Remember: This is what a hearing on women's health care looks like when Republicans are in charge.
More of
this please:
Democrats are running hard against Todd Akin in Missouri — and in Washington state, New York, Arizona and California.
The Republican Senate candidate whose comments about “legitimate rape” caused a stir in August has become Democrats’ favorite opponent, even in places where he’s not on the ticket.
Todd Akin's name may only be on the ballot in Missouri, but his extremism is a hallmark of the Republican Party, and that's why Democrats are smart to remind voters nationwide that Akin is
the perfect representation of his party. When Akin said it was perfectly reasonable to ban abortion in all cases, including rape, because women have magic lady parts that can detect legitimate rape sperm and "shut that whole thing down" to prevent pregnancy, Republicans
tripped all over themselves trying to pretend they didn't agree with Akin.
The problem is that Republicans do agree with Akin and do think there are varying degrees of rape, some of which isn't really rape so much as just an excuse women invoke to exploit loopholes to cash in on fabulous gifts and prizes for rape victims. They believe that, they've tried to legislate that, and even as they were trying to distance themselves from Akin's remarks, they were adopting his radical position into their party platform.
This is the party, after all, that has introduced 54 bills in the House since January 2011 to restrict women's health care, including the noxious bill that would, among other things, differentiate between rape-rape and sorta-but-not-really rape.
As Planned Parenthood spokeswoman Dawn Laguens pointed out:
Todd Akin is just the impolite expression of an array of policies that a Republican platform and Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan support and are pretty unpopular and try to avoid talking about [...] It’s like letting the crazy relative out of the back room and into the party. It just shown a light for most people are appalled by the ignorance of these politicians when it comes to women’s lives and to their health and to their reproductive systems.
That's why not just candidates, but the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and outside advocacy groups like EMILY's List and Planned Parenthood are running ads to tie Republicans to Akin. Because it's important for voters to remember that what Akin said, and the agenda he has tried to promote as a member of Congress, is exactly what the Republican Party stands for. He's not outside the mainstream; he's the perfect poster boy for the party that has been waging a non-stop War on Women.
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