Remember Missouri Congressman Todd Akin? He's the Republican opposing Democrat Claire McCaskill for U.S. Senate in the Show Me State. Just to recap: my esteemed colleague Steve Benen points out:
"The congressman believes the very existence of the federal student-loan program is a "stage-three cancer of socialism." He's also eager to eliminate the minimum wage, believes liberalism is based on "a hatred of God," believes the Bible should be a "blueprint" for American government; and wants to impeach President Obama because, in his mind, the president is "a complete menace to our civilization."
If all that seems obnoxious, and it does, get a load of what Congressman Akin told KTVI-TV Saturday:
“First of all, from what I understand from doctors, (pregnancy from rape) is really rare. 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.”
Take a deep breath -- exhale slowly. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is example #5784 why men shouldn't opine against -- must less try to legislate away -- women's right to make their own decisions. Today Akin released a statement in which he said that he misspoke and that his comment "does not reflect the deep empathy I hold for the thousands of women who are raped and abused every year. I recognize that abortion, and particularly in the case of rape, is a very emotionally charged issue. But I believe deeply in the protection of all life and I do not believe that harming another innocent victim is the right course of action." So he feels bad for them; he's still against them having a say.
Akin's remarks made such a stir that the Romney campaign issued a response today. "Governor Romney and Congressman Ryan disagree with Mr. Akin's statement, and a Romney-Ryan administration would not oppose abortion in instances of rape," a campaign spokeswoman said. Except that, as we've been reporting, Mitt Romney said he would have supported a personhood amendment in Massachusetts, which would ban all abortions, and Paul Ryan co-sponsored the federal version of that amendment.
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Just when you think things can't get any more absurd, someone like Todd Akin comes along and disproves that.
What keeps these idiots from being laughed off of the planet?
The idiots who buy what they're selling and vote them into office. God help us all!
"What keeps these idiots from being laughed off of the planet?"
That's easy....OTHER idiots.
The weight of their egos.
They are kept from being laughed off the planet by others who believe the same.
There is plenty of room in Antarctica. We should round up all these fascists and give them a new home down there. Apologies to the penguins and sorry about the smell.
the flag pole keep them here... its actually very cold in hell and their tongues are stuck to the community flag pole. Such jackasses
I was almost speechless after Akin's jaw-dropping comment. Are there enough idiots in America to keep the Republican Party competitive? I guess there must be, which is most distressing.
What's the difference between legitimate rape and illegitimate rape? One has been beaten and the other wasn't? I would not be surprised if someone said something like, "Obviously if she got pregnant, she had an orgasm, so she must have enjoyed it." I have heard that one before. That one cannot get pregnant without an orgasm. these people are sick, and I fear for my country if they get the majority in our government.
Haddie, you may have come up with a plan for their demise.. a dark and sinister underground occupy force that kidnaps these morons and transports them on a private expedition to Mars. Titled "RWGOPTP Aliens Meet the Alien of Mars".. their disappearance is a complete mystery.
"Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The RWGOPTP knows!"
Akin is the first to meet his alien maker!
Todd Akin and his ilk aren't laughed (or hooted) off the planet because people vote for them.
People vote for them because they reflect a sizable segment of the electorate, not because these elected officials sell them emotional drivel. They already believe the emotional drivel and want to force it on everyone else.
They need to force it on everyone else because ideological zealotry is a way of dealing with personal problems and anxieties in a scary world. It only works if the zealot maintains the delusion that he/she has the one and only truth, and all others must be converted or destroyed.
Remember the eggs-in-the-pan- "This is your brain on drugs"? It's that simple and that scary.
It is scary. I've spent time lately just reading the comments to stories on MSN. People are literally blind with anger, judgment, hate. It's not just ideological zealots that are scary. It seems to be a sizeable portion of the population. It makes me want to hide in my house.
"What keeps these idiots from being laughed off of the planet?"
A good Christian carries their Bible with them everywhere they go. A nice HEAVY bible.
Fascism.That's where it's heading. We'll tell you what and what not to do, and you'll like it. We will change history books. We want less Government, or else.
No new taxes. We'll just cut your social programs to make up the difference. The rich aren't rich enough to create jobs yet.
If abortions are eliminated, there's no need to bring up rape. You probably asked for it.
