Newsflash! Female victims of "legitimate rape" don't get pregnant

[|Lucid|]

[b] Senate Candidate Provokes Ire With ‘Legitimate Rape’ Comment[/b]

[b] By [url="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/e/john_eligon/index.html"]JOHN ELIGON[/url] and [url="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/s/michael_schwirtz/index.html"]MICHAEL SCHWIRTZ[/url][/b]

[b] Published: August 19, 2012[/b]



KANSAS CITY, Mo. — In an effort to explain his stance on abortion, Representative Todd Akin, the Republican Senate nominee from Missouri, provoked ire across the political spectrum on Sunday by saying that in instances of what he called “legitimate rape,” women’s bodies somehow blocked an unwanted pregnancy.

[img]http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2012/08/20/us/AKINMISSOURI/AKINMISSOURI-articleInline.jpg[/img]
[b] Jeff Roberson/Associated Press[/b]

Representative Todd Akin, a Missouri Republican, is running for the Senate.

Akin's comments drew a sharp rebuke from Senator Claire McCaskill.

Asked in an interview on a St. Louis television station about his views on abortion, Mr. Akin, a six-term member of Congress who is backed by [url="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/t/tea_party_movement/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier"]Tea Party[/url] conservatives, made it clear that his opposition to the practice was nearly absolute, even in instances of rape.
“It seems to me, from what I understand from doctors, that’s really rare,” Mr. Akin said of pregnancies from rape. “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down. But let’s assume that maybe that didn’t work or something: I think there should be some punishment, but the punishment ought to be of the rapist, and not attacking the child.”
The comments, made during an [url="http://fox2now.com/2012/08/19/the-jaco-report-august-19-2012/"]interview with KTVI-TV[/url] that was posted on Sunday on the station’s Web site, provoked howls of outrage from Democrats and women’s rights organizations. Senator Claire McCaskill, the Democrat who will face Mr. Akin in the November election, immediately took to Twitter with a blunt response. “As a woman & former prosecutor who handled 100s of rape cases,” she wrote, “I’m stunned by Rep Akin’s comments about victims this AM.”
Mr. Akin quickly backtracked from his taped comments, saying he “misspoke.”
“In reviewing my off-the-cuff remarks, it’s clear that I misspoke in this interview, and it does not reflect the deep empathy I hold for the thousands of women who are raped and abused every year,” Mr. Akin, who has a background in engineering and is a member of the House science committee, said in a [url="http://www.akin.org/updates/akin-statement-jaco-report-interview?utm_campaign=goog_ab_01_0001&gclid=COTF2__89LECFcHd4Aodaj8AHw"]statement[/url]. “I recognize that abortion, and particularly in the case of rape, is a very emotionally charged issue. But I believe deeply in the protection of all life, and I do not believe that harming another innocent victim is the right course of action.”
The Republican presidential ticket of Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan was quick to distance itself from Mr. Akin’s remarks.
“Governor Romney and Congressman Ryan disagree with Mr. Akin’s statement,” the campaign said. “A Romney-Ryan administration would not oppose abortion in instances of rape.”
Ms. McCaskill, who is seeking a second term in the Senate, is seen as one of the most politically vulnerable Democratic incumbents on the ballot this fall, beset by her ties to President Obama and tens of millions in dollars spent against her by outside advocacy groups.
Mr. Akin, 65, won the Senate Republican primary this month with strong support from Missouri’s religious conservatives. But he was also helped by Ms. McCaskill, whose campaign spent nearly $2 million on ads portraying Mr. Akin as ultraconservative. It was a clear attempt to bolster his candidacy among more conservative primary voters while gambling that the independents and moderate Republicans needed to win the election would be turned off by his views on social issues.
Political observers have said Ms. McCaskill’s best chance of defending her seat, and perhaps the Democrats’ majority in the Senate, is to paint her opponent as extreme.
“Claire McCaskill will certainly amplify this remark, make sure everybody’s heard it,” said Dave Robertson, a professor of political science at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.
Mike Talboy, the Democratic minority leader in the Missouri Legislature, said that he had spoken to members of both parties about Mr. Akin’s comments and had found uniform outrage.
“Nobody has defended him,” Mr. Talboy said. “That, I think, is pretty telling.”
Brian Walsh, the communications director for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, declined to address what impact Mr. Akin’s comments might have on the Senate race. But he wrote in an e-mail that “Congressman Akin did the right thing by quickly correcting the record and acknowledging that he misspoke.” He said the election would be a referendum on Ms. McCaskill’s voting record and support for the president’s agenda.
If this state is truly aligning itself with more conservative values, some believe that Mr. Akin’s comments might actually help him politically.
Jamie Tomek, president of the Missouri branch of the National Organization for Women, who lives in the county where Mr. Akin grew up and says she knows his parents, said she was not surprised by the statement and did not think it would cost him much ahead of the election.
“He is very far right and very likely to make those types of statements,” Ms. Tomek said.

