August 28, 2012
The Akin Diet
I guess I'm late to the party with all this Todd Akin mania. I was sort of hoping it would go away like Miley Cyrus, but no such luck -- it appears that the man who strung together the words "legitimate" and "rape" will be with us at least through the end of the Republican Convention, so I suppose I'd better throw in my two cents while I still have the pennies to rub together.
Politicians say dumb things. One could even argue that politicians are uncommonly good at saying dumb things (Joe Biden has turned it into an art form), and Akin sure did his darnedest to live up to that expectation. In fact, I had to go back to the IMDB just to make sure it was Claude Akins and not Todd Akin who played the bumbling titular character in The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo. The two certainly have their share of traits in common, not least of which is the uncanny ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. As hard as Claire McCaskill is trying to lose her Senate seat in Missouri, dammit, Akin seems determined not to let her do it.
Which brings us to the one thing that offended my sensibilities more than Akin's boneheaded grasp of biology, and that is his singular refusal to own up to his responsibilities and take one for the team. I'm not talking about the Republicans, by the way -- I'm talking about these here United States of America. With the very future of the nation hanging in the balance, and so much depending on regaining control of the Senate, Akin has decided that his political career is far more important than the rest of us schlubs who are dying out here under Barack Obama's crushing economic policies.
If I may offer Akin a bit of advice, please take a look at what happened to Charlie Crist when he made a similar decision to give his party the finger and go his own way. The big difference is that we were lucky in Florida and had Marco Rubio to take us across the finish line. Not so in Missouri. If Akin loses there, he loses for all of us.
Hatched by Korso on this day, August 28, 2012, at the time of 1:09 PM
Comments
The following hissed in response by: snochasr
Seems to me the fingers are being thrown by the Party establishment first of all, throwing poor Todd under the bus for saying one dumb thing and rather than standing up and saying that he was somewhat correct but said it very badly. That's what you do when you are a party of principle-- you defend the principle and you defend the people standing up for the principle as well. Republicans need to learn that Democrats and the MSM are going to say bad things about them no matter what, so you may as well do what's right and good and hope the voters notice. Usually they will take a principled politician (that can properly and consistently articulate the principle), regardless of principle, over a politician with no apparent principles except his or her own re-election. The GOP establishment should be ashamed of piling on publicly, contrary to the wishes of Missouri's Republican primary voters. If the guy was that bad, there should have been something done about it sooner and more quietly. Make him ambassador to Egypt or something.
The above hissed in response by: snochasr at August 29, 2012 5:52 AM
The following hissed in response by: mdgiles
In short, we should have turned into the right wing version of the Democratic party. Always willing to circle the wagons no matter what. Understand, the opposition has won, when they cause you to become what you once despised.
The above hissed in response by: mdgiles at August 29, 2012 9:54 AM
The following hissed in response by: Chris Balsz
I find it more troubling than Akin's remarks, that the bulk of the GOP is willing to come out and say, "If we don't win the Senate we lose the USA". If President Romney and Speaker Boehner can't get Obamacare repealed despite Majority Leader Boehner, it is because they don't want to very badly.
And I find it more troubling than Akin's remarks that the GOP doesn't give a damn about primary elections. Romney becomes the nominee because his opponents ran out of money and suspended before he locked up the delegates, so again most states didn't get a vote; then the party declares as a matter of course, the national party can revoke a primary election if the August polls look too bad (Missouri); and then you have that rules fight on the floor of the convention to make state parties irrelevant. It stinks.
The above hissed in response by: Chris Balsz at August 29, 2012 5:39 PM
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