Soon, all women will be vaginally probed after rape, just to see if there is an ethnic voter edge. Ask Governor Bob McDonnell. See Bob McDonnell's Virginia on You Tube.
Voting hours will be eliminated for higher opposing areas.
Children will once again, be able to work when they turn six.
Who needs sick people? They are just a drain on the system.Yeah, about that system, we're going to eliminate that too.
Romney and Ryan have the new Fascist agenda ready to roll.
Q) What keeps idiots voting for the Akin-ses, you ask???!!!
A) THEY'RE IDIOTS!!!
“I don't get the whole damn argument. What does rape have to do with abortion? Why would the topic of rape and the topic of abortion even be in the same discussion?
So, the 'right to lifers' believe abortion is murder.... but some argue, it is okay in the case of rape.
So, if conception happened as a result of rape ... abortion is not murder? Or it is still murder, but we are okay with this baby being killed?
I've heard light-to-lifers argue, well if she it was really rape, then it is not her fault.
Okay, so ... if the condom breaks, that is her fault? If the pill fails that is her fault? If she simply took her chances and conception happens that is her fault, and the punishment will be motherhood.
The whole thing is just stupid. HOW conception happened is not the issue. What the woman wishes to do is the issue.
Right-to-lifers scream and yell that the 'rights' of the fetus out-weigh the rights of the woman .... what about the rights of the child after birth? Who will fed, dress, school, and love this child? You?
It seems to me that once the kid if born, right-to-lifers don't want to hear about it again, until he/she has reached adulthood, is in prison, and they sentence him/her to death.”
"You don't see any of these pro-lifers running to feed and shelter and clothes these unwanted children or taking an unwanted embryo into their wombs, because no, that's something JESUS might do." - George Carlin.
The last sentence you wrote is true. They value the child until it is born, then they cut social programs that would help such a child survive, eat, get medical and dental care, get an education, help with daycare costs. How do they sleep at night?
what they want to say but aren't saying is that a woman shouldn't be having sex unless she is married and then she shouldn't be using birth control but should rely on the natural course of things.
in their view, the only reason a woman would want an abortion is because she was having sex and doesn't want the consequences of the action. and because they believe in aborting a person after they are born, they don't believe she has any rights in saying whether or not she wants to have a baby - even in cases of rape and incest.
and, it seems, the woman is entirely responsible. none of these laws protecting the unborn even mention the father's responsibility.
Jay, that is in keeping what I have been saying all along. I am pro-choice which means it is the woman's choice. I think so called pro-lifers, who want to decide who should have abortions are actually pro-choice.....as long as they get to make the choice. If it's about the baby, then be 100% pro-life, or shut up and keep your opinion to yourself.
"...what about the rights of the child after birth? Who will fed, dress, school, and love this child? You?"
I was actually involved in a discussion about this two nights ago on FB. A friend posted a pic for an obviously made-up anecdotal story about a late-term abortion of twins, full of "heart wrenching" emotional claims (imagine 50,000,000 babies piled high like the holocaust). I originally posted in the thread to point out the inconsistencies, because I always do my best to debunk bad data on the internet.
I got into it with one woman, but I kept my cool, was polite and provided well-documented references for all my figures. I let her know that only 1% of abortions in the U.S. occur at or past 20 weeks, while 6% occur for medical reasons and preeclampsia (a common medical reason for termination of pregnancy) doesn't even present until the 20th week. Most late-term abortions, a very painful procedure, are assumed to be for medical reasons.
She'd claimed she knew people who would have happily taken one of the babies. I responded that there probably were no babies at all, and then told her this:
In 2009, 1.21 million abortions occurred in America. That same year 424,000 kids were in the foster care program, with 255,000 entering it. Only 30% of the children aborted each year are caucasian, while that's the highest request race for adoption.
The person I was speaking to had disclosed that she was the mother of three and couldn't bear the thought of a child killed.
I asked her, if she was so worried for the children, why she hadn't already adopted any. After all, she'd had at least one child of her own, and must have known that abortions were occurring that she could prevent through adoption or foster care in the past.
Her response was that I was attacking her. I asked her to please, go back and read the figures. I hadn't attacked, I had simply laid out for her what she had been ignoring. She eventually recanted, and dropped her claims.
