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Todd Akin and 'legitimate rape'

Snuckles
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Joined: Jun 13 2002
August 19, 2012 - 8:53pm

Quote:
Todd Akin, the Republican nominee for Senate in Missouri, caused a public outcry Sunday over his claim that victims of “legitimate rape” rarely get pregnant because the female body can prevent unwanted pregnancies. The Republican, who is running against Sen. Claire McCaskill was made the unusual claim to defend his opposition to abortion rights for rape victims.

“First of all, from what I understand from doctors [pregnancy from rape] is really rare,” Akin told KTVI-TV in an interview posted Sunday. “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.”

 

Read it here.


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Mr.Tea
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Joined: Jul 9 2011
August 19, 2012 - 9:38pm
#1

This guy should win a Nobel Prize in the field of idiocy...


Michelle
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Joined: May 10 2001
August 20, 2012 - 8:41am
#2

The sad thing is, he'll probably win the election by making such statements.


Caissa
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Joined: Jun 14 2006
August 20, 2012 - 9:02am
#3

Tha Handmaid's Tale seems more prophetic every day.


Mr.Tea
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Joined: Jul 9 2011
August 20, 2012 - 9:08am
#4

Michelle wrote:

The sad thing is, he'll probably win the election by making such statements.

He's currently leading the incumbent by 8 points. Whether this hurts him, we shall see...


josh
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Joined: Aug 5 2002
August 20, 2012 - 11:42am
#5
He may end up dropping out. A few Republicans are calling on him to do so. All depends on whether national Republicans threaten to cut off his money supply.

Catchfire
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Joined: Apr 16 2003
August 20, 2012 - 12:17pm
#6

What does Todd Akin think "legitimate rape" is?

Perhaps most glaringly, there is “legitimate rape.” What is “illegitimate rape”? Akin offered some idea when he co-sponsored a bill that tried to change language about federal funding for abortions for victims of “rape” to cover only “forcible rape.” But his biological nonsense expands the question of what even that means. What is his picture of the sort of rape scenario that would cause the female body to “shut that whole thing down,” absent divine intervention? (And if that’s what the Congressman had in mind, it raises a whole other set of issues.) Does he think that all rapes unfold like abduction scenes in silent movies, with someone thrown over the shoulder, kicking and screaming, and that the violence somehow causes the machinery to go offline, or activates some hormonal force field? What about rape at gunpoint, when a woman’s best option for staying alive might be staying very still, and her best option for staying sane to be as detached as possible? Or does Akin think that doing what one could to survive would delegitimize the rape—or that a legitimate victim is one who sees rape as a fate worse than death? Is it fear that shuts that whole thing down, or disgust? Fear and sex and pregnancy are not strangers. What about someone who is twelve years old, or mentally incapacitated, or unconscious? The problem here is not just whether Akin thinks conception during rape is possible, but what he thinks rape is.

[T]here is a notion, common in conservative rhetoric lately, that desperation is always elsewhere, and that the crises in ordinary lives do not need to be contemplated or worried about—not by nice people. They are rare; something has gone wrong; maybe the complaint isn’t legitimate; maybe it’s their own fault. That indifference goes beyond the question of rape and abortion.


Sineed
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Joined: Dec 4 2005
August 20, 2012 - 7:09pm
#7

The report on the CBC said that this notion of women's bodies rejecting feti conceived by rape has been going around conservative message boards. (I take their word for it; I didn't feel like looking.) I can see how such an idea would be needed by rabid anti-choice people, for whom rape conceptions are the Achilles heel of their whole rhetoric. In the past, such folks conceded that abortion would be allowed in cases of rape, but they nit-picked and whined, saying that women would make false accusations of rape in order to facilitate the termination of an unwanted pregnancy.

If you believe the earth is 6000 years old and people and dinosaurs coexisted, reinventing biology isn't much of a leap.

