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According to GOP Akin: Pregnancy Doesn't Happen When Raped

Five Thirty Eight weighs in on the impact

It can be easy to overrate the importance of scandals in the first few days after they occur. Many voters will vote along party lines almost no matter what, and others will decide based on factors like the economy or an incumbent senator’s voting record.

Nevertheless, my view is that insensitive comments concerning rape are especially likely to be deemed inexcusable by voters, and that the swing against Mr. Akin could be larger than the average of 10 percentage points from similar events.
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That seems like a huge swing for one set of comments, no matter how incredibly, unimaginably stupid they may be.

But seriously, those were some incredibly, unimaginably stupid comments by Akin.
 
I told my girlfriend about this and she got angry at me for being the same sex as this guy. I can only imagine this impact on women voters.
 
It was a stupid comment that a) doesn't reflect anything about any other candidate and b) doesn't make his opponent any more fit to retain her office than she was before he made it.
 
ITK said:
It was a Whoopi Goldberg reference. She said "rape rape" once.
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I understood. I was being sarcastic and was making an educated guess that Akin and his kin wouldn't think date/marital rape was real rape but that stranger rape was, especially if perpetrated by a person of color. But color me cynical.
 
jhmd2000 said:
It was a stupid comment that a) doesn't reflect anything about any other candidate and b) doesn't make his opponent any more fit to retain her office than she was before he made it.
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...regardless of his opponent and her capabilities, the fact he made this statement shows he's not ready to represent 'the people'.
 
I don't get why anyone is shocked. Here are a few things that have come from the right:

Ryan and 170 other Republican Congressman wanted to redefine rape. Ryan is the VP candidate.
Romney and millions of Republicans want to kill Planned Parenthood.
Rush was cheered for calling Fluke a slut.
Over twenty states want a "personhood" amendment.
Santrorum's #1 contributor thinks it's funny to have women put an aspirin between their knees as contraception.
The GOP has introduced over 900 anti=women laws since 2011 (http://www.addictinginfo.org/2012/04/16/916-anti-women-bills-introduced-by-the-gop-since-march-2011/)

These are just a few of the GOP's actions. Whether it was Akin or someone else, this statement shouldn't surprise anyone.
 
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avalon said:
Five Thirty Eight weighs in on the impact



That seems like a huge swing for one set of comments, no matter how incredibly, unimaginably stupid they may be.

But seriously, those were some incredibly, unimaginably stupid comments by Akin.
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She needs a 10% swing to win. The polls I've seen have her behind by 5-11% points. And that's to the most favorable Pub she could have run against. I don't know MO politics well, but I'm guessing she's not getting many votes outside of St. Louis and KC. MO has been growing redder, Obama isn't doing well there, and she's been pretty well associated with Obama (as opposed to someone like Manchin in WV). I still think Akin will win if he survives the next few days. I also think he hurts the Pub brand nationwide more than he hurts his own chances - I'm sure Romney would strongly prefer the birthers and people like Akin to STFU.
 
Has Romney made a statement about Akin yet?
 
If he quits by 5 PM tomorrow the GOP can put another candidate in his place.
 
jhmd2000 said:
It was a stupid comment that a) doesn't reflect anything about any other candidate and b) doesn't make his opponent any more fit to retain her office than she was before he made it.
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You could say the same thing about literally anything a candidate does to hurt their own candidacy. But an election is choice between two people. If Akin is less fit for office than his opponent -- which seems pretty clear now; who thinks this guy should be a US Senator? -- then he's the worse choice.

Bottom line: when you display this kind of amazing, truly breathtaking stupidity, you tend to lose. As you should.
 
jhmd, are you suggesting that you'd still vote for Akin?

I agree that it's not going to hurt him that much in the long run. The race will simply be more competitive.
 
PhDeac said:
jhmd, are you suggesting that you'd still vote for Akin?

I agree that it's not going to hurt him that much in the long run. The race will simply be more competitive.
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Mostly because most people won't vote for Akin, they'll vote for the R next to his name.
 
Romney has no balls. He won't stand up and tell Akin to step down from running.

Sens Cornyn and Brown have called for Akin to step down.

Once again Romney will not be a man.
 
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