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People can't make a claim that they'll voluntarily alter their lives if the law changes and it doesn't require that specific change. If all abortions were outlawed, who is it that would take care of the ballooning population? A recent Gallup poll showed that for the first time more Americans were pro-life than pro-choice. (51%) In numbers, that equals 121,249,763 people over 18 as of 2011. As of September 30, 2011, 400,540 kids were in foster care. So at that time, there should have been plenty of open arms for those kids. It's disingenuous to say "we will populate because we care" and then also to take no action to rescue children already living at risk.
In 2005, 6% of foster kids were infants and 26% were aged 1-6 years old, and 60% of the children were adopted, not by loving strangers who sought a child, but by their foster parent. Meanwhile, as foster children transitioned into adulthood, 84% of them became parents themselves. If people refuse to see these numbers, they can't form an opinion based on fact, but only on emotion. That's how people die in even greater numbers.
Note: To get 121,249,763 I used the 2011 census estimate total population x .51, then I took that result and (x .237) to subtract from it. 23.7% was the number of people under 18 in America in 2011. I subtracted that amount to keep things only dealing with adults.
And at an early abortion, it is a matter of cells. A little clump of cells that means nothing. there is no pain. The fact is that a lot of embryos do not attach anyway, and that it is merely absorbed. Fact of nature if there is something wrong with the embryo, it will be destroyed most of the time. I am aware that it could become something special, but at the point it is an embryo, it is nothing but a group of cells. I had a skin tag removed that had more cells.
Nobody is pro abortion. Abortion is a sad thing, even for someone that knows it is for the best. the GOP acts like a woman (liberal, I am sure) sits around with a list of errands, "bakery, library, abortion, dinner." Its a big deal, at any time in a woman's life. It is just the choice to have or not have a baby in the future. These men in the GOP are getting crazier and crazier. I sure hope there aren't a whole lot of people out there that believe that same way. Because I couldn't handle a majority of these people in office.
Jay, the cognitive dissonance comes when they say they hate abortion (which I'm sure they find distasteful) but what they truly hate is promiscuity.
Ninz,
You need to qualify that. "...but what they truly hate is promiscuous females". It's all about control!!
Good point, Once..thanks.
oncearepublican: You should be more specific. They're not personal control freaks, at least not as to women they don't even know. They want religious institutions and beliefs to regain their power and control in society that they once had.
The religious model for sexual behavior is as follows: Sex outside marriage is a sin; out of wedlock pregnancy brings shame to the female; fear of that shame makes females unwilling to have sex outside of marriage; eliminating that fear will remove the incentive to refrain from sex until marriage; channelling the sex drive by using fear and shame is the only way to motivate people to get married; not being able to do that will destroy the institution of marriage and thus society.
The compulsion to preserve, or re-instute, the religious model of social control over sexual behavior fully explains their rabid antagonism towards birth control and abortion, doesn't it?
Then there's what Pat Robertson said - in explaining to a woman why the men she dates dump her after they find out that she has three adopted children from other countries. Pat basically said that adopted kids are damaged goods - you don't know if they've been abused or what's wrong with them.
So not only is the right anti-woman/birthcontrol/abortion, some members are also anti-adoption.
It was never about the child for them. Maybe it was at first, and then they realized that bringing that unwanted child into the world means their tax money goes to the filthy whore's spawn. At that point, they redirected their Bibles at the one who birthed that spawn and decreed that sluts should be punished for nine months and if luck would have it, she would die, and take her evil offspring with her. If she does manage to survive and spit out that kid, *then* they can move on to cutting any means of helping all poor, impoverished children, because you know, most of the ones who sought abortions in the first place were probably the lazy, no-money, mooching masses. That'll teach those whores to keep their legs closed.
J, that has always been my issue with right to life proponents. 75 % of women who decide to have an abortion cite financial reasons. Now the same republicans who are thumping for the life of the foetus, are the same who want to cut welfare for the poor, and are searching for ways to abolish as many of our safety nets as possible. These people seem so contrary to me. I guess what they are looking for is a regression to the state of "developing nation" where the gaps in economic equality provides them with a cheap labor force (so many ppl), and slums where millions dwell in abject poverty.
I read somewhere that the reason crime dropped significantly in NY after the 1980's is directly related to the higher instances of abortions of unwanted pregnancy in urban -read black and latino- women.
