Oh, Republicans! Volume #5,360,285

Move over, already way too overcrowded group of Republican politicians that have said horrible things in the last year, there’s a new Republican saying horrible things about rape and he’s here to defend your honor!



Georgia Rep. (they’re not always southern but they’re usually sothern) Phil Gingrey stepped up to the plate to defend Todd Akin’s awful “Legitimate Rape” comments.



In case you missed it, Todd Akin was running for Senate this summer and he said this on a news show –



“From what I understand from doctors, that’s really rare. If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down. But let’s assume that maybe that didn’t work or something. I think there should be some punishment. But the punishment ought to be of the rapist, and not attacking the child.”



Now granted, this was in Missouri so he may have actually heard that from doctors but it was wrong.



Akin lost the election just like a half dozen other Republicans who said awful things about rape over the summer. It was actually pretty disturbing to see so many people in or trying to get into political office have such backwards views but it all mercifully died down once the election was over. OR DID IT?



Rep Gingrey felt poor Akin needed to be defended so he up and told the Marietta Journal that Todd Akin wasn’t completely off with his statement. Here’s the full quote.



“In Missouri, Todd Akin … was asked by a local news source about rape and he said, “Look, in a legitimate rape situation” — what he meant by legitimate rape was just look, someone can say I was raped: a scared-to-death 15-year-old that becomes impregnated by her boyfriend and then has to tell her parents, that’s pretty tough and might on some occasion say, “Hey, I was raped.” That’s what he meant when he said legitimate rape versus non-legitimate rape. I don’t find anything so horrible about that. But then he went on and said that in a situation of rape, of a legitimate rape, a woman’s body has a way of shutting down so the pregnancy would not occur. He’s partly right on that. …
And I’ve delivered lots of babies, and I know about these things. It is true. We tell infertile couples all the time that are having trouble conceiving because of the woman not ovulating, “Just relax. Drink a glass of wine. And don’t be so tense and uptight because all that adrenaline can cause you not to ovulate.” So he was partially right wasn’t he? But the fact that a woman may have already ovulated 12 hours before she is raped, you’re not going to prevent a pregnancy there by a woman’s body shutting anything down because the horse has already left the barn, so to speak. And yet the media took that and tore it apart.




Gingrey’s comment may have a little medical know-how than Akin’s but has the same fundamental flaw. These two are basically stating that the problem isn’t rape, it’s girls “crying rape” or using rape as an excuse.



See, the only real bulletproof defense in the abortion debate the pro choice side has is the whole “in instances of rape an incest” so Republicans have taken to trying to poke holes in that by trying to introduce the idea that rape doesn’t happen as much as you’d think it would when the exact opposite is true.



Frankly, I love these guys. I can’t tell you how glad I am that people like Phil Gingrey are out there speaking out for what they believe. With people like him, the republicans can purge every woman voter from the party by 2016.

Move Over, Bachmann! There’s a New Nutjob Republican Congressman in Town!

His name is Todd Akin!



“Howdy, y’all! Wimmin’re things!”





You probably know Rep. Todd Akin as the man who is running for Senate in Missouri and said that horribly untrue thing about women not being able to get pregnant when raped but did you know he says awful, misinformed things about women all the time?



It’s true! Why, just the other day he was spouting off on why womenfolk shouldn’t receive equal pay –



[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMG9Aqd8tx0&w=560&h=315]



Or you can check out this little ditty where he claims abortion providers commonly give abortions to women who aren’t pregnant and kill women through misuse of anesthetics



Don’t worry, though, dudes! If you’re feeling left out because Rep. Akin is focusing all of his ignorant hate on women he also says some stupid shit that can be directed at men, too!



“I think that the thing you have to do is, people have to start being held accountable for their decisions. If somebody’s not buying insurance, then they’re going to have to be selling their car, or whatever it is to try to help cover that.” — at a primary debate, in response to a moderator’s question about what an uninsured 28-year-old who gets cancer should do, January 2012 (source: politico.com



If you weren’t convinced of his dismissive, 1950’s attitude towards women, he stated that after his first debate with Senator McCaskill that she wasn’t as ladylike as her first campaign in 2006.



Now you’d think this race would be a slam dunk for McCaskill and it was until recently. See, after that whole “legitimate rape” thing (which by the way some people still swear is true), most republicans abandoned him and some, including Mitt Romney, suggested he withdraw his campaign. Todd Akin just didn’t realize that no means no and kept on campaigning despite his fellow republicans begging him to stop. Now that the date has passed for him to take his name off the ballot the Republicans are going to see his campaign all the way through even though he really forced himself onto the ballot and created this unwanted candidacy. I’m sure the Republican party would love to replace him somehow before his candidacy reached full term but they’re stuck with him and they need the senate seat so they’re throwing their support and money behind him.



The worst part of this all is that he’s only slightly behind in the polls! the RCP poll average (which, granted, can be a little right leaning) has him behind 1. Fucking. Percent. An internal poll done by the Claire McCaskill campaign has her up by 9% but that gap should be even wider, given the things Akin’s said.



I can’t even believe Akin stands a chance. Get your shit together, Missouri. Don’t prove grandpa Simpson right.



[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EM3NSTbi4OQ&w=420&h=315]


Legitimate Rape Jokes

Here’s some news for you people who don’t have the internet, television or a conversation with anybody about politics in the last week. Republicans are really trying to soften the definition of rape.



It’s actually kind of creepy. First this Senate candidate in Missourah Todd Akin made his now incredibly famous remarks about a woman’s body shutting down in the case of a “legitimate rape”. Now VP candidate Paul Ryan calls rape “just another method of conception”. Earlier this year republicans were accused of waging a “war on women” but now they just narrowed their target down to rape victims, I guess.

legitimate asshole


With this unsettling contest of “which republic candidate can say the most horrific thing about rape” going on I can’t help but wonder on how Daniel Tosh feels about all this.


Think about it, two months ago Daniel Tosh made a rape joke onstage at the Laugh Factory and made fun of a heckler. Somebody blogged about it (inaccurately according laughspin, it went viral and Tosh became public enemy number 1. He still had some supporters, mostly stand up comics but the damage is done. He didn’t gain any new fans with this. Todd Akin said something way worse and he’s raised $100,000 in donations since the remarks. Paul Ryan said something way worse and it seems nobody but a couple people over at the Huffington Post even noticed.



What really makes what Akin and Ryan said worse is the fact that they have (or potentially will have) power to legislate laws concerning rape. Sure, Daniel Tosh shouldn’t have said what he did but at the end of the day he’s just a comedian. He may have used rape as subject matter for a joke but when you boil it down that’s all it was. A joke. So many people in the media vilified him but it’s not like he has any say in the laws concerning what governs rape, women’s reproductive health or general women’s rights. Akin and Ryan do and they’re getting treated with kid gloves compared to how Tosh got beat up by the media. If I was Daniel Tosh that would really get to me.



I guess the lesson here is that it’s not okay to say awful, dismissive things about rape unless you’re a republican politician. It’s Daniel’s fault he said that stuff in a comedy club. He should have said it on a morning news show or town hall meeting.