White House reporters were none too pleased last week about their lack of interaction with President Obama of late, so the president stopped by the briefing room in person this afternoon to field questions for about 20 minutes.
Not surprisingly, there was quite a bit of interest in Todd Akin's comments on rape.
"Rape is rape," the president said. "And the idea that we should be parsing, qualifying and slicing what qualifies as rape doesn't make sense to me and doesn't make sense to the American people.... What I think these comments do underscore is why we shouldn't have a bunch of pols, the majority of whom are men, making health-care decisions on behalf of women."
Leave a Comment:
The best part of President Obama's comments about Akin is "we shouldn't have a bunch of pols, the majority of whom are men, making health-care decisions on behalf of women." Why is this legitimate thought process so quickly passed over by the media? This seems to be the elephant-in-the-room opinion most women are silently pontificating; in truth, this should be the law of the land. No group of men should get to legislate our lives back a hundred years.
You ask why the line doesn't get attention?
Well,because it requires the lazy media to publish or talk with facts!and we know those stinking facts have a liberal bias.Faced with a plethora of Republican sponsored bills that define rape and abortion,the media would have hard time finding a Democratic or liberal equivalence,so the Centrist myth not withstanding on this matter,they'll not pay particular attention to the said line.
Again, this comment is exactly why I'm still loving this man right now (even though he does tick me off)! HE so gets it!
I would say that it doesn't get the attention it deserves because most of the media is male. I don't think it has anything to do with politics, but rather the outdated customs in our society.
JP-1483803
It has something to do with politics.It's true that the male dominance is big factor, but the centrist myth is killing us.because to acknowledge that this is going on would mean blaming one party and that my friend is a heresy.
Best Line Ever!
Certainly the best line he could have used there. It's about time we had prominent people, particularly men, acknowledge that ladies are rational people who can and must make their own decisions.
Why is everyone focusing on the legitimate/forcible language, and not the profound biological fallacy of women being able to "shut things down"?!
Yup..that's where the crazy train really jumped the tracks!
I know, right? He still believes that pregnancy won't happen if it's a rape. This is the issue here, people! The issue is that Akin is....... really dumb.
Wow. I'm sure a lot of women are upset no one told them they could just shut things down. How dare the medical community withhold that information all these years?
This man is dumber than a box of hair and has no business being in any facet of government.
Akin's lie actually isn't new. The forced-birth movement has been claiming for decades that rape can't cause pregnancy, the implication being that women lie about being raped to get an "excuse" for an abortion.
That one lie isn't the real scandal here. The scandal is that the forced birthers systemically lie about rape in general. They lie how bad it is, they lie about how often it happens, they lie about how frequently it causes pregnancy, and on and on and on.
Akin's offensive lie is par for the course when it comes to the forced birthers. That is what we need to emphasize: not any one particular detail, but rather how it is a look under the rock to see the filth in which these people traffic.
Akin really needs some education about this. What a dolt! He said he meant 'forcible' (rather than 'legitimate') rape. Statutory rape excluded, all rape is 'forcible'. In fact the adjective 'forcible' is redundant in the collocation 'forcible rape'.
I addressed the same issue on the previous Akin thread: and, who are the doctors to whom he refers for this information? "...shut that whole(hole?) thing down..."
I haven't listened to the press briefing, yet, but I hope the reporters present are happy with this opportunity and report accurately and fully on the words of Obama.
People aren't focusing on the biological fallacy because everyone knows it's a lie they made up to justify their hideous priorities. Akin himself knows it's a lie, but he tells it so he doesn't look like a torture-loving inquisitor with a hood over his head, in a dungeon with a torch sticking out of the wall.
Judging from the lengthy ALLCAPS manifesto posted below, some people DO believe this drivel, and back it up with "facts".
I like how he nailed that reporter to the wall for her smug attempt at a "gotcha" question. Was that reporter from Faux News?
No. She's with CBS News---Nancy Cordes.
