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Monday, August 20, 2012

What are they thinking?

And then they opened their mouth

It was a pretty exciting weekend for political junkies because the gloves came off and what you see is pretty much what you are going to get. The weekend talk shows didn't cover U.S. Representative Todd Akins’s ill-advised remark but instead focused on Joe Biden's stupid remark. Joe Biden will be the Democratic candidate for vice president, but as we speak, Senator Cornyn is looking for a legal way to replace Todd Akin, even though he had a slight lead over Senator Clair McCaskill for that important Missouri Senate race. The Republicans have already lost the woman's vote, but this might change the mind of some Republican women in this red state. This is the same Republican Congress that wanted to change the definition of rape earlier this year. It's not about one remark; it’s the cumulative of Neanderthal comments and actions coming from Republicans. It reminds me of Clayton Williams’s remark when he was running against Ann Richards, for governor of Texas, when he said, " If it's inevitable, just relax and enjoy it."

"Akin, a six-term congressman running against incumbent Democrat Sen. Claire McCaskill, was asked in an interview broadcast Sunday on St. Louis's television station KTVI if he would support abortions for women who have been raped.
"It seems to me first of all, from what I understand from doctors, that's really rare," Akin said. "If it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down," Akin said of a rape victim's chances of becoming pregnant.

Akin said in an emailed statement later Sunday that he "misspoke" during the interview, though the statement did not specify on which points or comments.

"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," Akin's statement said."

This week with George Stephanopoulos had a very interesting panel of partisans who laid out the Medicare arguments for both sides. Kimberley Strassel, Senator Pat Toomey, and Grover Norquist represented the right and Rep. Chris Van Hollen, Austan Goolsbee, and former inspector general of TARP represented the left. The right thinks a free market solution is best to save Medicare. They think that the voucher system will create a climate of competition, which will lead to lower prices. That's classic supply side but insurance companies will take the younger healthier customers, and the older folks will be will be sent to government Medicare leaving us with the same expensive system but now the burden will be an on recipient's not the government. On the other hand, the Democrats will gradually reduce pay to the providers while bringing in new patients to hopefully make up the difference. The elephant in the room is the repeal of the Affordable Health Care Act. The fundamental solution is to bend the cost curve because the" average, per-capita cost of providing healthcare services in the United States rose by 7.32% for the past 12 months ending in August, a rate of inflation wildly above the 1.1% overall inflation for the same period, according to new study by Standard & Poor's."

Meet the Press had an exciting panel which produced a rising new star in the Democratic Party, Mayor Kasim Reed. The Sunday talk shows are usually about each side trading talking points and with little interruption in between. Ted Cruz started out with praising Paul Ryan saying that he would bring conservative principles to the discussion. Peggy Noonan followed up with more praise for Paul Ryan until the mayor couldn't stand it anymore. Mayor Reed lit into Ted Cruz pointing out that Paul Ryan voted for all of Bush's tax cuts, two wars off the budget, Medicare Part D, which increased the deficit, causing Mr. Cruz to say he didn't agree with all the Paul Ryan's votes. That's just the point, if left unchallenged; people would have gone away thinking that Paul Ryan was a real deficit hawk as the media has portrayed him.

The Democrats of 2012 are now going on offense, a tactic I haven't seen since 1992. They can challenge the GOP when they rightfully go after Joe Biden stupid remark when he said, " “put y’all back in chains” by not defending that remark but reminding them that they are not one to lecture. I think the voter ID laws that will suppress the minority vote will do more harm than Biden's remark. It's going to be important to stay on offense because the “Swift Boaters" and Karl Rowe have just begun the play.

14 comments:

Edith Ann said...

Todd Akin. Knuckle dragging Neanderthal of the worst kind! How he managed to find his way out of that cave is a mystery to me!

Akin will have those believers who hang on his every word nodding at his assinine remark! He will set back any progress made in the area of sexual assault services with just one ignorant remark!

I used to wonder how these folks got elected. I know the answer to that. It is this one lever voter who would rather eat shit than vote out of party. It is just too damn bad that someone, years ago, did not start an extended sociological study of voter IQ in relationship to party. I can guarantee you that there would be a decline in the overall intelligence of republicans. I know they have lost IQ points just from listening to FOX.

And if they have shown us their best, most intelligent examples of brains and leadership, let me throw some names out there--

Palin (any of them), Beck, Limbaugh, Akin, Bush II and the ultimate poster child for bat-shit crazy, Bachmann.

I rest my case.

Mike said...

And Mittt Romney will probably say " I probably wouldn't use those words" and then go on saying Obama is raiding the Medicare fund.

The Republicans know they can't defend those remarks so they are huddling up to do damage control.

You forgot Allen West and Texas representative Louis Gohmert (Juanita's favorite).

Mike said...

What is legitimate rape and why would anyone feel that way?

Mike said...

