GOP looks for ways to stop the rape comments
“This is actually pretty simple. If you’re about to talk about rape as anything other than a brutal and horrible crime, stop,” said Republican strategist Kevin Madden, who was a senior adviser in Mitt Romney’s campaign.
On Thursday, the Georgia Republican didn’t heed that advice, telling a local Chamber of Commerce breakfast that Akin was “partially right” when he said last year that a woman can stop herself from getting pregnant. …
But Gingrey’s lengthy explanation of what Akin meant was quickly circulated by Democrats, repudiated by medical groups, and had some Republicans smacking their heads in frustration. …
And it may have added new urgency to a training program that’s already being launched by an anti-abortion group — the Susan B. Anthony list — to keep candidates and lawmakers from continually making the same kinds of comments that may have helped ruin Republicans’ chances of winning the Senate.
Blowback
Note from Hot Air management: This section is for comments from Hot Air's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that Hot Air management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment just because we let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with our terms of use may lose their posting privilege.
Trackbacks/Pings
Trackback URL
Comments
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlDo-T5rHLk
itsnotaboutme on January 12, 2013 at 8:53 AM
Duck tape. Works every time.
tru2tx on January 12, 2013 at 8:56 AM
Basic strategy:
1.) Yes, there is such a thing as “legitimate” (read: forcible and criminal) rape, and illegitimate. That is what this guy is getting at.
2.) No, it is stupid to continue trying to go back and defend someone whose statement itself was screwed up about women’s bodies shutting the whole thing down.
3.) The GOP should have no problems pointing to cases of false claims of rape and demanding their continued criminalization under statutes of filing false police reports. This should not be tied to the abortion debate, however, which can be won on its own merits.
4.) Why can’t we find articulate, eloquent politicians?
Stoic Patriot on January 12, 2013 at 9:00 AM
Phase 1: Neuter Todd Akin’s family.
Phase 2: ???
Phase 3: Profit
blammm on January 12, 2013 at 9:00 AM
Stop going on forums where you will get ambushed. If you do, deflect.
Charlemagne on January 12, 2013 at 9:07 AM
Just say the best way to stop a rape is to carry a gun. Kill two birds with one stone. Talk up personal defense and the righ to carry. Guns place women on an equal footing and rapits at a disadvantage. best way to avoid a pregancy from a rape is to shoot the rapist before the rape occurs.
unseen on January 12, 2013 at 9:15 AM
Good Lord.. Rape is awful. Full Stop. See that is so easy.
Illinidiva on January 12, 2013 at 9:18 AM
eeech, how many of these idiots are out there in the GOP? it has to be a socon…
nathor on January 12, 2013 at 9:29 AM
Here’s a crazy idea, don’t comment on rape.
thebrokenrattle on January 12, 2013 at 9:35 AM
Why does my opponent support sex selection abortion?
forest on January 12, 2013 at 9:49 AM
For anyone who thinks the female body will prevent itself from becoming pregnant during a rape here is a simple solution, start supporting the exception to abortion bans for rape victims. If you don’t think they’ll get pregnant then it doesn’t matter if they can legal abort the baby they will never conceive, right?
Flange on January 12, 2013 at 9:51 AM
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1112/83454.html
So, here is a top GOP strategist saying a year ago we need to muzzle Rush Limbaugh. Too extreme. The same strategist says about Bill Clinton:
http://thespeechatimeforchoosing.wordpress.com/2012/09/06/republican-steve-schmidt-joins-slobbering-bill-clinton-lovefest-on-msnbc/
Bill Clinton was actually accused of rape. I just wish some on our side were as passionate about defending women from the left as they are about destroying some on our side for nothing but a poor choice of words… even after they apologize for those poor choice of words. Bill Clinton had sex with a young women in the Oval office…. Todd Akin used the words “Legitimate rape” and then apologized.
The hypocrisy on our side is just as sickening as the hypocrisy on the left.
