be the nominee over Rubio. Bennett over Mike Lee, Specter over Toomey. This is the kind of rationale that has given us McConnell as minority leader. It really doesn't matter if someone has an R after their name if they are going to give us the same policies as the Dems and not roll back the welfare state. Snowe, Collins and Specter voted for the stimulus. IMO Todd Akin was too conservative for the Republican Party.
Akin has no one to blame but himself for this fiasco.
Mourdock is a very good candidate and has a strong chance to win. Sure, there is a risk that has to be weighed. If Mourdock were a terrible candidate that would almost certainly lose than it wouldn't have been worth running him instead of RINO Lugar. As is, we have a solid chance to win and wind up a terrific conservative. Akin, on the other hand, is now a terrible candidate with very little chance to win. Worse, he hurts other Republicans up and down ballot in his state. Akin embarrassed the party so badly he manages to hurt Republicans in OTHER states too.
heard the same blather about putting Mike Castle in the Senate rather than have Christine O'Donnell run.
Nominating Christine O' Donnell was a mistake. She was a joke candidate and lost by roughly the margin every political realist knew she would (17 points). Castle is a RINO crapweasel, but this is a case where the trade off wasn't worth it. Nominating her guaranteed a loss. Castle would have been better in that particular case.
There is a calculation to made in each case. Akin won his nomination with the backing of the Huckabee wing of the party (and money from McCaskill and the Democrat Party). No one tried to remove him until he blew up his own campaign. The GOP was going to pour millions in the race on his behalf. Conservative SuperPAC's had ad buys ready. Akin was going to get a ton of support. He said something so woefully stupid that anyone that isn't political tonedeaf realized they had to distance themselves from him. It's long past time for Akin to put his ego aside and get out of the race. Surely there are other equally pro-life candidates that can step in and win this seat.