At least he does not pretend to to like or trust women. He is the most honest Republican so far. He is an out and out misogynist and a total ass. This is exactly what they all think, even if they are not saying it.
One has to wonder about the people in Missouri who voted for him, he is an elected offiicial!
I voted against him, generally vote against most of these so called "christians" on the right when it comes to Missouri or on the federal level, but sadly between what little blue that lies in Saint Louis and KC is alot of ignorant Red. I'm praying like hell we can keep Claire in the senate and hopefully some more dems in the state legislature, but I'm not holding my breath.
Yes... we have a problem in Missouri... if you aren't on the I-70 corridor through the state, you are pretty "red". :-( We have run into this time and time again.... if we don't have an off-the-charts turnout on I-70 we don't have a shot.
I live in Iowa. And I live in the district where my Representative in Congress is Steve King. We're really trying to get rid of him, but I live in a red county, and these three or four counties around me LOVE Steve King. Thankfully for Iowa, the rest of the state is Democrat, so its pretty even. They have them in a whole lot of states.
If you want to see this ass in the United States Senate, then do what progressives seem to always do, and make a blog post. If you don't want to see this ass in the United States Senate, then send Claire a donation. She is up against Crossroads GPS and the Koch Brothers. Obama has written Missouri off so she isn't going to get any help from the DNC. It is up to you and me to send her the money she needs to fight the Citizen United money flooding Missouri.
@!$%#tard.
Akin is even more ignorant of female reproduction than Rush Whatshisname. If you can't grasp the basics taught in 8th grade health class, you're obviously not qualified to told public office.
Santorum would remind R/R that regardless, pregnancy by rape is a gift... from God no less.
Beware of Gods bearing gifts.
Underneath all of this is the belief that aside from the having of the sex, it is God that causes the pregnancy. Whether a person (of either gender) was forcibly caused to engage in intercourse, God is in control. A woman does not get pregnant unless God wills it. If God wills it, it is therefore "legitimate".
That's why we don't need sex education in public schools. No birth control, no mathematics, or chemistry; no medicine, and no physics getting in the way of the baby making.
It's a centuries-old idea.
Yes and since God gave us maniacs that kill people it is the will of God. Who needs prisons and expensive court proceedings and lawyers or shackles. God is in control why hold a child molester responsible. /S, and that is a capital /S.
Stupid is what stupid believes.
And Saintorum wants us to make lemonade out of lemons. No, maybe that was Sharron Angle. No matter, they both think the same.
At least these guys only think the woman should be forced to carry the baby to term - the Old Testament said that the rapist should marry his victim (because, of course, he had messed with her father's property, and she is no longer able to be married off in the usual way)...
Delightful, I know, but as Eric Idle likes to remind us, Always look on the bright side of life...
f*cktard
Personally, I feel sympathy for Mr. Akin. It's not his fault that his uncle and his father are one and the same person. Perhaps, if his mother had not gone swimming in her own gene pool, she woud not have produced a son with such a severe case of consanguineous retardation.
Retardation is not the word. It insults those who suffer from retardation.It is ignorance, disrespect and hatred pure and simple!
I'd disagree slightly on the word ignorance, since that simply means someone doesn't know something. This is abject and willful stupidity, while stubbornly refusing to accept any fact contrary to what they wish to be truth. But you're right about the hatred and disrespect part.
What happened to us? When did things get so bad that politicians can actually make statements like this and be accepted as serious? There are times I sincerely fear for my country.
I have been anxious about this coming election in the last several months. If the GOPTP get the majority in the Senate, and keep the house, and get Mittens/ryan, we are gonna be in deep________— . I think its unlikely, I am hoping that these crazy things these people are saying will prevent them from being elected. But you never know. I have been wondering if Canada gives political asylum. costa Rica sounds nice. However, this is my country, and I want to fight to keep it like it should be.
If one reads the prophecy in the LDS church about "the white horse", the Mormons believe that a Mormon President will be elected who will turn the US into a theocracy and then attempt to take over the world. I wondered what Mittens logic was for his fight to become POTUS. I am pretty sure that this is it. He wants to be that white horse. Its scarey. Google president mormon prophecy.
The man is not living in reality!
