Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder Word fail. I mean they do, don't they? They should, anyway. Who would have ever thought you'd see the phrase "Legitimate rape", I mean, do those words or should those words ever go together, to say nothing of how this guy use dit in a sentence. <a href="http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/08/19/missouri-republican-claims-legitimate-rape-rarely-results-in-pregnancy/?hpt=hp_t1" target="_blank">http://politicalticker.blogs.c...pt=hp_t1</a> "U.S. Rep. Todd Akin, who won Missouri's GOP Senate primary earlier this month and will face incumbent Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill in November's general election, said Sunday that he misspoke when he claimed "legitimate rape" rarely resulted in pregnancy. Answering a question about whether or not he thought abortion should be legal in the case of rape, Akin explained his opposition by citing unnamed bodily responses he said prevented pregnancy." And then it just gets worse.
Originally Posted By DyGDisney What does he mean when he says the female body has "ways of shutting that whole thing down." It sounds like he thinks women can make their bodies prevent unwanted pregnancy.
Originally Posted By jasmine7 That's exactly what he's implying, DyG. I'm so sick of this guy, and I'm infuriated at my fellow Missourians who are buying into his claptrap. There was informal Facebook poll by KY3TV here in Springfield last week. They asked people to list the name of who they would vote for, McCaskill or Akin, if the election were held now, and I saw far more "Akins" than "McCaskills." A bunch of them like him for his "values" (shudder), but quite a few of the people kept staying, "because he's not McCaskill." I don't even know how to deal with that sort of idiocy.
Originally Posted By SuperDry Now, Akin is claiming that he "misspooke" during that interview, but as of yet has not been more specific. I tend to think that what he said accurately reflects what he believes, and that he misspoke by not keeping is mouth shot.
Originally Posted By ecdc >>I tend to think that what he said accurately reflects what he believes, and that he misspoke by not keeping is mouth shot.<< Bingo. When we have Congressmen accusing the Muslim Brotherhood of infiltrating government, or holding up the Bible in Congressional hearings as evidence that global warming is bogus, or pandering to birthers, what do we expect from conservatives anymore? They love to point out the flaws on the left, but these are the elected officials or the people actually running for office. Barney Frank is right: Our side isn't perfect but their side is nuts.
Originally Posted By Lisann22 If this doesn't at least get women running to the ballot box I don't know what will. I feel like I'm living in a Running Man - Hunger Games world right about now. This just can't be real.
Originally Posted By TomSawyer How can we hope to solve the very real problems facing this country - and the world - when the GOP keeps putting idiots like this out there?
Originally Posted By RoadTrip The guy is a true piece of work, but he is EXACTLY who McCaskill wanted to face. I live in Missouri, and MANY Democrats voted in the Primary using Republican ballots to try to give a win to the guy who they felt was so extreme that he would be an easier candidate to beat than less-loony Republican challengers. Looks like the plan may be working.
Originally Posted By TomSawyer We call that the McCaskill Gambit in Washington when a lot of Democrats voted for a GOP candidate in our gubernatorial primary that had no chance of winning. It's one of the key reasons that we have a closed primary in this state.
Originally Posted By TomSawyer Oh, and this isn't the only Republican who has made a statement like this. I would hope that when a woman goes into a physician, with a rape issue, that that physician will indeed ask her about perhaps her marriage, was this pregnancy caused by normal relations in a marriage, or was it truly caused by a rape. - Senator Chuck Winder, R- Idaho, 2012 Most women either are not fertile during assault or do not become pregnant because the trauma prompts a hormonal response that prevents ovulation. - Dr. Richard Dobbins, 20-year GOP contributor, 2006 Concern for rape victims is a red herring because conceptions from rape occur with approximately the same frequency as snowfall in Miami. - Judge James Leon Holmes, Bush appointee The facts show that people who are raped — who are truly raped — the juices don't flow, the body functions don't work and they don't get pregnant. Medical authorities agree that this is a rarity, if ever . . . to get pregnant, it takes a little cooperation. And there ain't much cooperation in a rape. - Rep. Henry Aldridge, R- North Carolina, 1995 The odds that a woman who is raped will get pregnant are one in millions and millions and millions [...] The traumatic experience of rape causes a woman to secrete a certain secretion that tends to kill sperm. - Delaware state Rep. Stephen Freind, R-Delaware County, 1988 <a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/yhcg7/republican_senate_nominee_victims_of_legitimate/c5vovwd" target="_blank">http://www.reddit.com/r/politi.../c5vovwd</a>
Originally Posted By Dabob2 Yep. This guy is far from the first Republican to make this sort of assertion--completely unrelated to actual physiological facts, of course. It's kind of like those folks who insist that being gay is a choice, because without that underpinning, their whole philosophy goes out the window. So a woman can't get pregnant from a "true" rape; therefore we don't need to make a rape exception in our anti-abortion policy. It's as rare as snow in Miami, after all. So no abortion ever, period. I'm just glad this time it's getting more media attention, but it's far from the first time one of these jokers blithely put out something like this completely unrelated to reality so that his extremist political philosophy could remain in tact.
