So…you were advocating assassination of an elected official, before your edit, of course?
Obviously, I agree with al the criticisms of the idiot Akin that have been posted here. Logically, though, it’s helpful to understand that we are dealing with two separate issues: 1. His factually incorrect anatomical assertion, and 2. The mind-set which allowed his use of the phrase “legitimate rape.”
His conflating the two in a sentence could be considered a third mistake, because it causes his assertion to be illogical and meaningless.
Anyway, it’s easy to factually point out how wrong he is on point #1.
Criticism of phrase #2 must be rather more speculative, but other posters have come up with some good indirect evidence of what on earth Akin might have meant, or at least what sort of mind-set could cause such a phrase to even exist within one’s vocabulary.
Who are you, Todd Akin or his mother?
I am shocked, shocked I tell you, to find that your response to a member advocating the killing of a sitting Republican U.S. Representative is a 5th grade comeback.
Well, it is comforting to remember that his co-sponsorer, Rep. Paul Ryan, describes himself as pro-life as a person can be, meaning that he’s more extreme than Todd Akin is, apparently.
Which means, what? Ryan believes that rape is good for you? Everybody should get raped, once in a while? Rapists should get medals?
The correlate for those considering foetuses to be human is that if an abortion is as heinous as murder, then there should be no term limits for getting rid of a rape baby. It’s a strongly biological determinist point of view, that the product of rape will be inclined to rape itself. Either that, or it derives from the mindset that single mothers are irresponsible burdens on society.
Oh, the exact Ryan quote is "I’m as pro-life as a persongets."
Maybe he doesn’t think of Akin as a person? B-b-b-but that would contradict his feelings on personhood, wouldn’t it?
This is a pisser. They’ve actually nominated someone who claimed (in 2010) “There’s no one more extreme than me on abortion. Give me your most extreme wingnut, and I’ll out-wingnut him.”
I can see how Akin reached this conclusion.
[ol]
[li]He was told in kindergarten that babby is formed “when a mommy and daddy love each other very much”.[/li][li]He’s read that everything he needs to know, he learned in kindergarten.[/li][li]Therefore, babby is not formed when a mommy and daddy do not love each other.[/li][/ol]
Responsible rapists pull out. (Todd’s new bumper sticker)
For rapes that result in pregnancy, the study cited in post #57 found the following categories of rapists involved:
Another study points out there is some reasoning behind the disparity of numbers that has nothing to do with mythical “stress-related biological defenses,” and everything to do with rapists and their victims. Younger victims – teens – are more likely to not be taking regular oral contraceptives, and are also more likely to be victimized by relatives or non-strangers. So the incidence of pregnancies resulting from rape skews towards lower-age victims, even though, as the study clinically reports, the fecundity of younger females is not as great as adult women.
All of which means McCaskill has just been re-elected.
Right, because all those people who were going to vote for the Republican in the first place are just going to abandon him in droves now that he’s come out as not a big fan of women.
Or have their license status reviewed. I would hope these “doctors” are actually chiropractors, naturopaths or imaginary.
While it is not exclusive to the G.O.P, Republicans have become a natural home for anti-science dingbattery, and responsible leaders (and the rank and file) should find this very embarassing.
As for Paul Ryan, his views appear to have “shifted”.
"“Governor Romney and Congressman Ryan disagree with Mr. Akin’s statement, and a Romney-Ryan administration would not oppose abortion in instances of rape,’’ a Romney campaign spokeswoman, Amanda Henneberg, wrote.
Although Mr. Romney has stated this position before, Mr. Ryan, a seven-term congressman from Wisconsin, has opposed abortion in the case of rape. During his first run for the seat in 1998, The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported that he opposed abortions in all cases except to save the life of the mother."
There’s a video there showing what he actually said.
Still offensive and incorrect, but not as bad as some outlets are making out.
Though ‘legitimate rape’ is an oxymoron.
For the record, I’d heard the same thing about the pregnancy chances of rape - until everyone went nuts about this, I thought that there was a lower chance of conception too.
I remain amazed at the Republican male sometimes. Even when reasonably well educated they still manage to sound like morons.
No, not “all those people”, only enough women to swing the election.
“First of all, from what I understand from doctors, (pregnancy from rape) is really rare,” Akin told KTVI-TV in a clip posted to YouTube by the Democratic super PAC American Bridge. “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.”
How is that different than what’s being said on the news?
It isn’t. Even Akin himself is falling back on the old “I misspoke” defense rather than claiming that his words are being misrepresented.
The really entertaining part will be the pressures and machinations from the party establishment to get Akin to bow out before the deadline (5:00 PM tomorrow). That might be difficult – stubbornness tends to be included as a free extra with the stupidity and ignorance package, and the party poobahs have to pull their punches lest they offend the troglodyte voters who still stand by this jackass.
Apparently there is even some dumbass reporter defending him.
“So perhaps some can agree that all rapes that are reported are not actually rapes? Or are we gonna really deny that for PC sake?” he said. “So looks like he meant to say – ‘If a woman was REALLY raped, it’s statistically less likely for her to get pregnant.’ What’s the science?”
I like how he makes a declarative statement about statistics and then asks everyone what the truth really is. Asshole.
Calling it advocacy, or indeed, even assassination, is a bit much.
- This was a hypothesis.
- Under that hypothesis, it would better be called culling. Consider Rep. Akin not as an elected official, but as a contagious disease vector.
- I did say kill the brain. In Rep. Akin’s case, he could probably get along perfectly well without one.
The problem with the Republican male is that he regards God as a kind of Senior Drill Instructor.