OK,I have to retrack my statement but about Romney...He didn't lead but he finally said the right thing.
"After releasing a tepid response to Rep. Todd Akin’s (R-MO) “legitimate rape” comments Sunday night, Mitt Romney joined the chorus of Republicans repudiating Akin Monday morning. “Rep. Akin comments on rape are insulting, inexcusable, and, frankly, wrong,” Romney told National Review. “Like millions of other Americans, we found them to be offensive.” Romney said he has “an entirely different view” and called on Akin to “correct” his comments. That’s a much stronger

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/

Edith Ann said...

I have no clue what legitimate rape is and I have been in this field for over 20 years.

Mike said...

I think the president phrased it just right at his press conference a few minutes ago;rape is rape, no matter how you try to slice and dice it.

Akin was was told by Washington GOP leadership that he has until this evening to let his conscience be his guide on dropping out of the race...OK

born2Bme said...

le·git·i·mate
   [adj., n. li-jit-uh-mit; v. li-jit-uh-meyt] Show IPA adjective, verb, le·git·i·mat·ed, le·git·i·mat·ing, noun

adjective
1. according to law; lawful: the property's legitimate owner.

2. in accordance with established rules, principles, or standards.

3. born in wedlock or of legally married parents: legitimate children.

4. in accordance with the laws of reasoning; logically inferable; logical: a legitimate conclusion.

5. resting on or ruling by the principle of hereditary right: a legitimate sovereign.

So what the moron really means is that he has no idea what legitimate really means, nor does he think that rape is a big deal.
He puts new meaning to oxymoron....MORON

Mike said...

And then there are the voters who send men like these to Washington where they legislate women's health issues.

Mike said...

And we didn't get to the family values party skinny dipping in the Sea of Galilee on a the taxpayers dime.

"On Sunday, Politico reported that a group of GOP officials and congressmen, including Quayle, had taken a late-night dip in the religious site's waters while on a junket last summer. Alcohol may have played a part in their decision, and one of the lawmakers, Rep. Kevin Yoder (R-Kan.), swam naked and has since apologized for the "embarrassing situation," as he put it. The episode reportedly drew a round of FBI interviews and an angry reprimand from House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.), but no official charges."
Huffington Post

Mike said...

Who are we kidding? Why is the GOP so upset at Todd Akin especially since he represents today's mainstream republicanism? Vice President candidate Paul Ryan co-sponsored a person-hood bill with Rep. Akin. Republican governors signed a lot of abortion bills this past year and Congress has tried to pass a lot of them also.

This selective outrage is mainly about winning that senate seat in Missouri and yes no one in their right mind could agree with Mr. Akin's reprehensible remark. A couple of Tea Party organizations, the RNC, and Karl Rove have pulled their campaign ads supporting Todd Akin because he's likely to lose but I bet that money went to another like minded individual who will keep his mouth shut.

This issue is not over because the mainstream GOP has allowed the social conservatives to take over their party. The GOP convention is just around the corner and I can't imagine that the social conservatives will be restrained. Paul Ryan is now supporting an exception for rape in his pro-life stance for political expediency.

The moderator of the vice presidential debates should ask Paul Ryan for his definition of “forcible rape” as was suggested last night by Lawrence O'Donnell of MSNBC. I would go even further; I want to know the different classifications of rape because rape is rape to me. I believe the extremist think that if they can eliminate rape as an exception to abortion, they would have a clear field without exceptions.

Mike said...

Draft language for the 2012 Republican Party platform includes support for a constitutional ban on abortion without specifying exclusions in the cases of rape or incest, according to CNN.

Edith Ann said...

Different classifications of rape? As our President correctly stated yesterday, Rape is rape. Period.

As to why everyone is all a flutter over Akin--apparently the republicans DO have a bottom on what they find acceptable, and this was as good as anything. And it was the prefect diversion from Akin's partner in crime, Paul Ryan.

As someone who has worked in this field for over 20 years, I find his statements not only stupid and ignorant, they are lethal to a victim! That is the damage that he is doing! It is reprehensible!

The Texas Association Against Sexual Assault issued a statement regarding Akin's comments. One of the points that is really important to remember is this one:

"As a society, we are deeply rooted in victim-blaming. When we add a word like “forcible” or “legitimate” in front of the word RAPE, we are taking away the accountability from the perpetrator and placing the responsibility of what happened onto the victim. It’s as if we are saying to survivors that what happened to them wasn’t really a “real” rape because you weren’t forced. It is shameful to survivors and it is hurtful to the community."

See, it may not seem that his words (becasue we all know they were stupid and assinine and not true) are that important, but they are. It is all about connotation and context. In that regard, his words are indefensible and there was absolutely no misspoken words. This is his attitude and sadly he is not alone.

Mike said...

Sorry Dale(I've got to mention his name) but I think we would agree on this subject even though you stay away from the VA forum...Chris Cobbler should be ashamed of allowing David Strickland to contaminate the VA forum with his troll posts...I would like to think that I could take a peek now and then to see what my friends and neighbors are posting but it's becoming if not already TRASH!

dale said...

Exception granted. LOL! I really am missing very little at the Vicad.