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Subscribe to RSSMissouri Senate candidate Todd Akin, who launched a firestorm of controversy after his use of the phrase "legitimate rape" and then ignited further criticism with his comments Tuesday, has said he's going to stay in the race. NBC's Andrea Mitchell reports.
Updated 6:12 p.m. - Rep. Todd Akin (R) did not step aside as the Republican Senate nominee in Missouri, allowing a key preliminary deadline to end his candidacy to come and go.
Akin, who's faced growing clamor from fellow Republicans to end his candidacy amid an uproar over his weekend comments about rape, said he believes it is important for him to press forward with his campaign against incumbent Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill.
"I want to make one thing absolutely clear: we are going to continue with this race," Akin said on the radio show of Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor and Senate candidate.
Congressman Todd Akin may not drop his Senate bid today, but NBC's Domenico Montanaro reports his real deadline is likely Sept. 25, the date that he would be locked into the ballot. Today is the last day he can drop out of the Missouri Senate race without having to pay ballot costs.
"I've had a chance now to run through a primary. And the party people said that when you run through a primary, we'll be with you."
Akin had until 5 p.m. CST today to resign his Senate nomination without facing any procedural difficulties. He could still withdraw by Sept. 25, though he would have to petition a court to remove his name from the ballot, and have to pay costs associated with reprinting the ballots.
National Republicans have undertaken efforts to force the six-term congressman from the race. The National Republican Senatorial Committee has canceled its advertising reservations, and a pro-Republican super PAC has said it no longer plans to invest in the campaign, either. Top Republican senators have also canceled a planned fundraiser for Akin on Sept. 19.
Akin said he'd seen an influx of small-dollar donations since the initial uproar emerged on Sunday, and he said he'd received supportive calls from other colleagues in Congress, though he did not say who.
More significantly, national Republicans have begun openly agitating for Akin's ouster. Missouri's past five Republican senators released a joint statement today saying "the right decision is to step aside."
Orlin Wagner / AP
Rep. Todd Akin, R-Mo., talks with reporters while attending the Governor's Ham Breakfast at the Missouri State Fair in Sedalia, Mo.
Akin's controversy stems from comments he made last weekend on "The Jaco Report" on KTVI FOX 2 News, on which he said "legitimate rape" rarely results in pregnancy in victims. Akin has since apologized, and said he was mistaken to assert that rape culdn't result in pregnancy. He released a television ad to that effect this morning.
Republicans had high hopes of beating McCaskill before Akin made his comments over the weekend. But the congressman's persistence in the race could jeopardize the GOP's chances in this key race, which provides one of their best opportunities to achieve the net gain of four seats Republicans need this fall to take control of the Senate in the next Congress.
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DATE RAPE
And we all thought we were the GREATEST COUNTRY ON EARTH. Not!..... this is what happens when you spend entirely too much time with your head stuck up your A**! .....It's all down hill from here people. I suggest you strap yourself in and enjoy the ride.
Now he will keep the money Karl Rove gave him earlier. These so call politicians can keep the money donated in case they want to run again. Romney will have a bundle of money left over after he loses. Every lobbyist crook are flowing money to him. Guess Romney will use the money running for President 2016-2020-2024-2028-2032-2036-2040-2044.
Perhaps Tagg will use it in 2020...
CHILD RAPE
This guy (Atkins) spiels the same religious crap that conservative christian Republican Sen. L. Craig (ex. senator from Idaho) who got busted for propositioning a male cop (for sex) in a public restroom. Senator Craig constantly gave speeches about the evils of sexual immorality. These two religious sex freaks must have been indoctrinated by the same preacher.
When are Americans going to see these perverts for what they really are, control freaks. Real men don't talk about female bodies in this way. They should be ashamed of themselves. Alot of these young freshman have a big problem also, desecreting The Sea of Galilee, their egos are so big that they think they have control over womens' issues. They sound like a lot of sexually frustrated men who never made it to first base with a woman, so they're taking it out on the entire population of women. And now you see these, excuses for men, using their own Mothers on their campaigns. Of course their Mothers are going to side with them, they're getting really nice birthday presents now and Christmas gifts, since their sons have made it in the big time. The Tea Party has made a mockery of our whole Country not to mention a laughing stock to other Countries who are struggling for human rights, while they're getting drunk, no wonder they have no respect for these boys. They act like adolescents. They all need to be ousted, Ben Quayle even had his own porn site. They became Congressman and now are just sitting back collecting a paycheck, and now one of them is running for VP. They have lost touch with anything moral. They no longer know what the word conservative means. They are taking the Republicans of old on a scarry ride straight to hell.
