In my previous diary on Todd Akin, I laid out some reasons why Republican Congressman Todd Akin is wrong for America and wrong for Missouri. It turns out that Todd Akin is more than just a homophobe and an anti-choicer. No, Todd Akin is a verifiable Neo-Confederate because Akin would overturn the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Yes, Bull Connor and Orval Faubus would certainly have been proud of Congressman Akin's contempt for protecting the right to vote.
The Think Progress article also has this little bit:
Asked directly if seminal federal civil rights legislation that prohibits discriminatory voting proceedures needed to be modified or scrapped, Akin said that states — not the federal government — should set voting rules. According to Akin, elections “have historically always been a state thing” and that’s a “good principle.”
I seem to recall that those traitors in grey that lost the Civil War also had strong feelings regarding matters that were a "a state thing". I cannot understand why Congressman Akin is so hung up on the history of traitors, losers and folks on the wrong side of history. So yeah, civil rights are too important to say that "it should be left to the states" although these days, most use that excuse for opposing marriage equality and not openly opposing voting rights.
Of course, Congressman Akin also seems to hate children or to be more specific poor children since he opposes federal spending on school lunches. Akin's words from the Kansas City Star article:
U.S. Rep. Todd Akin, the Republican candidate, said he opposes federal spending for the National School Lunch Program, which provides cash and surplus food for nearly 650,000 school lunches in Missouri each day.
“Is it something the federal government should do?” Akin said. “I answer it no. … I think the federal government should be out of the education business.”
Akin made the statement outside the 60th annual Governor’s Ham Breakfast at the Missouri State Fair on the week many students are heading back to the classroom.
Yes, it seems that we have another teabagger who really wants to abolish the Department of Education.
Of course, Senator Claire McCaskill was quick to say that she strongly disagrees with Congressman Akin
Akin’s Democratic opponent, Sen. Claire McCaskill, quickly attacked Akin’s opposition to the federal school lunch subsidy.
“I support federal school lunches,” she said. “The notion that the federal government should stop using surplus commodities to help public schools feed kids lunch is a nonstarter for me.”
Let's not forgot as the Kansas City Star reminds us in that article that Akin has never yes on a Farm bill. Apparently, the fact that Missouri is suffering under the worst drought in at least 50 years means nothing to him, and providing relief to farmers is not a priority in his mind. No, he'd rather focus on privatizing Social Security, turning Medicare into a coupon program, forcing women to give birth and putting the banksters back in charge of student loans. His answer to the farmers is likely "let them eat cornbread."
Thankfully, Claire McCaskill is running against Akin, and she can use every resource we can give her to win. McCaskill keeping her Senate seat is much preferible to giving a higher office to an anti-choice, Neo-Conferate extremist like Todd Akin.
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11:41 AM PT: hat tip to terjeanderson for letting me know about a Talking Points Memo story
http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/...
“First of all, from what I understand from doctors [pregnancy from rape] is really rare,” Akin told KTVI-TV in an interview posted Sunday. “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.”
Akin said that even in the worst-case scenario — when the supposed natural protections against unwanted pregnancy fail — abortion should still not be a legal option for the rape victim.
Words fail me. Apparently in Akin's world, rapists should have more rights than women. And Todd Akin should know that rape is a underreported crime, and I have no doubt that misogynists like him certainly don't help that.
11:55 AM PT: Please recommend TarantinoDork's diary on Todd Akin's rape victims comment.
http://www.dailykos.com/...
I want to make sure people know just how bad Todd Akin is for our country.