I didn't think her question was "smug", or "gotcha". It was a pretty legitimate question about the level of discourse in this campaign, which has been noted by several reputable news outlets to be more low-brow than normal (on both sides), which is saying something.
Not for nothing, Romney opened his campaign with a dishonest ad, and has not stopped lying ever since - Obama has been hammering Romney for Romney's own past history, secretiveness, and positions, and we still get this false equivalency nonsense. P'shaw!
There is no such thing as "legitimate" rape. It is a violent crime. End of discussion!!
there are women who's voting or have voted for this ignorant s.o.b. tell me, what dose it say about them? these women don't even want equal pay, or care that they can keep there adult kids on their insurance plan. to tell you the truth, i'm just totaly confused on the whole matter. sure this man is a @!$%#, but what dose that say for the women that want him to represent them in washington?
It says they vote the way their husbands tell them to. My own sister's one of 'em.
Akin is proclaiming that he is staying on Twitter which means he feels the pressure to go.Stay or go it doesn't matter.....the repub party in Mo is in the poo.Claire MC just has to sit back & watch them shoot themselves in the foot.I recommend a cocktail & some snacky things or perhaps some popcorn.
Update ....Hannity is telling him to go.......this is so much more entertaining than a Monday should be.
Although I appreciate Huff Po bringing this to our attention, and believe me, I agree with President and think Akin is a dolt, the quotation at the top of the page is not accurate to what he said. It is paraphrased and that should be made clear. There is enough misinformation and second-hand info - it should not be in "quotes".
Not Huff Po, RMS! Eeks!
It's not in "quotes" - it's in 'quotes'.
Thank you, Mr. President. :D
Speak softly and carry a big stick? Obama just whacked a mole! I get the feeling he might make these nuts sorry they decided to base their whole platform on lies and anti-everything.
Will women get behind him?Will they not only vote for him and other democrats willing to go to bat for them but also find a way to make sure the voter suppression fails?Will they help elderly and low income urbanites and college students get what they need to comply with these illegal state laws so we can collectively vote out those who wrote them? We shall see.
Akin will quit by tonight, guaranteed!
rab56 banned for making racist remarks.
...sooo, we have built-in birth control that we can turn on in signs of danger! Holy crap! Now, all I have to do is learn how to use it all the time! That sure is gonna save me a whole lot of money! Does Rush know about this!?!
Why would we want this fool to quit? Akin is a gift.
No he's not. This kind of crazy hides too easy in the House and less easily in the Senate. You see from his work with Ryan how it wields dangerous influence.
Although, in terms of him making it a seat very likely to go Democrat in November, that is a gift. The problem remains that it could still turn out to be an ugly Christmas sweater.
The Republican Convention should be a three-ring circus this year.
again
just check behind the scenes in "Game Changer" Yes, they will applaud themselves, but will be biting their lip… this time both candidates have no there there.
I give a kudo or two for McCain having the b@lls to say, no he isn't Arab and not wanting to push for the Rev. Wright smearing. He was the recipient of such b.s. by Bush in S.C.
Oh, yeah… and rape is rape… there's no differentiation
There's this push to define words. I got an email today talking about SS being a benefit is bad because it's a Ponzi Scheme and should be called earned income, not benefit. Oh, and you could make so much more if you did it "yourself".
I seem to be the only one who thinks that woman who called Obama an Arab had to be a plant. GOP events like that are SO orchestrated, they HAD to pre-screen everyone at the very least, and planted her to give McCain an opportunity to refute it. I guess he still gets kudos for that, but don't you think it was orchestrated. I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but...
It's very possible you may be right about that.
I guess S,P, won't be speaking at the convention, but Condi (Bush Hug) will be there. Will Cheney of Rummy? I wonder what the chant will be?
P.Ryan'/Rmoney 2012- Rolls Royce- supporters might as well chant "women in your place", or "Not your Choice"! 'Murder, Murderer!? Granny "get a voucher", "get a coupon", we need "more.. tax.. cuts, more.. tax.. cuts".