Why should he step down. He co sponsored a bill with Mr. Ryan, he has stuck by this hard core anti aborition stand, he stood by Bush jr. This guy has paided his dues. All because he got his twisted beliefs tha the GOP has been pushing out on center stage. They want to drop him? Are they going to drop Mr. Ryan too?
They should drop Ryan and Wrongme too.
i think its funny that the thought police have found him guilty for his stupid comments,yet msnbc says nothing about dem. house member has sex with a 17 yearold . am i missing something here?
Sounds like it Bob. Atkin/Ryan policy effects all women. Where is this story about the Democrat having sex with a 17 year old?
Nice try.
Here is the reality:
If you are a woman/girl over the age of 13 and you are the victim of rape or incest, under GOP leadership, you will be forced to carry the fruit of that assault to term or you will be imprisoned for it's murder.
It is just that simple.
Why should Akin quit his senate race? He only stated what the Republican base believes. The party bosses know that the base will vote for them no matter what kind of insanity spews out of the mouth of candidates, it's the independent voters and particularly women that will be turned off by comments like " legitimate Rape". The party bosses don't give a rats butt about these comments except that they could cost them the control of the senate. It's all a load of Republican hypocrisy and anyone who's buying into the apologies should take a closer look.
OK, let’s get graphic for men like Todd Akin, Paul Ryan, et. al. who believe rape is only “legitimate” if it is “forcible." I challenge them to explain to me any situation in which a man is violated anally by a penis, without his consent, and it is not rape.
The reason these Neanderthals believe as they do is because rape is a crime committed overwhelmingly against women. I’d like them to answer this challenge and put themselves in a woman’s shoes to see if they finally “get it.” Akin has no business serving on the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology since he clearly isn’t capable of understanding basic biology, let alone “science.”
When you are running for public office you can't afford to be "misinformed". Akin said this stuff with Great Conviction. He believes it. And he will vote accordingly to his beliefs. You just can't make statements like that and not have a bunch of people come down on you.
Repubs gave Biden so much crap and he didn't say anything as outrageous as this.
It has been said that a majority of women support Obama and in fact support Liberal causes in general but consider this. Young women who vote liberal also are the women who watch the Kardashians more than News, who follow Snookies adventures on the Jersey Shore more than Hillary Clinton's adventures in Foreign affairs. They are more likely to know what Paris Hilton is doing this week than what Obama is doing.
And this is the problem with suggesting that young women supporting Liberalism know best. The reality is that anyone who is supported by a young person (male or female) only has the support of the most intellectually transient, fluid and malleable segment of the population. A segment that is more prone to follow trends, jump on the latest bandwagon and be influenced by external forces. This is not an insult against young people, just a fact of life and every young person, male or female on this forum will no doubt disagree with me, probably say a lot of very nasty things, maybe even glory in tehir own presumed wisdom and then in a few years they will change their minds. Young people are always liberal but with age comes wisdom and a greater leaning towards conservatism in most matters. Why? Because young people have very little that they have really worked for and thus very little they have to protect. They have yet to raise a family, to worry about their children's future, they have yet to attend PTA meetings or watch tehir company go under, deal with layoffs and the uncertainty that comes with it. Young people today, and indeed since about the middle of the 20th century have lived in a bubble of presumed security that fosters an idea that idealism and practicality are the same thing.
Most women who are a little older are not so easily moved by rhetoric, they are more concerned with the economy and being able to pay for their families. Abortion is more of an abstract issue to these women, important but not as important as to sway their votes. This is why in 2010 Republicans swept the House and gained in the Senate. This is why women led Republicans to victory across American in Governor races, why Romney, as unpopular as he is today is still running neck and neck with Obama and why the Tea Party has a greater influence in politics today that almost any single liberal group. Why Wisconsin was so easily held by Republicans despite all the uproar that liberals managed to create over union issues.
As for Aiken, well what he said was pretty stupid but if you remove the word legitimate then what he said is not all that unsupported by a lot of evidence and by a lot of women across America. And if you have heard Aiken speak before then you would know that when he says legitimate he means as opposed to false reports of rape (which are actually very common), or date rape, which is not quite the same as molestation or more aggressive assault rape. Not less bad but very different in both the nature of the attack and the drive of the attacker. Again, a very poor choice of words but not different from what he has said before. This is why after the worst of the firestorm, after the GOP pulled funds from his campaign, after a week of the media running with it, after being branded everything from a criminal to a retarded idiot he is still 1 point ahead of McCaskill in the race and still has a good chance of defeating a liberal incumbent.
