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A Tale of Two Parties: Akin vs. Biden

By: tooncesthecat (Diary)  |  August 21st, 2012 at 10:46 AM  | 

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Todd Akin says something really stupid and the Republican nominee, party chair, and hierarchy immediately call for him to withdraw from the campaign for Senate.

Joe Biden says something incendiary and the Democratic president, party chair, and party hierarchy immediately accuse voters of  being so stupid that they didn’t hear what he actually said.

Todd Akin looks the camera in the eye and apologizes for his mistake.

Joe Biden gets locked up in the attic again for a few days until this all blows over.

The media–left, center, and right–piles on Todd Akin, further distorting his words and his intent.

The media–left and center, at least–gives “crazy” Joe Biden another free pass.

Todd Akin has deeply held beliefs on religious issues, including abortion and gay marriage.

Joe Biden gives virtually no money to charity or church, and flip-flops on religious issues to pander to the extreme elements in the Democratic party.

Todd Akin will not be a member of the U. S. Senate.

Joe Biden was a member of the U. S. Senate for 36 years and now he is a heart-beat away from being President of the United States.

God help us.

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COMMENTS

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  • romansdaughter

    Akin made a mistake but he apologized and yeah it was pretty lame of him but we need the Senate and McCaskill voted for Obamacare..need I say more? We got to Unite now and take back our country and it won’t be by eating our own. Thanks for the post!

    • http://www.tooncesthecat.wordpress.com tooncesthecat

      Akin is a 6 term congressman from Missouri’s 2nd District. He has a 100% rating from the American Conservative Union, the Family Research Council and the Center for Security Policy. I watch with amazement at the level of attacks against Congressman Akin, particularly here at RedState. I am not defending what he said (and neither does he). He said something stupid. That doesn’t make him a stupid person or a bad person. I would reserve both of those characterizations for Joe Biden. I agree that he should withdraw from the Senate race, but if he refuses, Republicans and conservatives have no choice but to rally behind him in the end. He would still have a reasonable opportunity to defeat Claire McCaskill.

      • sarg01

        By running a write-in candidate, which is frankly what we should do. Akin would hopefully get the message and drop out, allowing the Republican Party to put the write-in candidate on their ballot line.

        I commented to someone the other day that Akin wouldn’t be able to beat a convicted felon at this point, so long as the felony in question was non-violent. Ironically, I just found out the Libertarian candidate is, in fact, a convicted non-violent felon.

        • http://www.tooncesthecat.wordpress.com tooncesthecat

          than what Akin said. And I realize that Sarah Palin has floated that idea. Do you really want to guarantee that Claire McCaskill is re-elected? Running a write-in candidate will do that.

          And have you noticed that when Democrats are asked about Joe Biden’s gaffes, they immediately ignore the question and go to their talking points of the day. Could at least one Republican pay attention and maybe learn something? Just because the media asks about Todd Akin, doesn’t mean we have to keep answering the same questions over and over and over again.

          • commonsenseobserver

            That a write in would have a better chance of winning.
            Ugh, phones.

      • volunteerstate

        it got deleted before it posted. Thanks. Everyone….Redstaters, midstaters,Nostaters,Rinos, want to eviscerarte this pro-life, church going,tea party, …..very decent man. It is sad. Maybe, we actually need more Rinos ?? That seems to be the goal of some….YUK.

        Destroy our elected candidate ???. Everybody mispeaks. Deal with it.

    • dbecraft

      I’d say that he will fight on and win…while most Republican (mostly DC but seems like most all squeamish non-Conservatives) will grit their teeth and worry! This is as the MSM wishes it to be and you folks will provide the action.

      The most likely outcome is that Republicans will have ground down their teeth to the limits, and the MSM will grind on…geez!

  • http://llphsecondrevolution.wordpress.com/ spoasteph97

    I agree that what Mr. Akin is going through is unfair…but it is what it is.

    Mr. Akin should withdraw for the good of the party. It may not be fair, but the people will not ignore the attacks. I don’t think he can win.

  • renny

    but he didn’t and maybe the writein is a viable choice, if the Dem. Sen. was polling so poorly in the primaries that anyone could beat her.

    But we should stop having so many diaries on the issue and keep feeding the scandal maw so beloved of the left for us, but not for them.

  • http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/04/holders_revenge.html John T. Bennett

    This is an absolute disaster. The man is now behind by 10% to McCaskill. He has ruined his own chances, and he’s going to bring discredit on conservatives around the country.

    The man is a laughing stock and a disgrace. The only question is how hard conservatives will push to get his toxins out of our system.
    This is a Rasmussen poll, which is a legit polling company.

    http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/elections/election_2012/election_2012_senate_elections/missouri/election_2012_missouri_senate

    Akin wasn’t caught in a tough question. He was just having a regular interview. He held forth and said some admittedly incorrect things about abortion. The trouble is that he minimized rape and implied that women who get raped don’t actually get pregnant. That was his logic. This is more than a gaffe. This is a toxic, nuclear gaffe. There is no recovering from this. Akin is hurting the GOP brand.

    Double standards and media hypocrisy aren’t fair. Life’s not fair. Politics is really unfair. If you say something as revolting as what Akin said, you don’t get to cry “foul.” Look at the polls! He’s a travesty, and he has to go now.

