Want to know how far out of touch the religious right really is? For a time on Friday, it looked like Todd Akin was actually due to speak at this weekend's Values Voter Summit.
Earlier this afternoon, Tony Perkins announced that Akin would be speaking at the conference's opening day.
Perkins told the National Press Club Wednesday afternoon that Akin would be in attendance.
“He will be there participating in one of our events and speaking at, I believe, our political action committee reception Friday afternoon,” Perkins said.
But just a few minutes later, Akin was out again.
“Akin was going to speak at the FRC Action PAC reception at VVS but decided to stay in Missouri to speak at in-state events,” FRC spokesperson Darin Miller said. “Tony wasn’t aware of the change — it was a recent change that he hadn’t heard of yet.”
Ryan Hite, spokesperson for the Akin Senate campaign, confirmed to TPM that Akin will not attend.
“There was some discussion about [Akin going],” Hite said. “But I don’t think there’s any plan for him to be there.”
The fact that Perkins was even considering bringing Akin to town says all anyone needs to know about the religious right. I've come to expect tone-deafness from the fundies, based on my first-hand experience. But giving a mic to a guy with such a backwards and scientifically ignorant definition of rape? I thought they at least had some standards. Then again, we are talking about the same outfit that invited a guy who called for Christians to form a "fifth column."