Pat Pualsen explains it all
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4kWLUnorTU
I have actually heard this argument before only replace social security with food stamps and old people with poor people. And obviously adjust the 35 year statement to reflect 2012. The sad thing is people in the audience were laughing because they realize how ridiculous of an argument it is....and yet, today, people do not see it as ludicrous.
Can the mainstream media now ask Mr. Romney and Mr. Ryan if this latest statement by their "campaign spokeswoman" (Andrea Saul again?) indicates a FLIP-FLOP of their previous policy stances, or that they've "evolved", or they felt this way all along but said those obnoxious personhood statements and no-abortion-ever statements just to "excite the base"?
Ladies, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE get out and VOTE these idiots out of office! These are the men who are cutting all the education funding so that there will be more uneducated people to lead astray!
Men need to vote against this extremism also.
With apologies and knowing this could be deleted as inappropriate but I can't help it:
The Asshatery of the Republican party has reached epidemic proportions - in Akin AND Romney/Ryan..
So if Akin believes ".. deeply in the protection of all life and... [not] harming another innocent victim" can we assume that he is anti-war, and anti-death penalty as well? If the zygote created from an act of rape is sacred, then I'm certain he must believe that any death during a war, or as punishment, or because of hunger, poverty, lack of health-care, must be an affront to his beliefs.
I wish that I could give your comment 1000 votes, sirfiver.
Don't try to confuse the wingnut Akin with logic or things that Jesus taught or said. They aren't pro life, and definitely not pro-the living. They are anti-sex, nothing more, nothing less, and the abortion issue is simply a byproduct.
Very, they are desirous of control and sex is for them whenever they want. If the woman said no, she didn't really mean it and goes around calling it rape. They say we must stamp out the CLAIMS of rape and control "our women". And they lie about rape to abort, so you know women are the problem to have control of their body is forbidden.
We need to make sure Claire McCaskill wins this race. Atkins does not deserve to win.
Let me get this straight. Akin says what he has been told by doctors is that the female body has a built in mechanism that kicks in after a rape that prevents an unwanted pregnancy from rape. Is he also saying then, that if a pregnancy does happen after a rape, it wasn't really rape because the woman got pregnant-- so she must have consented to the sex act? This guy is in a position of power in our Government, and it is the year 2012???!!
WOMEN: VOTE IN NOVEMBER AND GET GUYS LIKE THIS IGNORANT TOAD OUT OF OUR GOVERNMENT, AND PRESERVE OUR HARD EARNED RIGHTS TO MAKE OUR OWN DECISIONS REGARDING OUR BODIES, OUR HEALTH, AND OUR FUTURE. DON'T FORGET ABOUT THE FUTURE OF OUR DAUGHTERS, GRANDDAUGHTERS, NIECES, AND SISTERS.
Just when I think the Republican party can't say anything anymore stupid, they top themselves.
There must be a part of medical education only available to (or only required of) Republicans. Or maybe it's that liberal medical students are the only ones who are smart enough to opt out of that part of the curriculum.
He's probably against rape because (as in the bible) he believes that babies come from sperm and the woman is just a ploughed field. Asshat.
I can't belive more people are not upset by this. where is the outrage. He is basically saying that if you get pregnant from rape then you really enjoyed it. How can anyone be ok with this statement. I want the Dr's who told him this to step forward. I want them to face the public. Mr akin shut up and go away. I use to think these types of nuts where the exception well they are starting to be the rule in the gop. Why is anyone still supporting them. I can't belive that people in missouri are dumb enough to vote for him. Stop sending stupid crazy people to the house...unless its the nut house. So the woman who was held captive by her father and had children by him must not have been really raped. And the young girl who was kidnapped and held for years and had children by her kidnapper must not have been really raped. Mr akin you better hope you never find out what it is like to be raped. If your wife or daughter was raped and got pregnant would you belive she enjoyed it.
Take a look at his fb page... plenty of outrage there.
Yep, that's what he's saying. I was actually surprised he didn't go one step further and say that if a woman became pregnant as result of rape it was un-prosecutable. I've heard that before. It's disgusting.