    • davenj1

      If it continues over time, then by all means get concerned. Polls released immediately after a gaffe are rife with pitfalls. First, some of the polling may have been conducted BEFORE the actual gaffe. Second, if conducted after the gaffe, people are answering based on emotion and the “take of the day,” not looking at it rationally. Will Akin recover? Most likely NOT and he should have withdrawn to fight his battle another day or even run for the House again in two years. Brunner or Steelman would have been acceptable, winnable options. But I don’t think people should get bent out of shape over a single poll. I don’t proclaim Iowa or Ohio Romney country because a single poll may have them ahead. Nor do I count out Obama in Florida or Virginia because Romney may lead in a particular poll.

      • http://www.tooncesthecat.wordpress.com tooncesthecat

        Akin only has to Sept 25 to withdraw. On the other hand, Biden will be renominated for VP in 2 weeks, and no one will ask him to withdraw. Heck, he’s the “best decision” Obama has made.

    • ddawg

      When he said “It seems to me first of all, from what I understand from doctors

      • http://travismonitor.blogspot.com Freedoms Truth

        and it wanst just false but insensitive in its implication that rape victims who get pregnant might not really be rape victims with the “legitimate rape” phrase. If you are a guy, listen to the women on this. This is very offensive, and why he needed to apologize for it.

        Believing something true doesnt mitigate him saying something that wasnt true and very offensive to boot.

        As a public figure, he has a responsibility not to say things that are medically ignorant and not to pretend he knows something that isnt true.

        Akin is 10 points down vs McCaskill, which is a 20 point drop from last week. Explaining this wont cut it.

        • ddawg

          We now know what has been reported this week in terms of cited sources and studies, but did any of us really know with certainty before Sunday whether major trauma can cause immediate menstruation?

          I didn’t. I certainly didn’t have any data at the ready to check it against. It sounds reasonable, even though it’s been demonstrated to be untrue. Accordingly, the pretty extreme reaction seems to be out of proportion to me.

          I also disagree that he implied what you say he implied. People have incorrectly inferred that, yes, but that doesn’t mean he meant to imply it or that he did, in point of fact, imply it.

          In context, I think the most likely scenario is that he was indirectly acknowledging that not all claims of rape are truthful, but that when a woman is, in fact, raped, that her body responds a certain way.

        • ddawg

          My post was intended to call into question the nature of the response to Akin’s comments.

          Yes, Akin almost certainly would have lost ground had his comment played out in isolation (i.e. neutral response from Republicans and conservatives).

          However, do you disagree that the very significant groundswell against Akin by Republicans and conservatives further fueled the numbers we see in today’s Rasmussen poll?

  • http://bluecollarmuse.com Blue_Collar_Muse

    Time is on his side. We have over two months to go. Who knows what may happen between now and then.

    I’d rather see Akin than McCaskill. So while his comments were ignorant, I understand what he meant and I’m not throwing stones from the comfort of my very glass house.

    Bottom line is Akin is a vastly superior candidate to McCaskill. Why are we pillorying our guy over a lone comment. We all told him it was stupid. He agreed it was stupid. He clarified it and we all accept and understand the clarification.

    If we allow him to be Borked over this, it’s not just his fault. We share the blame.

    It ain’t over ’til it’s over. And we’re nowhere near November …

    • ddawg

      Well said. I agree.

  • dragan

    by comparing Joe Biden with Akin ? Is Joe Biden stupid ? Stupid is an understatement. I am not well versed in English to find a word for Biden. I would say that he is definition of extreme stupidity. Talking of him is akin to insulting our intelligence.

    I believe Todd Akin’s problem lies in 2 issues

    1. His phony science to back up his beliefs
    2. Our ABSOLUTE rigid stance against abortion

    We may be able to fix the phony science part by apologizing , which he did, and focusing more on the beliefs part. However, our absolute rigid stance, seen in our party platform, compounds the Akin problem. This is what the media is latching on to.

    We see poll after poll suggesting the majority of the Americans is prolife. The majority may also include liberals too. This may not be surprising at all. However ask the same people if they would ok to have exceptions for exigent circumstances, you will highly likely see a less rigid public.

    Akin, at the MO senate level, would be attacked for his phony science and poor choice of words. But the republican candidates in other states and may be even the POTUS candidate would be hammered on the rigidity of the stance. That is why most republican candidates, including Romney, are stating to be less rigid. We can argue all day long about the morality of abandoning the rigidity factor of our abortion principle.

    But the general public may be less rigid and in elections that is what matters. If you believe that this election is saving America from financial bankruptcy then softening the rigidity part may be a “stoop to conquer” strategy. I am not advocating for this strategy. I am simply calling what I am seeing around

    • ddawg

      Phony science seems too strong a term. Science also shows that stress can alter a woman’s cycle and that trauma can cause a miscarriage. While it’s incorrect that acute stress or trauma can often forestall conception, that doesn’t seem to be a weird or strange suggestion, and is not a giant leap from “stress can affect menstruation.”

    • ddawg

      “I think there should be some punishment, but the punishment ought to be on the rapist and not attacking the child.”
      –Todd Akin, Sunday, August 19, 2012

      I know many would disagree with me, but I come from the camp that the argument for no rape/incest exception is a winner if only politicians would make the case.

      For years, and still today, politicians have regularly run into the safety of exceptions. However, even though that seems to work on an emotional level politically, I wonder whether people don’t intuitively find that position lacking, even if it feels right to them on some levels.

      I really believe that if people were repeatedly presented with the winsome case for not having the exception, they would be persuaded. I also think that, even if they weren’t persuaded, they would find themselves more able to vote for someone who held that position.

      For all the landmines that Todd Akin stepped on, I think we are in error if we do not credit him for ultimately phrasing the crux of his position well, with a kind heart that wants to protect the innocent unborn.

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