 


Sineed
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Joined: Dec 4 2005
August 20, 2012 - 10:23pm
#8

Maybe this guy is the origin of this theory. As said by Stephen Freind, former representative of Delaware County, in March 1988:

Quote:

In an abortion debate with Barry Steinhardt of the American Civil Liberties Union, Freind said, according to transcripts: "It is almost but not quite impossible to become pregnant on the basis of rape. The odds are one in millions and millions and millions. And there is a physical reason for that.

"Rape, obviously, is a traumatic experience. When that traumatic experience is undergone, a woman secretes a certain secretion, which has a tendency to kill sperm."

Informed of Freind's remarks, Dr. Luigi Mastroianni Jr., director of the division of human reproduction at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, said yesterday: "Boy, if I could find out what that (secretion) was, I'd use it as a contraceptive."

Mastroianni, who is also a past president of the American Fertility Society, added, "There is no such secretion."

He said Freind's statements were "scientifically unfounded" and "reflect a lack of concern for women who have been victimized by rape" by dismissing the act as not having consequence.

Dr. Richard Depp, chairman of the department of obstetrics and Gynecology at Thomas Jefferson University, said, "The only reality is that women get pregnant when they are ovulating."

Update: the Ryan-Romney campaign are distancing themselves from Akin's remarks:

Quote:
"Gov. Romney and Cong. Ryan disagree w/ Mr. Akin’s statement, and a Romney-Ryan adm would not oppose abortion in instances of rape."

And according to the LA Times, the Repuglies have cut off funding to Mr. Akin's campaign and are urging him to drop out.

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-republican-establishment-pres...

 

 

 


Catchfire
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Joined: Apr 16 2003
August 21, 2012 - 12:42pm
#9

I heard today that unless Akin drops out today by 5pm, he will remain on the ticket excepting only a court order (unlikely in this case?).


Mr.Tea
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Joined: Jul 9 2011
August 21, 2012 - 12:47pm
#10

Yes, apparently this is the last day to withdraw and have your name taken off the ballot. He's getting a lot of pressure to drop out. Even Ann Coulter has called for him to step aside and when Ann Coulter thinks you're too nutty, stupid and offensive, you know you really fucked up.


josh
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Joined: Aug 5 2002
August 21, 2012 - 1:53pm
#11

Catchfire wrote:

I heard today that unless Akin drops out today by 5pm, he will remain on the ticket excepting only a court order (unlikely in this case?).

That would probably be pro forma. So they have over a month to try to force him out of the race.

josh
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Joined: Aug 5 2002
August 21, 2012 - 2:00pm
#12

Sineed wrote:

The report on the CBC said that this notion of women's bodies rejecting feti conceived by rape has been going around conservative message boards. (I take their word for it; I didn't feel like looking.) I can see how such an idea would be needed by rabid anti-choice people, for whom rape conceptions are the Achilles heel of their whole rhetoric. In the past, such folks conceded that abortion would be allowed in cases of rape, but they nit-picked and whined, saying that women would make false accusations of rape in order to facilitate the termination of an unwanted pregnancy.

If you believe the earth is 6000 years old and people and dinosaurs coexisted, reinventing biology isn't much of a leap.

 

I've heard the theory bandied about before in nutjob circles. This article traces it: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/21/us/politics/rape-assertions-are-dismis...

Mr.Tea
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Joined: Jul 9 2011
August 21, 2012 - 2:29pm
#13

josh wrote:

Catchfire wrote:

I heard today that unless Akin drops out today by 5pm, he will remain on the ticket excepting only a court order (unlikely in this case?).

That would probably be pro forma. So they have over a month to try to force him out of the race.

Before he made his stupid comments, he was leading by 8 points. i don't think there's been any polling since but it will be interesting to see how far he drops. The guy seems pretty radiocative. Nobody in his own party is willing to defend him. Missouri was a key target for the Republicans to pick up. I'm sure Romney or Ryan is on the phone with him as we speak, asking him to kindly slither out of the race for the good of the party


quizzical
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Joined: Dec 8 2011
August 21, 2012 - 2:46pm
#14

wtf?