John Eligon reported from Kansas City, and Michael Schwirtz from New York. Rebecca Berg contributed reporting from Washington.

[|Lucid|]

[Paul]

Wow career suicide

[CincyInDC]

[quote name='Paul' timestamp='1345442479' post='1148733']
Wow career suicide
[/quote]

Can't assume that. Voters are dumb.

[|Lucid|]

[quote name='CincyInDC' timestamp='1345451977' post='1148742']
Can't assume that. Voters are dumb.
[/quote]

Yeah, it's pretty scary when political analysts say that it could actually help him in the upcoming campaign. There are some crazy motherfuckers around.. And maybe it's just me, but their numbers seem to be increasing.

[|kennethmw|]

40+% of Missouri's voting populace will vote for him regardless. That's what's amazing.

[T-Dub]

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


http://www.theonion.com/articles/i-misspokewhat-i-meant-to-say-is-i-am-dumb-as-dog,29256/

[CincyInDC]

also a gem...

[b] [url="http://www.theonion.com/articles/pregnant-woman-relieved-to-learn-her-rape-was-ille,29258/"]Pregnant Woman Relieved To Learn Her Rape Was Illegitimate[/url][/b]


[quote]“I’m so relieved to know that my child’s father, the man who muffled my screams as he forcefully penetrated me over and over and left me hemorrhaging to death on the street, is not a rapist.”[/quote]

[Jamie_B]

[img]http://www.thesportsbank.net/core/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/ben-roethlisberger-1_28_111-300x225.jpg[/img]

[size=7]He has my vote!![/size]

[gatorclaws]

This wouldn't be an issue if they just made a law requiring rapists to wear condoms. That way, no one would get pregnant from rape... legitimate or not.

[|Lucid|]

[quote name='gatorclaws' timestamp='1345826886' post='1150789']
This wouldn't be an issue if they just made a law requiring rapists to wear condoms. That way, no one would get pregnant from rape... legitimate or not.



[/quote]

Hmmm, Trying to decide if you are being clever, or just silly.. The difference is, not passing a law to require condoms wouldn't make it easier to commit rape.

[gatorclaws]

[quote name='Lucid' timestamp='1345849118' post='1150894']
Hmmm, Trying to decide if you are being clever, or just silly.. The difference is, not passing a law to require condoms wouldn't make it easier to commit rape.
[/quote]

it was a joke, which is signified by the ninja

[|Lucid|]

[quote name='gatorclaws' timestamp='1345849509' post='1150895']
it was a joke, which is signified by the ninja
[/quote]

The ninja can mean a total farce, or a clever jab... You could have been making a reference to gun laws, and the old adage "if you outlaw guns, only outlaws will have guns".

[sois]

[quote name='gatorclaws' timestamp='1345826886' post='1150789']
This wouldn't be an issue if they just made a law requiring rapists to wear condoms. That way, no one would get pregnant from rape... legitimate or not.



