Monday, August 27, 2012

Congressman Todd Akin Is Still in a State of Denial


Congressman Todd Akin listened to God in deciding to run for the Senate. He listened to Governor Mike Huckabee in deciding to stay in the race.

He apologized and seeks forgiveness for the misuse of one word. God, Jesus and Christians forgive. Voters may not. Senator Claire McCaskill is praying daily for Congressman Akin to remain in the race.

He’s appealing to his base for funds to stay in the race, $3 each. About $200,000 has come in so far.

Todd Akin is, in his mind and the extreme Pro-Life Movement, a soldier in the anti-abortion crusade.

No, he’s not.

He’s a true believer, a zealot, and a fool. If he loses he will call himself a martyr for abortion opponents.

He’s deceiving himself and his supporters. In a radio interview with Governor Huckabee, he called himself “Braveheart.”

As a true soldier he would drop out, recognizing that he is hurting his cause both in Missouri and nationally.

If the race were a contest between Pro-Life and Pro-Choice, he would win because the incumbent Senator Claire McCaskill has a ton of baggage.

If the race were between the rights of the unborn versus those of the woman, he could win because Senator Claire McCaskill is an embarrassment to Missouri.

He could perhaps be forgiven for using “legitimate” rape versus “forcible” rape, but that’s not the problem.

It’s his incredibly stupid, medically naïve statement about raped woman’s bodies being incapable of impregnation that’s the problem: “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.”

He doesn’t get it; they don’t get it. He did not apologize or even acknowledge this inane thought.

He just doesn’t get it because he is still in a state of denial.

His statement is an embarrassment to Missouri and Republicans nationally.

He went from up 5 to down 10.

He can come back if he muzzles himself. There’s enough time; his gaffe was early in the campaign.

If, If, If.

If only he can zipper his lips between now and November 6. Maybe he will exercise self-discipline, or he will become known as the Republican equivalent of Vice President Biden. The media will scrutinize his every statement.

He can win because the Democrats could overplay their hand.

The Congressman though has a track record at the extreme right of the Republican Party. The Democrats will bombard the airways with his past statements about social security and student loans. The Republican Party dares not reinvest in his campaign because it will lend life to the Democrats’ canard that Governor Romney and the Republicans are waging a war against women.

He will lack the funds to counter the onslaught.

The Republican Party survived a faux Republican two decades ago. David Duke, a former Grand Wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, switched from Democrat to Republican to win a special election to the Louisiana House of representatives in 1988. He then unsuccessfully ran for the U.S. Senate in 1990.

The Republican Party disavowed David Duke. His future campaigns were also a failure.

Republicans survived because the American people recognized David Duke was an extremist who did not represent the mainstream of the Party.

 The challenge for Republicans over the next two months is to distance themselves from Congressman Akin, who may still win in Missouri.

Both Congressman Akin and Senator McCaskill are an embarrassment to Missouri. One of them is destined to win.

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