(The movie was Game Change, oops.)
I have been trying to rent the movie and no one has it. Checked at the library and they don't have it either. Do I have to buy it ?
Maybe you can settle for the trailer and schedule if you have HBO?
http://www.hbo.com/movies/game-change/video/preview.html
I wouldn't buy it, but maybe there's an online "rental"?
I'm so used to this dumb, old, white southern congressman saying the most ignorant stuff that when I see one on TV (or posting here) I just cringe. It will be their undoing.
Someone needs to remind IrishPat7 of this fact: rape is rape, no matter how many times the Catholic higher-ups cover it up and no matter how young they are.
FACT: There are ACTUAL rapes AND Falsely Alleged Ones.
FACT: Some Doctors have said that the probability of pregnancy from a forcible rape is lower than when two consenting adults engage in consensual coitus.
FACT: There are only two days out of every normal 28-day menstrual cycle that a woman can get pregnant, or about 26 days per year out of 365 IF both male and female are completely fertile and there are no extenuating circumstances. This means, ceteris paribus, if a male and female randomly choose a single day to have coitus there is ONLY a 7% chance she will get pregnant.
There is NO data to suggest that rapes do NOT occur on relatively random days of the year. Thus, if a woman is raped ONLY once on a randomly selected day of the year, under PERFECT CONDITIONS, there is only a 7% chance she'll get pregnant.
At least one study of RAPED WOMEN showed that the incidence of pregnancy from rape was slightly lower, about 6.4%.
Let's allow that there is a slightly lower probability of pregnancy from rape than from consensual sex, as the experts attest. IT is just NOT 0.0%.
IF rapes occur randomly and assuming they ONLY occur between perfectly fertile men and women (NOT LIKELY) than we would expect about 6.4 pregnancies per 100 random rapes.
HERE'S THE PROBLEM:
Sources indicate that the 'reported' number of pregnancies from rapes total 30,000 per year. The number of rapes required to result in 30,000 pregnancies from rape annually, given the study that shows ONLY 6.4% of rapes result in pregnancy is 468,750 (30,000 / .064). However, Crime Statistics show that fewer than 95,000 women are vaginally raped annually.
Obama's Department of Justice -- trying to fight a false War on Women -- ESTIMATES that 300,000 women are raped annually, taking into account the ESTIMATED number of actual vaginal rapes that occur that go UNREPORTED.
Neither number: actual reported rapes nor an estimate of ALL rapes -- reported and unreported -- is enough to result in 30,000 pregnancies by rape annually; not with the study probability of 6.4%, nor even with the 7.0% consensual probability among perfectly fertile consenting adults.
DEMOCRATS: We Have A Problem.
This means one or more of the following must be "true" but for which there is no empirical evidence:
1) The number of rapes that result in pregnancy is far fewer than 30,000 per year, and/or
2) The incidence of pregnancy by rape is actually FAR HIGHER than the incidence of pregnancy among perfectly fertile consenting adults randomly having sex, and/or
3) There are far, far more rapes than are reported and even excessively estimated by Obama's DOJ.
The MOST likely truth is that there are as many as the estimated 300,000 vaginal rapes per year, 6.4% of which result in pregnancy, resulting in only ~ 19,200 pregnancies by rape annually, and this is the number we should state unless and until there is hard data proving otherwise.
On the other hand, there are 1,300,000 babies annihilated per year in their own mothers' wombs via filicide by abortion, affording criminal prosecution immunity to their mothers under current law.
http://msmagazine.com/blog/blog/2011/05/02/25-facts-about-rape-in-america/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/wp/2012/08/20/rep-todd-akin-is-wrong-about-rape-and-pregnancy-but-hes-not-alone/
You're trying to pretend that abortion is murder, which nullifies your whole deal. No babies are annihilated, only clusters of cells with no humanity. Your use of "DEMOCRATS: We Have A Problem." is false, since you are plainly no Democrat, since Democrats value a woman's right to choose.