[/quote]

GOLD

[Jim Finklestein]

[quote]

[b] My New Rule for Todd Akin and the Republican Party[/b]


[color=#000000][font=Georgia, Century, Times, serif][size=3]
New Rule: If your entire party tries to get rid of you, and you stay in, you can't talk about how easy it is for a woman to push a stupid prick out of her body.[/size][/font][/color][color=#000000][font=Georgia, Century, Times, serif][size=3]
I don't want to waste another second thinking about Todd Akin, and his theory that you can't get pregnant unless your eggs are asking for it. Here's the only thing you need to know about Todd Akin and human anatomy: he's an asshole. What I want to talk about is how it's not a coincidence that the party of fundamentalism is also the party of fantasy. When I say religion is a mental illness, this is what I mean: it corrodes your mental faculties to the point where you can believe in tiny ninja warriors who hide in vaginas and lie in wait for bad people's sperm.[/size][/font][/color][color=#000000][font=Georgia, Century, Times, serif][size=3]
Evangelicals might like to pretend that the magical thinking that they indulge in at home doesn't affect what they do at the office, but it absolutely does. The brain that believes in angels and miracles and Jesus riding a dinosaur is trained to see the world not as it is, but as you want it to be.[/size][/font][/color][color=#000000][font=Georgia, Century, Times, serif][size=3]
Republicans would like to pretend like Congressman Akin's substitution of superstition for science is a lone problem but it's not: they're all magical thinkers, on nearly every issue. They don't get their answers on climate change from climatologists, they get them from the Book of Genesis. Hence Sharia Law in America is a dire threat, and global warming a hoax.[/size][/font][/color][color=#000000][font=Georgia, Century, Times, serif][size=3]
Or take the issue that consumes the right these days, our sea of red ink: Republicans are united in their fervent desire to reduce the deficit, but they want to do it in some magical fashion that doesn't involve raising taxes or cutting any spending. When given a choice in polls between these two options, a majority of Republicans check "none of the above" as a way to reduce the deficit. That's like deciding to pay off your student loans by daydreaming.[/size][/font][/color][color=#000000][font=Georgia, Century, Times, serif][size=3]
Or as it's known on Capitol Hill, supply-side economics. Remember that magic beans theory? That you actually bring in more revenue by bringing in less? Ronald Reagan believed it. But at least back in the '80s it was new. The thing is, we tried it, and it doesn't work. Yet, Paul Ryan, who every shit-for-brains pundit in America keeps telling us is a "serious" guy, still believes in the supply-side theory. All the Republicans do. They all believe in something that both science and history have shown to be pure fantasy. The symbol for their party shouldn't be an elephant -- it should be a unicorn.[/size][/font][/color][color=#000000][font=Georgia, Century, Times, serif][size=3]
Paul Ryan is their tough guy on spending but he doesn't want to touch defense -- that's right, a budget hawk who doesn't think there's anything bloated about the Defense Department's budget. It's like being a health inspector and finding nothing wrong with the Asian place that has the chicken hanging in the window. This is how low we've put the bar for political courage -- that you can just write, "I want a pony" in a binder and call it the "Plan For Restoring Vision For the Future of America's Greatness" or some shit, and then everyone has to refer to you as the serious one in Congress. It reminds me of health care. Republicans are for all the popular things, like covering people with pre-existing conditions, but they're not for the part where you pay for it, like the mandate. Just like they were for our recent wars, but not for paying for them. For the prescription drug bill, but not for paying for it.[/size][/font][/color][color=#000000][font=Georgia, Century, Times, serif][size=3]
How do they get away with it? They know that, because we're already such a religious country, our minds are primed for magical, fantasy thinking. The gullibility comes factory-installed. They've learned that you appeal not to an American's head, but to his gut -- it's a much bigger target. But here's the problem: life is complicated. I mean, I know we know some things for sure, like why Jesus put us here on Earth: to watch [i]Here Comes Honey Boo Boo[/i] on a 50-inch TV screen. But what about the Chinese slaves who made the TV? What about carbon from the coal that generated the electricity? What about the Walmart where we bought it, where the workers don't have health insurance? What about racism, or the oceans turning into nail polish remover? The grown-up answer is: identify problems scientifically, prioritize and solve. The Republican answer is: there isn't a problem. And anyone who tells you different is a liar who hates America. We don't have to make hard choices. We just have to ignore the science and the math -- that's why God gave us values.[/size][/font][/color][color=#000000][font=Georgia, Century, Times, serif][size=3]
If rape babies throw a monkey wrench into the whole right-to-life pitch, just make believe rape babies don't exist. If you want to cut down on teen pregnancy, just tell curious kids with raging hormones to practice abstinence. Until they get married. Because everyone knows, that's when the fucking never stops. Health care? Not a problem if you just keep repeating, "We have the greatest health care in the world." Even though the U.N. ranks it 37th.[/size][/font][/color][color=#000000][font=Georgia, Century, Times, serif][size=3]
What's the solution to global warming? It's that it isn't real, and even if it is, big whoop, just buy an air conditioner, you pussy. Republicans also believe that putting the word "clean" next to the word "coal" creates something called clean coal. Even though there's the exact same amount of evidence for clean coal as there is for Todd Akin's mistaken baby makin' theory.[/size][/font][/color][color=#000000][font=Georgia, Century, Times, serif][size=3]
Republicans also believe if they kick all the Mexicans out of the country, the strawberries will pick themselves, and that if they cut the safety net all the poor blacks are "resting" in, they will fall gently to the ground, stand up, dust themselves off, and get good-paying jobs as Olympic gymnasts.[/size][/font][/color][color=#000000][font=Georgia, Century, Times, serif][size=3]
Next week in Tampa the Republicans must admit that the difference between a GOP convention and Comic-Con is that the people at Comic-Con have a much firmer grasp of reality.[/size][/font][/color][color=#000000][font=Georgia, Century, Times, serif][size=3]
[i]Bill Maher is the host of HBO's [/i]Real Time with Bill Maher.[/size][/font][/color]
[/quote]