Originally Posted By TomSawyer Over and over again these people ignore whatever science is out there in favor of their own ideology. They reject the scientific method because it conflicts with what they want to believe. They have the intellectual maturity of a three-year-old.
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan >>The facts show that people who are raped — who are truly raped — the juices don't flow, the body functions don't work and they don't get pregnant. Medical authorities agree that this is a rarity, if ever . . . to get pregnant, it takes a little cooperation. And there ain't much cooperation in a rape. - Rep. Henry Aldridge, R- North Carolina, 1995<< This is the theory that sperm are essentially little vampires. They must be invited in by the egg. Y'ever notice that it's always men who have all these wonderful theories about reproduction?
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan >>They have the intellectual maturity of a three-year-old.<< That is very, very insulting to 3-year-olds.
Originally Posted By ecdc You know you've gone too far if even Mitt Romney actually takes a stand on something. I really hope this leads to a larger discussion beyond the rape issue, even though abortion is an important topic. There is this strain of ignorance (and that is the most polite word I can think of on a family website) that pulsates through the Republican party. Not all Republicans are like this, perhaps not even a majority, at least of the elected officials. But there are quite literally millions of Americans that identify as conservative and/or Republican, that have archaic views about women, minorities, and just...well...life. I won't repeat all the stories we've had the displeasure of hearing over the last decade or so, but we know what I'm referring to, since this latest incident is a perfect example. A lot of this is driven by religious beliefs. Why are these people able to have an influence through elections? Why as a culture have we not marginalized them, pushed them to the periphery the way we have the KKK? Because that's where these people belong.
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan These are people who often use air quotes around the word science, as if science is just some wacky belief system. And that cuts to the core of what's going on in this country -- too many people go along absolutely ignorant about basic science. Understanding the basics of human biology would be a good start, but some people get all freaked out about allowing teachers to discuss the topic in school, so you wind up with ignorant statements foisted as fact by the likes of Rep. Akin. I start to think that the ignorant ones are going to eventually win out, because I find it absolutely exhausting after awhile. It makes me want to just throw up my hands (or simply throw up). What they lack in basic scientific understanding they more than make up for in zealousness and energy.
Originally Posted By TomSawyer It's even worse - Akin is a member of the House Committee on Space, Science and Technology. <a href="http://science.house.gov/about/membership" target="_blank">http://science.house.gov/about...mbership</a>
Originally Posted By ecdc >>Understanding the basics of human biology would be a good start<< Exactly. To use another example, take abstinence-only education. This comes from a completely wrong-headed understanding of human history and biology. We evolved to develop, have sex drives, and reproduce in our early teens because for most of human history, the average person was dead by 40. Teenagers having sex isn't Satan or any other such ridiculously stupid nonsense. It's human nature. But that would require a basic acceptance of evolution. If you believe the Earth is 6,000 years old or that sex makes baby Jesus cry, how on earth can you make an informed decision? You can't, so really, these people just need to go away.
Originally Posted By gurgitoy2 I don't understand where this idea that women can somehow stop an unwanted pregnancy...where do they get this? Also, why are conservative women ok with this kind of talk? I would think they would be upset that men are telling them what their bodies do, and that they should have no say in the matter...yet they vote along party lines too...it's baffling.
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan >>I don't understand where this idea that women can somehow stop an unwanted pregnancy...where do they get this?<< Not from science, that's for sure. Maybe we need to simplify it to egg + sperm = baby for this guy, because he thinks women must have some sort of mystical powers. He must be a real barrel of laughs on the space, science and technology committee. I'm happy to see that most Republican politicians are distancing themselves from this stupid statement, but as seen earlier in the thread, it's not the first time someone's said something this dumb.