Thanks for posting. It's interesting to see what sort of drivel is used as 'evidence' against those in the reality-based world.
You do realize that the sources you cited do not confirm what you are saying and in fact contradict what you are saying, that there are less than 1 million abortions performed per year (according to the CDC), and that even so you would still be justifying murder in the case of rape/incest.
So murder is OK as long as you can't blame the mother for it occurring. Good to know- I will add that to my future satire
Additionally I suggest you look up information about correlation versus causality and information about the post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy. You seem to be committing both errors simultaneously.
So, where in these statistics does it say a woman can shut down a pregnancy? Where are these doctors that have supplied this idiotic fallacy? I'm assuming, since your name is Joe, that you aren't a woman either. So, if you're not a rapist and not a rape victim, then you're just a Google addict with an agenda. You extrapolate your own data and apply it in defense of an obvious political talking head who clearly misspoke and retracted his comments? Let's not lost sight of the point: a politician who is ignorant of biology wants to legislate what a woman can do with her body, when even HE doesn't know how they work. That's the point here.
So, what if I said: none of what you spewed is MY BUSINESS? Then would you understand Joe?
I'd like to put Todd Akin in a locked room with the father of a rape victim for about ten minutes.
Yes, because it's all about the mens....
Oh, wait.
Any woman who votes for this Republican ticket is a self-hating moron.
!
Since Romney is a devote Mormon, he will have his views not only on Abortion and Rape, but the Mormon religion also has guidelinnes regarding the role of women in society, and within the Mormon church. So, his decisions will probably not include women in policy making, it is a mans' job to instruct the women on such things, from what I understand.
My daughter, a junior, said that this is what was taught in sex education in her Catholic High School. I was aghast, although I had previously told her and her sister not to believe anything they had to say. She said - yeah, they said "the body has ways of shutting that down." She added - and my thought was, sure, and martians will destroy the world. Smart girl!
So...before this shocking information from my girls, my thought was - this is the silver lining of all the talk of limiting reproductive rights - learning about all the misinformation that's out there.
Wow. I expect that from the forced-birthers, but I'm a little shocked they actually teach that in sex education class! I'm surprised I'm shocked, considering it's the Catholic Church, but still... Reprehensible...
I'm shocked Catholic High School has sex education. But kind of expected a little locker room mythical stuff about if you (------ ) something might fall off or might become sterile.
Not meant to insult Catholics, but I truly didn't know they had sex ed.
The only sex ed I had in High School (long ago) was science class where we learned about the anatomy of flowers and pollen.
This is exactly why Obama must remain President of the USA. Otherwise the extremists in the Republican party will institute a Handmaids Tale version of America...
Akin's comment is one more reason I want to personally address congress. I would have no problem calling everyone on both sides of the isle and building, most of whom are.....I don't even know what to call them because they sure aren't "Men", carbon units works, telling a woman what is best for her regarding her body and mind. If it was their daughters, sisters, wives who were raped, (God forbid) their whole attitude would be different. And we all know if abortion were against the law on every level, congressmen would be booking the first flight out of the country to get their loved on the "medical care". Time for people to stand up and show up at the polls and vote. No more leaving it to other people. The tea party ignorant idiots really need to go back under the rock they crawled out of.
Let's hope we're all fired up this time, because we need to show up!
They have slammed the door in so many faces, they need to get a door slammed in theirs in Nov.
Rape is rape, no excuses, not other definitions. That is bizarro about the woman's body has a way of dealing with that. Sounds cuckoo, even.
You statisics on fertility work just fine if you take the woman's ovulation into account only. You seem to have missed the part where sperm can be viable for three to five days in the woman's body. However, there are two ovaries, and they don't necessary go off at the same time (fraternal twins), meaning that for some women the window of conception can be even longer. 5 x 7% =35% of getting pregnant by your friendly neighborhood rapist, or a little more than 1:3. Those are not the odds that most women want to play with.
To some people, it's a completely foreign concept that a child would be anything but a joyful blessing. F*** that.