To some (not small) degree, I blame our culture's perception of rape and sexual attack for this. We treat the victim as, not a victim, but a second suspect. Rape is the most under-reported crime in America. Estimates of rapes in America range from 75% to 90% of rapes going unreported. That's because the easiest (slimiest) defense to a rape is to call into question the sexual intent of the victim - to suggest they were complicit in the attack. It's vicious and cruel.
Any isolated crime can cause people to question the victim, and if you mistrust the victim for reason of class, race, gender or sexual preference - they go on trial. Here's an example of "But is she lying?" A lesbian woman was recently attacked in her home in Lincoln, NE. Three men entered, bound her naked with strip ties, cut slurs like "dyke" into her body, set a fire, and left. She made it out of the house, naked and bound to a neighbor's. The first sentence, from the first comment, from the Reuters article on the attack says this, "Something doesn’t “smell” right about this." http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/23/us-usa-crime-anti-gay-idUSBRE86M12E20120723
If there was no political double-talk, people might be outraged. In the meantime, they're happy to attack a person who has just been violated.
You're right! The whole "legitimate" issue is tiptoeing on "well, how do i know you were really raped?" Wth kind of response is that? And from experience, I know that kind of attitude prevents victims of chronic rape from asking for help or denouncing the lout. UGH! How can these ppl hold the name of Christ as the reason for their being evil, hateful, bigoted, disdainful ways?!
It should be shouted from the mountain tops, because that is the true issue of controlling women. It isn't the silly words he used, he really really meant "legitimate" and so does Ryan and the others that try to focus on how stupid he was. They think Akin was stupid to reveal what they are really saying: Women lie about rape.
Profiles in Courage those guys are...they disagree? That's it?
What does Congressman Akin think about pregnancies resulting from incest? Do women also have special ways to "shut this down"?
His statement is so far over the top, his soul so lost, his heart so hardened, and his brain so wrongly wired.
This idiot is on the Science, Space and Technology Subcommittee of US Congress: http://science.house.gov/about/membership and those are his beliefs. I am all for laughing him off the planet, as the previous poster suggests, but is it fair to pollute space with the members of its subcommittee?
On a more serious note, this is what happens when "No Child Left Behind" fails. Parents, this is why education is important. Don't let your children grow up Rethug politicians. Teach them REAL science, not creationism. Teach them biology, not abstinence. Educate them about life.
That is extremely frightening. When people like him are in charge of anything to do with science it makes me frightened for our children's future.
It makes ME frightened, for our EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM!!!
Legitimate rape. Let me see if I can find that in the dictionary. Is this jackass literally trying to say there are degrees of rape that result in pregnancy? Furthermore, is he attempting to say that the woman's body just takes over and "shuts the pregnancy down"? Get him and all rape justifying men far away from women!
Henry or Jefferson ?
Henry or Jefferson? What are you talking about Pondering? Your previous post was completely off topic too. Are you sure you are on the right thread?
That being said, If they were to put a photo in the dictionary next to the word, Ignorance, it would be a huge, full color photo of Akin. Same with the words "Fool, Idiot, Hypocrite", and a few dozen or so more I can think of.
bigger problem is that these idiots plan to fix the vote so they win.
That is what is so frightening. When you look at states that have certain hours for voting in republican districts, and less hours for voting in Democratic districts, photo IDs, purging the voting rolls. Its scarey. SMH
flip-flop, flip-flop. Lie Number ?....I have lost count.
"But I believe deeply in the protection of all life"
Right... So, he's a vegan? Or a Jain? He's a founding member of http://www.thelifeyoucansave.com/ ?
I thought not.
The GOP dog and pony show just gets better and better. I never got into politics until I was off work for medical this is to funny. How many times can your mouth get ahead of your brain, oops they don't have a brain.
Are you telling me your mouth never got ahead of your brain. I feel Akin was just stumped with his answer. Like the tail leading the dog. My view of rape. Medical treatment should be administered immediately to the victim of prevention. And Akin would agree with me. But for Clara McCaskell, she better get ready for a new carrier. Missourians want her out, and that's a fact.
No, 392 hemi, I doubt that Akin would agree with you. After all, a prompt response and treatment might allow a pregnancy to be stopped. It's obvious that Akin thinks that's the wrong course of action.
He didn't "misspeak." He spoke what he believes to be the truth.
If the people of Missouri elect this guy, the rest of the nation will lose a great deal of respect for that state.