JellyToast on January 12, 2013 at 9:55 AM
When people stop thinking that two wrongs can make a right. Violence with more violence does not make things better, especially when the second violence’s sole purpose is murder.
Logus on January 12, 2013 at 9:56 AM
The mainstream media will continue to ask Republicans about rape hoping to get a gaffe. It’s what they do.
Fallon on January 12, 2013 at 10:00 AM
You make idiotic comments all the time and claim to be GOP and not a socon, so apparently idiocy is universal.
melle1228 on January 12, 2013 at 10:03 AM
Good lord, how many retards actually believe that kind of crap? It’s wrong on every conceivable level (including biologically), you’d think we’d stop even trying to bring up Akin and his continued efforts to show how dumb he is.
Argh.
mythicknight on January 12, 2013 at 10:03 AM
It is not a question of being articulate or eloquent, it is a question of acting intelligently. Not all people do it all the time and some are susceptible to not doing it often.
Then there is this case of Madden believing he was gifted with so profound an insight that he could single-handedly change reality.
Dusty on January 12, 2013 at 10:03 AM
Too bad the American voter is not smart enough to realize how rare pregnancies are from rape. They are being played by the pro aborts liked a violin.
CW on January 12, 2013 at 10:08 AM
I agree that Republican Party candidates should stay mum or temporize about all sorts of issues if they want to avoid alienating one constituency or another. That’s Candidacy 101: Always try to promise voters what you think they want, and never risk offending anyone at least until after you’re safely elected.
The big question is whether a Republican Party without honest candidates is one whose survival voters will or ought to actually value.
Seth Halpern on January 12, 2013 at 10:09 AM
Did you read the rest of the article? While I think it is futile to try to defend Akin what this man is saying is accurate. Infertile women are told to keep stress levels down, because sometimes stress can be a barrier to getting pregnant. That is what he said… And high stress can make a woman unable to ovulate. Obviously one instance is not going to stop ovulation, but he was explaining why Akin confused the issue.
melle1228 on January 12, 2013 at 10:09 AM
.
I don’t give a damn who the Democrats pick.
ExpressoBold on January 12, 2013 at 10:15 AM
ExpressoBold on January 12, 2013 at 10:15 AM
Actually this guy is as informed on this issue as you can get. He is an obstetrician. And while I question his wisdom in bringing up the whole Akin debate, what he was saying was scientifically and medically accurate.
melle1228 on January 12, 2013 at 10:27 AM
Why can’t we keep our conversations out of the hands of dems? Why do we do family laundry in public? Why are establishment GOPers such exhibitionists?
It’s because they want to fight a war on terror using gentleman’s rules. It’s because they don’t think anybody really chooses to like them. It’s because they feel there might be some truth to the charge that they don’t care about the lower rungs of the econ ladder.
It’s because the elite GOP is a bunch of loser pu$$ies.
platypus on January 12, 2013 at 10:54 AM
If confronted with the abortion and the rape question the first thing to say is. I am so glad this woman is still alive and able to continue her life. Life is precious and the state should use every bit of power at its disposal to punish the man who viciously attacked her. Life is precious and while rape is a vicious act which causes immeasurable physical and emotional harm to the victim, the murder of a human being is permanent and far worse. In the end the feelings of one person should not trump life. Life is greater than feelings.
astonerii on January 12, 2013 at 10:59 AM
Forgive me if this is a dumb question but what difference does it make if its rare? Isn’t the issue about whether rape victims should have access to the morning after pill and abortions still an issue even if it does not happen that often? I get that it’s to the pro-choicers advantage to blow it out if proportion but how does that change the issues legitimacy? Maybe I’m interpreting it wrong but I hear lots of people dismiss the issue as if its irrelevant because its rare.
Fezzik on January 12, 2013 at 11:01 AM
Abortion: Because her feelings trump a life!
astonerii on January 12, 2013 at 11:09 AM
Republicans are just getting dumber – fact.
