Posted on 08/20/2012 5:17:54 AM PDT by xzins
Odious remarks by GOP Missouri Senate candidate Cong. Todd Akin about how few pregnancies result from "legitimate rape" have done more than outrage people across the country and doom Akin's bid to move up from the House.
It motivated the Romney campaign - - already trailing among women voters in recent polls - - to distance itself from Akin by assuring voters that Romney and Paul Ryan - - the "Romney-Ryan administration" - - should they win in November, would not oppose raped women's access to abortion.
"Governor Romney and Congressman (Paul) Ryan disagree with Mr. Akin's statement, and a Romney-Ryan administration would not oppose abortion in instances of rape," Romney spokeswoman Amanda Henneberg said.
You'd probably say that sounds reasonable and humane - - except it was just three days ago that PolitiFact devoted a lot of space to this issue and found that while Romney backed abortions in cases of incest and rape, Ryan did not.
And had been an abortion opponent throughout his entire political career - - backing an exception only when the life of the mother was at stake - - thus earning a perfect score from a leading anti-abortion organization on this basic tenet of conservative ideology and practice.
News coverage of Ryans first congressional race in 1998, as well as statements he made to the National Right to Life Committee, a leading anti-abortion group, show Ryan has taken a stricter anti-abortion view than Romney.
The only anti-abortion exception Ryan favors is situations where an abortion is needed to save the life of the mother, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. The National Right to Life Committee concurs, based on information the group says it collected in 1998 and 2000 from Ryan as a candidate.
(Excerpt) Read more at jsonline.com ...
"Governor Romney and Congressman (Paul) Ryan disagree with Mr. Akin's statement, and a Romney-Ryan administration would not oppose abortion in instances of rape," Romney spokeswoman Amanda Henneberg said.
Then we learn that Romney supports abortion not just in rape cases but also in incest cases:
found that while Romney backed abortions in cases of incest and rape, Ryan did not.
Now we know why Romney did not sign that pro-life pledge.
And we also discover that Right to Life, in endorsing Romney, has violated their own standards.
In short, those are loopholes so large that you could drive a fleet of trucks through them. Because it all depends on how you define those words.
Rape: "spousal rape"? "date rape"? Is rape rape just because someone says it's rape?
Incest: a consenting adult practitioners of incest really not responsible for the life of a conceived child? Is incest to be strictly defined as 1st cousin or closer? Or is 4th, 5th, 16th cousins eligible if the claim is simply "incest"?
Ping
So — let me guess — you’re going to vote for Obama instead, because his “all abortion, all the time” is preferable to Romney’s odious views?
Are you interested in Romney’s views or not? After all, you’re voting for him.
Should we hide what he believes???
Once again, we find that telling the truth is a gaffe.
The problem with Romney is that we really don’t know what he believes. In Mass he took a very different line than he does now on so many things that it is hard to find out what the real Mitt Romney believes. Personally I think he is a Republican Bill Clinton/John Edwards who has no core convictions and will say whatever he thinks people want to hear in order to get elected. I’ll vote for him against Obama but he is an even worse candidate than John McCain.
Honest response, Woodsman. I respect it.
I agree. Romney is Clinton in so many ways.
But of course! And, to assist those still-squeamish conservatives, just in time for the November elections! The official Romney Liberal Issue Blinders®! Available in many fashionable colors! Only $19.95! Available at your local GOP office...
Akin did mean to say that the rate of pregnancies from rape is low, and he attempted to distinguish between violent rape and unsubstantiated claims of rape.
Those are both legitimate, but as you say, it’s not permissible to talk about them.
What it did do, though, was finally flush Romney out.
Actually, though, Romney will see this as being to his benefit. He gets to claim being a rape, incest, life of mother exceptions type of pro-lifer.
More importantly, it tells us that Romney will appoint justices who will keep abortion legal so that rape and incest exceptions are covered.
Of course not. Nor should we be surprised at the leftist R0mney trying to corrupt the conservative Ryan, rather than learning from him.
ping
Unemployment is worse in 44 states! That is my observation.
This discussion is a waste of time.
The return from the abortion culture is in small steps.
God won’t judge me for the unemployment rate, but he will for taking life with due process.
CORRECTION: God won’t judge me for the unemployment rate, but he will for taking life WITHOUT due process.
My guess is that Romney doesn’t care much about abortion one way or the other and probably won’t act on it at all. He is trying to form the most non-controversal stance at all so that it doesn’t become a big issue or distraction in the campaign. Same reason he took the stance he took in Massachusettes... path of least resistance to shut down an issue he doesn’t care about and sees as a wedge issue. I am not defending him by any means, just stating where I personally think his head is at.
And it starts...
Has Obama changed his position on Infanticide?
Do you believe abortion is infanticide?
Oh good, another tangent that diverts attention away from the terrible state of the country under Obama. Thanks Mr. Akin!
So all those ads by Obama are lies, then, right? We in Florida have been barraged with ads trying to scare women telling them Romney opposes abortion EVEN IN CASES OF RAPE AND INCEST.
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