Associated Press
While Republican Senate candidate Todd Akin addresses yet another women's-health controversy -- he still believes doctors sometimes perform abortions on women who "are not actually pregnant" -- there's another problem just below the surface.
When I heard reports last week about Akin having been arrested at an anti-abortion protest many years ago, I assumed it wasn't too big a deal. Demonstrators get arrested fairly regularly -- civil disobedience as part of a political cause -- and it's hardly a disqualifier for candidates.
And so, when Akin promised he'd release the details of his arrest this week, it looked likely to be a minor footnote in the campaign. But then something interesting happened: Team Akin decided to break the promise.
At a news conference last week in Kansas City, Akin said he had been arrested as an anti-abortion protester about 25 years ago, and an aide said the campaign would provide more details later. Akin campaign adviser Rick Tyler said Wednesday that no charges ever were filed but that Akin's campaign would not provide any further details about the incident.
And that's about when my curiosity gets piqued.
Look, people get arrested while protesting at embassies, at the White House, etc. There's usually not much to this, and we're talking about nothing more serious than misdemeanor trespassing charges.
And if that's the sort of thing that happened with Akin while he was protesting abortion rights, it wouldn't be especially scandalous or even surprising. But when an extremist candidate gets arrested, says he'll disclose the details, and then changes his mind, it makes the story seem far more interesting.
Right Wing Watch's Josh Glasstetter added, "We shouldn't be left guessing. An arrest is a matter of public record, and we're talking about an individual running for the U.S. Senate. Akin should come clean about what did, or did not, happen."
Leave a Comment:
Since it is a matter of public record, I bet Breitbart/Drudge will be on it like ticks on a hound.
After they give the mutt a good dose of flea and tick powder.
@day- if it was a Democrat, B/D would be all over it. Since it is a Republican, you can well count on the right wing media echo chamber, and faux news to totally ignore the story- like they did with the voting fraud in Florida.
Does anyone have any more specific idea when and where the arrest happened? It should be a matter of public record, thus someone in the "liberal" media (and, despite the exaggerations of the right wing, there are some liberal media outlets) should be able to track this down.
I wonder if maybe what he's "hiding" is that he only claimed to have been arrested for this, as a means of establishing his "cred" with the anti-choice crowd whose support he's courting. Perhaps he was never actually arrested for this at all.
He'd hardly be the first politician ever to turn out to have lacked the courage of his convictions (or lack of "convictions" as the case may be). It hasn't been that long since the Supreme Court ruled that politicians have a First Amendment right to lie for political purposes, even about being Medal of Honor recipients. If Akin were lying about this "arrest" to inflate his reputation with wingnuts, it would seem relatively trivial in comparison, though it would be indicative of his general lack of character (not that anyone paying attention wasn't already aware of that).
Get Enraged and Engaged:
Mooch the Vote 2012!
;-)
Oh come now. If Obama can cover up his entire college career, surely Akin is entitled to cover up one little arrest.
tsk, more baseless claims, shoots.
Nobody cares what grades anyone got in college or law school. Bar exams, like driving licenses are on a pass fail basis. Obama graduated Harvard Law and passed a bar exam. Does it matter if ahe got an A in torts?
And does your transcript look like?
As for arrest records, pols sure like to keep the embarrassing ones secret. Getting arrested for an honorable cause usally has TV crews covering by advance notice.
Um, if the incident is a matter of public record, we should already have a copy of it in hand, right?
Or is the data set too large, and it needs to be narrowed down?
Shooter you really really need to get fresh material. I mean if you expect to get anywhere with BS you must keep it stinking fresh so as to grab attention while the fact checkers see just where you came up with the pile.
Now go muck at the stables.
Maybe he was protesting that they were charging his girlfriend too much for the procedure and got caught up in the protest by accident.
Considering how repulsive the guy is, sex with Akin would require a blind fold and sensory deprivation. At which point the female body would think it was being raped, and proceed to 'shut that whole thing down'. Thus negating the fact that she'll ever need an abortion.
[/s]
OK, does MSNBC have anyone capable of running this story down?
I mean, this sounds like journalism 101.
Whats with Romney refering to under priveledged kids as " poor kids". Only rich adults and kids that have grown up rich refer to the under priveledged as poor. Dang.
If it's a matter of public record, what's holding anybody back? Am I missing something?
and in other akin news
(AP) — Missouri congressman Todd Akin has amended a decade's worth of federal financial reports to add nearly $130,000 in state pension income that he received over that time.
Akin's office provided The Associated Press with a copy of the updated personal financial disclosure reports Thursday after being asked why he had not listed his retirement benefits. Akin's office released a letter dated Tuesday to the House Ethics Committee in which the Republican congressman described the lack of information about his pension payments as an "unintentional oversight."
If it's a matter of public record, we don't have to wait for Akin to do it.
My personal theory (i.e. NO EVIDENCE TO BACK IT UP) -
He protested an abortion provider that ultimately had the protest turn ugly. It could have been at Dr. Tiller's office (or a similar abortion provider) who was subsequently attacked for providing a legal service to a paying customer (see: free market in action).
Some context:
25 years ago is ~1977. About the same time several Abortion centers were set ablaze in Ohio: http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=us_domestic_terrorism_tmln&haitian_elite_2021_general=haitian_elite_2021_abortion_based_rhetoric_and_actions
My flip side personal theory (again, NO EVIDENCE TO BACK IT UP) -
Akin was never arrested. He lied about it as a means to prove his "bona fides" with the pro-life crowd ("How much does the right to life mean to me? Enough that I got arrested about it picketing an baby-killing clinic, THAT'S how much!"). It's one of those "little white lies" meant to make a particular group of voters feel like Akin is "one of them," and finding out that there is no arrest record to speak of means maybe this issue doesn't mean as much to him as he made it out to be.
In other words, Akin is the rarest breed of cat, a white Christian man who is embarrassed for having NOT been arrested.
More results:
http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost_historical/results.html?st=basic&uid=&MAC=50a23aa1f3f5c6104e90e36051420d61&QryTxt=arrested+abortion+clinic&sortby=RELEVANCE&restrict=articles
Slappy is the winner. This never happened. Akin thinks he can Romney his way through life. My momma taught me to never Romney, because Romneying will catch up to you in the end. It's much easier to tell the truth, when you Romney you have to remember too much. Hey Akin, I got arrested at Kent State, and they made me deal with my Selma warrant for failure to appear. Buckarroo Banzai bailed me out...
Why can't I watch TRMS reruns on the website right now??
When did they arrest Akin, and what for?
The only Kansas City area planned parenthood is in the KC suburb of Overland Park , Ks. There have been many protest there that have been ugly. It's surprising that other Doctors besides Tiller haven't been murdered.
I have to agree with Slappy - he made it up to give himself "bonafides". If it did happen, he probably cried and peed his pants in the patrol car! That information would be in the arrest report!!
Most states allow arrests to be expunged from the records if the case does not end in a conviction of record. There are convictions, usually misdemeanors, that result in court supervision for a period of time. Those arrests may also be expunged. There are even some states that allow some convictions involving felonies that can be expunged after 10 years. Public records may have nothing.
I'm betting, if Akin did get arrested, he has a copy....
Didn't you say that challenger Mondale win the 1st debate?
Romney lied in his 1st debate.
Practice makes perfect. A perfect what you ask...