"shut that whole thing down"

 is Akin 7 years old? he can't even use  descriptive words and has to call rape conception  "that"????????

he should be forced to cite his Dr sources and kicked the hell out.


oldgoat
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Joined: Jul 27 2001
August 21, 2012 - 3:03pm
#15

I drove through Missouri several weeks ago.  I can see this guy doing just fine down there. 


Bacchus
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Joined: Dec 8 2003
August 21, 2012 - 3:16pm
#16

Having been in Missouri last summer, I can heartily agree with Oldgoat


Mr.Tea
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Joined: Jul 9 2011
August 21, 2012 - 3:29pm
#17

Marge Simpson: Grandpa, there are only 49 stars on that American flag

Grandpa Simpson: I'll deep in the cold, cold ground before I recognize Missouri!


ElizaQ
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Joined: May 27 2005
August 21, 2012 - 6:18pm
#18

He'll probably do fine in Missouri

 

God Has Chosen to Bless

 

While Republicans at the national level were in a hurry to shove him aside, Republican opinion had not hardened against Mr. Akin in Missouri, in part because of the salience of the abortion issue. “The congressman is totally, firmly, solidly pro-life,” Sharon Barnes, a member of the state Republican central committee, said, adding that Mr. Akin believed “that abortion is never an option.”

Ms. Barnes echoed Mr. Akin’s statement that very few rapes resulted in pregnancy, adding that “at that point, if God has chosen to bless this person with a life, you don’t kill it.”

“That’s more what I believe he was trying to state,” she said. “He just phrased it badly.”

Ms. Barnes said that she believed that the controversy would blow over, and that once people in the state became more familiar with Mr. Akin, they would learn “what a great, conservative, godly man Todd Akin is, and they’ll put his comment in its proper context.”

 


ElizaQ
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Joined: May 27 2005
August 21, 2012 - 6:26pm
#19

Ooo it gets better.

AKIN CLARIFIES CLARIFICATION: WOMEN JUST CONSTANTLY LIE ABOUT RAPE ALL THE TIME

 

Akin has now doubled down on the crazy, insisting in an interview with Dana Loesch that, actually yeah, his original claim about ladies and rape was pretty much right, maybe, except he meant “forcible,” not “legitimate” and that what he really meant to say is that ladies just plain lie about being raped so they can get them some sweet public abortion dollars.

------

AKIN: You know, Dr. Willke has just released a statement and part of his letter, I think he just stated it very clearly. He said, of course Akin never used the word legitimate to refer to the rapist, but to false claims like those made in Roe v. Wade and I think that simplifies it….. There isn’t any legitimate rapist…. [I was] making the point that there were people who use false claims, like those that basically created Roe v. Wade.


Michelle
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Joined: May 10 2001
August 21, 2012 - 8:41pm
#20

Mr.Tea wrote:

Before he made his stupid comments, he was leading by 8 points. i don't think there's been any polling since but it will be interesting to see how far he drops.

Or rises.


quizzical
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Joined: Dec 8 2011
August 21, 2012 - 8:41pm
#21

"'there isn't any legitimate rapists"

whatta fucking woman hating creep. an evil shit who slithers rather than walks.


West Coast Greeny
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Joined: Sep 14 2004
August 21, 2012 - 9:04pm
#22

PPP polls released on the 20th shows Akin leading 44-43, so we've gone from Probably Republican to Toss-Up. He hasn't withdrawn so we'll see where the race goes from here. 


Maysie
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Joined: Apr 21 2005
August 21, 2012 - 9:33pm
#23

West Coast Greeny wrote:

... so we've gone from Probably Republican to Toss-Up...

I'm tossing something over here.

Issues of abortion ("not allowed ever") and rape ("never happens") have one thing in common. Conservative men wanting to control women's bodies and women's realities. Even if they have to make shit up. Welcome to the new normal for Republicans. Yikes.

 


ElizaQ
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Joined: May 27 2005
August 21, 2012 - 10:30pm
#24

Maysie wrote:

West Coast Greeny wrote:

... so we've gone from Probably Republican to Toss-Up...