Panther on January 12, 2013 at 11:10 AM
Says the person who doesn’t understand the difference between objective fact and subjective opinion.
melle1228 on January 12, 2013 at 11:14 AM
Maybe but that doesn’t mean the GOP isn’t getting dumber.
platypus on January 12, 2013 at 11:18 AM
We have met the (political) enemy and it is us!
Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid! When I think the GOP is running out of ways to shoot itself in the foot, here comes another GOP dinkus picking at the scab. How can so many smart people be so incredibly stupid?
From my perspective: According to IQ tests I’m a very smart guy. According to my very socially savvy wife I’m barely average in social settings/small talk (I would rather discuss facts, figures, data and find small talk socializing exhausting). So, if even I, a poster child for not connecting with the mentality of the average man on the street, am looking at these guys like Akin and seeing how damaging their comments are to the GOP brand nationally and their own (re)election, anyone politically savvy should be in these guys faces screaming, “Shut up about it already, Stupid!!”
deepdiver on January 12, 2013 at 11:20 AM
I suspect that someone at the event asked Gingrey about this issue because he is an obstetrician by trade.
The politically smart answer was to just say Akin was wrong, but he probably wanted to explain why Akin may have been confused. Scientifically severe stress can cause a woman not to ovulate. Obviously one instance of rape isn’t going to stop pregnancy, but stress does cause infertility.
melle1228 on January 12, 2013 at 11:21 AM
All politicians are getting dumber because the American populace is getting dumber.
melle1228 on January 12, 2013 at 11:21 AM
This was Chuck Hagel’s position when he ran for Senate. He opposed abortions for rape and incest because they are “rare.”
Nobody cares.
Richard Mourdocks’s opponent in his Senate race, Joe Donnelly, was pro-life, receiving a zero rating from NARAL during his time in the House.
Nobody cared.
The real trap is believing that these issues are actually about the issue itself, and not about a consistent campaign to eliminate political opposition to the Democratic agenda.
tbrosz on January 12, 2013 at 11:38 AM
The idjots continue with their foot in mouth disease. Learn to STFU.
tommy71 on January 12, 2013 at 11:49 AM
I can’t believe we live in a country where abortion controls the outcome of elections.
We have intolerable debt and unemployment, a weak economy, an immigration problem, and a runaway government trampling on liberty. But somehow abortion seems to be front and center on bringing Democrats victory. It’s infuriating to know that 26% of the voting population in 2012 were single women, and abortion and birth control was their motivating cause. The women on college campuses in the battleground states dragged Obama over the finish line ahead of Romney, when clearly the majority of actual tax-paying citizens voted for Romney.
Then Dems turn around and claim they have a mandate for every other policy idea they have, when clearly they won with one.
I weep for our country. We’ve taught young women that they should not be responsible for their sexual decisions. We’ve taught them that having a baby is punishment. The Democrats have clearly boxed them into a group that apparently is only concerned with their access to sex, and yet these women don’t even realize that they’ve been objectified this way. Amazing what a willing press and immoral popular culture can do to a society.
We can complain about the “rape” comments all day long, but we all know that even if they weren’t said the outcome would not have been much different. To think otherwise is to ignore what is plainly in front of our faces.
goflyers on January 12, 2013 at 12:17 PM
Republicans need to keep talking about rape; the same way we talked about slavery and Communism.
Of course, Democrats will always need to keep lying and saying that we’re the ones who SUPPORT their liberal ideology. But that just means we’ll have to speak the truth all that much louder.
logis on January 12, 2013 at 12:32 PM
Keep your big fat stupid fundie mouth shut on the subject?
How about a standing policy of publicly disowning, within 24 hours, any Republican who acts like Beavis walking through a minefield on this issue? Oh wait, that would require the GOP to have a spine.
MelonCollie on January 12, 2013 at 2:40 PM