Missouri Republican: 'Legitimate rape' rarely causes pregnancy

[Jacob]

Which again goes to my first bit.

Also, I've never even voted as a Republican.

I don't follow. Is this some sort of "I'm not a Republican, I just vote for them" kind of thing?

[Ideologue]

Actually, garbs, I liked the last part.

So did we cover this one?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/27/tom-smith-rape_n_1834234.html

Trying to distance himself from the "legitimate rape" comment that Rep. Todd Akin (R-Mo.) made last week, Pennsylvania Senate candidate Tom Smith (R) stirred up further controversy by comparing a pregnancy caused by rape to "having a baby out of wedlock."

mith said Monday at the Pennsylvania Press Club that although he condemns Akin's comment, he agrees with Akin that abortion should be banned without any exceptions, including for rape and incest victims. Pressed by a reporter on how he would handle a daughter or granddaughter becoming pregnant as a result of rape, Smith said he had already "lived something similar to that" in his family.

"She chose life, and I commend her for that," he said. "She knew my views. But, fortunately for me, I didn't have to ... she chose the way I thought. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't rape."

When a reporter asked Smith to clarify what kind of situation was similar to becoming pregnant from rape, the candidate responded, "Having a baby out of wedlock."

He added, "Put yourself in a father's position. Yes, it is similar."

I know, I know, but still

[dps]

Which again goes to my first bit.

Also, I've never even voted as a Republican.

I don't follow. Is this some sort of "I'm not a Republican, I just vote for them" kind of thing?

To be honest, that pretty much applied to me when I lived in WV.  I registered as a Democrat, but that was mostly so that I could vote in the Democratic primary in races for the legislature or in county elections (the Republican Party often didn't even bother to run a candidate in the general election in Fayette County).  In the general election, for state-wide offices, I usually (but not always) voted for the Republican candidate.

I was planning to change my registration to Republican in 2008--you may remember me saying I was going to change my registration in order to vote for Guiliani in the Republican primary, plus by then I was living in Charleston, and Kanawha County, though still heavily Democratic, isn't nearly the one-party stronghold that Fayette County is.  But by the time the 2008 election rolled around, we had already moved to North Carolina.

[garbon]

Which again goes to my first bit.

Also, I've never even voted as a Republican.

I don't follow. Is this some sort of "I'm not a Republican, I just vote for them" kind of thing?

I only registered to be a Republican when I moved to New York.

Before that, I first registered to vote so that I could vote for Hillary in the primary and was a registered Dem (and got some sort of mass mailer invite for a social of young Dems in SF).  Then in the general I did vote for McCain and a Repub to replace Pelosi but for all my other local positions, I voted for Dems.

[CountDeMoney]

Lulli Akin compares treatment of husband by GOP bosses to 'rape'
By Diana Reese

Open mouth, insert foot. You'd think by now that members of Rep. Todd Akin's (R-Mo.) family would have learned  to keep mum on rape metaphors. Not so.

Lulli Akin, the U.S. Senate candidate's wife, has compared his abandonment by party bosses to rape.

In an interview with "The National Journal," she first described the move to get her husband to step down from the Senate race in Missouri as "tyranny, a top-down approach."

She went on to say, "Party bosses dictating who is allowed to advance through the party and make all the decisions – it's just like 1776 in that way."

That was when colonists "rose up and said, 'Not in my home, you don't come and rape my daughters and my ... wife. But that is where we are again."

Yes, back to rape.

You remember it was Rep. Akin's comments during an August TV interview about a woman's ability "to shut down" to prevent pregnancy during a "legitimate rape"  that caused this flap in the first place.

GOP leaders, from Mitt Romney on down, asked Akin to drop out of the race, after he'd won a close primary. The National Republican Senate Committee has pulled funds from Akin's campaign, which has managed to raise more than $400,000 in online donations. (There's even a bake sale on Facebook next week to raise money.)

Both President Obama and Romney "seem to be embodying" a British monarch, "with all the tactics that they've been revealing" toward her husband, Mrs. Akin said.

Although Rep. Akin, who does like to dress up in colonial outfits for the Fourth of July (is it wrong that I think this shows a sense of fun?), said comparing his situation to the American revolutionaries was "a little more grandiose" than how he would have described it.

But there is "this tremendous sense of uprising I feel among the people I talk to," he said.

That word "legitimate" pops up again as he refers to the primary race as "a legitimate race."

During a campaign rally in Nixa, Mo., last week, he brought up the topic of "party bosses" who were soundly booed by the crowd in the Christian County GOP headquarters.

"We had what's called an election," he said. He made it plain he did not feel obligated or loyal to the Republican leadership.

That message reverberated throughout "The National Journal" profile as well.

His priority now is "to do the right thing," he told the Nixa crowd to applause and a chorus of "amen's."

The right thing might be removing the word "rape" from any more comments – it's giving opponents way too much material to mock. And if they insist?

Just remember that "no means no."

[garbon]

Well rape would make for a compelling reason for Americans to overthrow the British.

[CountDeMoney]

Well rape would make for a compelling reason for Americans to overthrow the British.

Oooh, I smell a sequel:  The Patriot II--The War of 1812: Electric Rape-aloo.

[Ed Anger]

Well rape would make for a compelling reason for Americans to overthrow the British.

Oooh, I smell a sequel:  The Patriot II--The War of 1812: Electric Rape-aloo.

I'd watch that.