Why say all this? Because liberals really need to take a close look at themselves and because Republicans need to learn that in a media driven world words do matter, and words can easily be turned against you. Obama is a success because he gets this. He lies, he cheats, he accuses, he attacks but he always chooses his words very carefully and thus gets a pass on even his most vitriolic attacks. And because it is absurd to suggest that women are bad people if they vote for Republicans. It is absurd and very dangerous because what that does is to force women into a role that others create for them. And this is what Liberals have always tried to do. Blacks are not really black if they don't vote Democrat and women are not really women if they don't vote democrat and young people are fools if they vote for anyone other than a Democrat. This is why pure Liberalism is not sustainable. It requires absolute loyalty to an ideology even when that ideology fails to work. A conservative can take a liberal position on some issues and not fail to be a loyal conservative but no liberal is allowed to bend the party line. And the best part of that for all the work that Liberals have done over the last few years the thing that has the most lasting impact will be the creation of the Tea party as a counterpoint. If the Tea Party is a monster then Liberals are the good doctor Frankenstein who through their arrogance made the monster.
Don't blame that teabagger mess on us. Blame it on people like yourself that have zero critical thinking skills.
In Texas, the Republicans actually tried to put opposition to critical thinking skills in their platform. I am not making this up!
Candlewycke
Great post with a very good insight into liberalism that not everyone has the nads to say. Too bad it's so far back in the forum that you won't get many comments. Most liberals will just call you names and say your stupid, just like you posted of their mentality, if they come across this as Starderup did above.
In todays standards of media, they will blow this way out of proportion because for the liberals to keep their power they need to entertain the ignorant into believing what they say so they vote on emotion rather than intelligence.
When they wake up one day and see the government they voted for controls every aspect of their life it's gonna be too late to fix and the only blame for them to lay then will be upon themselves.
I agree that when he said "legitimate" he meant that it was really a rape and not someone who had sex and then regretted it the next day and decided it was a rape. But what was all that nonsense about shutting the process down? Really? He's a jerk and should get out of the race. And stop talking.
Yay!!!!! Drag all the rest of them down with you, moron!
Should be an even trade......the DNC has Elizabeth Warren telling lies and upsetting small business owners and the GOP has this Aikin guy who put both feet in his mouth and upset the left. Neither should or will be elected.
Now......back to what matters........Obama versus RFomney.
Mr Akin made the decision right for HIM, but bad for the GOP. He is in the election, so let the voters decide - HIS position. His comments show he is an idiot and shouldn't be up for election as a dog catcher, and he is really going to make us all look bad by association - The GOP position. And the GOP is correct. They don't want this idiot as a poster boy for the party. Unfortunately, this is what you often get when you go "with the most conservative candidate". For example, Sarah Palin, Michelle Bachman, and the Tea Party in general. They might appeal to the extreme right wing, but will never appeal to the middle ground independent voters the GOP needs to prevent irtself from becoming a permanent minority party. Unfortunately, those on the ascendency in the GOP seem to equate "compromise" with "treason". The GOP simply prevents anyone who is a moderate, and could connect to independent voters, from rising in the ranks. How did Romney become the presidential nominee? By talking out of both sides of his mouth, and by default because the other candidates were too far outside the mainstream. They have no one of recognized stature to look to.
to hell with his race , fire the bastard
Now we will probably be treated to the spectacle of the Koch brothers buying him out of the race before September 25.
Good. Let him stay in the race. And here's hoping he gets his a$$ handed to him come election time in the form of a landslide victory for McCaskill! This guy is pure scum...just like the party he represents has allowed itself to become. And their not even ashamed of it! They only pretend to be offended by his remarks, when we all know what he said represents a big part of the Grand Obstructionist Party platform. Obama/Biden 2012!
and some voters will vote against their own interests again to try to elect a guy who believes in 18th century medical ideas. this is an actual US senator, what other crazy ideas does he harbor or other senators for that matter? the people, are the victims of legimate rape when someone like this is elected.
Sadly, let's look at the facts. The GOPs and Christians have redefined abortion as murder in order to make women feel guilty. They have redefined fetuses as people giving them rights.....but really it's not the fetus' right as it is these, mostly white men, taking rights and freedom away from women and trying to dominate and control them. So with these new definitions and mixing religion, they are conquering the South. They are watching FOX news as 50% of the TVs in the South are glued to that channel. You have people like Hank Williams Jr. spreading lies and hate for our President. I am not confident that the GOPs will not try to make this country with their millions of dollars a nation with only one politicial party, one nationally recognized religion controlled by gun owners. Our social media is the only chance this country has if we are to keep democracy.
Official RNC theme song for 2012
Courtesy The late great Don Rich & The Buckaroos
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SA2N7XbaG4I
New Campaign Ad
Some Democrats, probably made the latest donations to his campaign ...to make sure he stays in the race...!!!