Akin Must Step Aside - Now

I feel for the man.  I do.  He is in a difficult position.  He worked hard during the primary to get the nomination.  It was a three-way race and it didn't come easy for him.

But the truth is this.  He can't fix it.  He can't walk it back.  Especially since earlier this afternoon he admitted that he was wrong on "the science" that a woman can stave off pregnancy during a rape.

His comments were not only wrong from a medical point of view, they were wrong from an ethical point of view.  Every pro-life politician should be better prepared for the "what about cases of rape and incest" question.  You know they are coming.  It is no different for anti death penalty candidates getting the what if your wife/daughter was raped and murdered question.  They are designed to make the politician look silly when they can't adequately answer the question.  Politics is a rough and tumble business.  The media loves tripping you up and takes particular pride when you are a conservative republican.

Clare McCaskill is the worst possible choice to win that seat.  Akin continuing in this race is will all but guarantee that not only she gets re-elected, it also says that Harry Reid will more than likely stay Majority Leader.

I will go further and say he doesn't deserve to win this seat after these comments.  They were irresponsible, false, and more importantly demeaning to women.  I have seen the data and the numbers that are complied about pregnancies that occur due to rape and incest.  They are very small in comparison to the amount of pregnancies in this country each year, less than 1%.

But let me tell you, if you are the woman who ends up being in that 1% you don't care that it is rare.  That is an academic discussion at that point.  If you don't believe me, just ask yourself if you developed a very rare form of cancer, would that make you feel any better that it was rare?  Would you say 'lucky me"?  I don't think that you would.

When I was still living in Connecticut I used to volunteer at a rape crisis center.  I used to talk to woman of all different ages.  Most of whom were raped within the past few hours.  They were trying to decide if they should call the police, or go to the hospital.  Many of the women I talked to wanted to know if they went to the hospital would the police be called.  Which of course they would be.  Some elected not to go to the hospital for that reason.  They common thread among these women was shame.  There was no such thing as legitimate or illegitimate rape.

It is very possible that what he meant by that part of the comment was the fact that rape is the most over-reported crime according to stats.  Sadly, some women use the accusation as a hammer.  There are some LaCrosse players who are well aware of that.  That is true.  There have been men who were sent to jail and years later the accuser recants.  One such story was a woman who said she thought she was pregnant and didn't want to tell her parents.  Horrible, absolutely horrible.  I personally felt that woman should have been prosecuted for what she did to that man's life.

None of that makes what Akin said OK.  I don't care that Whoopi Goldberg once said "It wasn't rape, rape".  I don't care that Hollywood lionizes Polanski.  Again, none of that matters.  What matters is, is this man competent to serve as a U.S. Senator?  I think the answer is quite obviously no.

He has until 5pm tomorrow afternoon to have his name removed from the ballot and still give another person a decent chance to compete for that seat.  For the good of the party he should do it.  But he also should do it because it is the right thing to do.

I, for one, am very proud that republicans have not tried to justify his actions or his words.  At least not in large measure.  There are a few.  But generally speaking most seem to feel the same way I do.  Akin must step aside, and he should be doing it tonight.