How Many Fools Does It Take to Defend Todd Akin?

The English language is long past being capable of de-evolving enough to converse with Republicans. Between Neanderthal politicians who failed science and biology miserably, religious fanatics who wouldn’t recognize  Christianity if you shoved it down their throat (That was not the type of shoving I originally envisioned, but hey, I can be civil.), and female party members who are pathetic echo-chambers for conservative men’s ideas,  Republicans today are equivalent to syndicated re-runs of the Flintstones…only less intelligent.

The latest idiocy comes from Rep Todd Akin by way of the Jaco Report. Pay careful attention, because this guy is a perfect example of who holds voting rights on women’s reproductive health in GOP-land:

http://youtu.be/fdisTOKom5I

The key phrase here is (my emphasis):

“…First of all, from what I understand from doctors, that’s really rare [women becoming pregnant as a result of 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 on the rapist and not attacking the child.”

Of course Akin doesn’t specify a report he’s read or a doctor he’s allegedly spoken to; maybe it’s in some course he took to graduate with a Master of Divinity. Akin’s fraternity, Phi Gamma Delta, claims one of their “values” is:

“Knowledge, the primary reason our members attend college and the key to a fuller, richer life.”

Sounds good on paper, I guess. Akin has made idiot statements in the past, including:

“…at the heart of liberalism really is a hatred for God…”

After condemnations by religious leaders, Akin issued what he termed “an apology” which was really the same rhetoric, just worded differently:

“People who know me and my family know that we take our faith and beliefs very seriously,” he said. “As Christians, we would never question the sincerity of anyone’s personal relationship with God. My statement during my radio interview was directed at the political movement, Liberalism, not at any specific individual. If my statement gave a different impression, I offer my apologies.”

So of course he backtracked after this latest foot in mouth episode, saying:

“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.”

First of all, they’re not off the cuff remarks, they come straight from his ass; secondly, his “empathy” doesn’t mean squat when what we’re discussing here is his astounding ignorance. This is the type of thinking that permeates his party, and conservative women are just as guilty; they adopt the party’s male point of view unquestionably, and regurgitate it at every available opportunity. That’s the one and only way women gain any prominence in the GOP.

Tools like Dana Loesch run frantically to social media to defend Akin; this was among Loesch’s twitter rants:

“Akin was trying to fit medical explanation into a soundbite.”

Yeah, I’m suuure he doesn’t really think like that; and what “medical explanation” is she talking about that would even remotely have anything to do with his statement? Why isn’t she even condemning the term “legitimate rape”?

Of course, male conservative putrids pundits just had to weigh in; Like Erick Erickson, who Think Progress refers to as an “influential Republican”, when he’s nothing more than a party shill:

“Todd Akin, the Republican Senate nominee in Missouri, made an inarticulate and rather dumb statement about rape and abortion on television in Missouri.”

Here’s some more enlightening info from the so-called “influentials“:

• Tony Perkins: The head of the Family Research Council said“we support [Akin] fully and completely” and that “I think that Todd Akin is getting a really bad break here.”
• Chris and [yet again] Dana Loesch: The conservative commentary power couple both lept to Akin’s defense. Chris claimed that “what [Akin] said was medically correct” while Dana wrote that Akin’s comments were less bad than his opponent Claire McCaskill’s record by “any real standard of measurement.”
• Bryan Fischer: The American Family Association’s “director of issue analysis” straight-up defended Akin’s position, tweeting “Todd Akin is right: physical trauma of forcible rape can interfere w/ hormonal production, conception.”

Matt Lewis from the Daily Caller, possibly trying to steal the “Club ‘Em and Drag ‘Em Home” title from Akin wrote:

“I’ve heard speculation that women are perhaps more likely to conceive with a partner they deem successful or handsome — or that they are in love with.”

Here we go again with the “I’ve heard” garbage, sans citation; only a Conservative could categorize a rapist as a sexual partner. Mark Halperin over at Time said (my emphasis):

“The Obama campaign, the DSCC, the DCCC, and the DNC will all make a huge deal of this, stoking the gender gap, making the Romney-Ryan position on abortion a bigger deal than they already are, and looking to stir up division and trouble in almost every race in the nation.”

Right Wing Watch reports:

“Sarah Posner in Religion Dispatches notes that Akin, who has a masters in divinity, received his degree at a denomination which teaches that rape seldom leads to pregnancy and should not be relevant to laws on abortion rights, and as Kate Sheppard of Mother Jones pointed out, anti-choice luminary John Willke asserts that hormones make pregnancies resulting from rape “extremely rare” and Physicians for Life believes “the rate of pregnancy is actually very rare” because the stress from the rape “alter[s] bodily functions, the menstrual cycle included.”

Those opinions are commonplace among anti-choice activists.

(and all other species of the genus Ignoramus Maximus I might add.)

This is the level of ignorance and fanaticism that is representative of today’s Conservatives, and only multiplies in Washington with each new Tea Party or Republican fool that gets elected. This is what fuels the Conservatives’ War on Women, and why they need to be voted out.

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