I'm tossing something over here.

Issues of abortion ("not allowed ever") and rape ("never happens") have one thing in common. Conservative men wanting to control women's bodies and women's realities. Even if they have to make shit up. Welcome to the new normal for Republicans. Yikes.

 

 

 The sad thing is that it's not just conservative men. It's women too. Women like Ms. Barnes in one of the links I posted above.  The religious notions that inform them cross the gender line unfortunatly. 


Cheeseburger
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Joined: Jan 19 2011
August 21, 2012 - 10:56pm
#25

That slimeball British MP George Galloway says that if a man decides to start having sex with a sleeping woman without a condom (or obviously her consent) that isn't rape either. 

 

Galloway is completely disgusting

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2191224/George-Galloway-says-Assange-did-rape-women-Sweden-extradition.html#ixzz24DEy5RuS


Maysie
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Joined: Apr 21 2005
August 21, 2012 - 11:14pm
#26

Other things Missouri Representative Todd Akin Believes to Be True About The Uterus, Besides its Ability to "shut down" a legitimate rape.

Quote:

• When provoked or frightened, a uterus emits a high-pitched scream that instantly stuns its attacker.

....

• The touch of a uterus will blight and cripple the oak, the pine, and the larch for a generation. A cactus is impervious to the uterus' touch.

....

• A uterus cannot enter a public library or pass in front of a Wendy's during business hours.

....

• If trapped outside of a female body and unable to find food, a uterus is capable of living off of its own tissue for up to 80 days.

Hee hee heeeeeeeeee.


Michelle
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Joined: May 10 2001
August 22, 2012 - 6:39am
#27

Ha!  Those are great.  I love one of the comments under the article: "I have been using mine incorrectly all these years, it would appear." 


Sineed
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Joined: Dec 4 2005
August 22, 2012 - 8:39am
#28

Akin issues another clarification. And I have to say, much as it behooves me to give Akin any credit, I think this time he got it right, striking the right balance between humility and genuine contrition and expressed with a resounding eloquence that borders on Churchillian:

Quote:

I Misspoke—What I Meant To Say Is 'I Am Dumb As Dog Shit And I Am A Terrible Human Being'

"As a politician, I often find myself in situations where, unfortunately, I express a certain thought or idea poorly, or find my words taken out of context...

You see, what I said was, “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.” But what I meant to say was, “I am a worthless, moronic sack of shit and an utterly irredeemable human being who needs to shut up and go away forever.”

It is clear to me now that I did not choose my words with care and did not get across the point I was trying to convey. In hindsight, I guess instead of using the words “legitimate rape,” I should have used the words “I am an unforgivable, unrepentant, and unconscionable subhuman dickhead.” Or better yet, “I am an evil, fucked-up man who should never have been elected to the United States Congress, and anyone who would vote for me is probably a pretty big fucking dumbshit, too.” See how much more sense that makes? It’s amazing how a few key word changes can totally alter the meaning of a statement.

<snip>

But if you actually go back and look at the remarks closely, you’ll see that what I was actually trying to convey in my statement was that

(1) I am a big fucking idiot,

(2) I am a nauseating slug of a human being who doesn’t deserve to live, and

(3) I am essentially everything that’s wrong with this country and with humanity in general.

Honestly, that’s all I was trying to get across there. It was a simple misunderstanding, really.

http://www.theonion.com/articles/i-misspokewhat-i-meant-to-say-is-i-am-d...

 

 

 


6079_Smith_W
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Joined: Jun 10 2010
August 22, 2012 - 1:36pm
#29

Oh never mind. There's plenty more ready to step up to the plate:

http://www.thebody.com/content/65600/tennessee-senator-its-virtually-imp...


NorthReport
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Joined: Jul 6 2008
August 23, 2012 - 12:07am
#30

Another winner closer to home in New Hampshire!

He needs to go for a psychological testings as he should not be allowed anywhere near weapons.

http://www.wmur.com/news/politics/Sheriff-candidate-says-he-wouldn-t-rej...


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