[url="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-maher/todd-akin-republicans_b_1826617.html"]http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-maher/todd-akin-republicans_b_1826617.html[/url]

[big_dish]

Akin probably said the dumbest thing Ive ever heard anyone, politician or not, say.

In a somewhat similar note, Republican politicians and their stances on religion governing their ideas of law is the second dumbest thing I've heard/keep seeing for years.

Laws- Morals and defending innocence, yes. Religion and enforcing fairytales, no.

[|Lucid|]

People in power used to espouse these beliefs a long time ago.. That what is so scary about this.. That people with a medieval sense of reality are getting elected to office.

[gatorclaws]

I thought this was a pretty decent article on cincinnati.com. Seems like the outrage is more over the term "legitimate rape" than what he was actually saying. Akin has apologized saying he used the wrong term and it was a mistake, but doesn't address the crazy idea that a woman's body will prevent pregnancy when raped.

[url="http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20120824/NEWS/308240151&Ref=AR"]http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20120824/NEWS/308240151&Ref=AR[/url]

[|Lucid|]

[quote name='gatorclaws' timestamp='1345903141' post='1151032']
I thought this was a pretty decent article on cincinnati.com. Seems like the outrage is more over the term "legitimate rape" than what he was actually saying. Akin has apologized saying he used the wrong term and it was a mistake, but doesn't address the crazy idea that a woman's body will prevent pregnancy when raped.

[url="http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20120824/NEWS/308240151&Ref=AR"]http://news.cincinna...08240151&Ref=AR[/url]
[/quote]

It's really the whole enchilada.. But the most egregious part is the insinuation that a woman who becomes pregnant after rape wasn't really raped.. It's not just a horrible thing to say, but to think as well.

[Jim Finklestein]

Evidently if the raped woman decides to keep the baby, the rapist can and has sued for custody in some states!

[|Lucid|]

[quote name='Jim Finklestein' timestamp='1346000980' post='1151304']
Evidently if the raped woman decides to keep the baby, the rapist can and has sued for custody in some states!
[/quote]


Holy fuck! Are you shitting me? Cite?

[|Elflocko|]

[quote name='Lucid' timestamp='1346022168' post='1151436']
Holy fuck! Are you shitting me? Cite?
[/quote]

[url="http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/22/opinion/prewitt-rapist-visitation-rights/index.html?hpt=hp_c2"]Sad Citation[/url]

[|Lucid|]

OMG!

This is a fucking OUTRAGE!! That article made me so mad I had to stop reading it.. How the fuck can we call ourselves civilized and do this?!

This needs to get more coverage.. There is no way public sentiment can be in agreement with something so obviously wrong.

[|Elflocko|]

Sadly, our "civilized society" still demands that bitches stay in the kitchen and keep their mouths shut.

And yes, that statement is to be read with a large amount of sarcasm and hyperbole, no matter how sad and true it might be...

[CincyInDC]

If a man runs a woman over with his car, who is at fault?

[spoiler]The man is.

He shouldn't be driving his car in the kitchen.[/spoiler]