Lawmaker Reiterates Akin Remarks, Romney Feels the Power of the Press, and More

Posted on Aug 21, 2012

Exit Strategy: Mitt Romney is the highest profile Republican so far to publicly call on Todd Akin to get out of the Missouri Senate race after Akin’s controversial “legitimate rape” statements. Said Romney on Tuesday: “As I said yesterday, Todd Akin’s comments were offensive and wrong and he should very seriously consider what course would be in the best interest of our country. Today, his fellow Missourians urged him to step aside, and I think he should accept their counsel and exit the Senate race.” Akin has said he’s staying in the race against Democratic incumbent Claire McCaskill, who will likely now be the favorite to win. (Read more)

Akin’s Not Alone: A majority of Missourians want Todd Akin out of the state’s U.S. Senate race, according to a new poll conducted by SurveyUSA. But there is one disturbing aspect of the poll—13 percent of those questioned share Akin’s belief about “legitimate rape” and abortion.  (Read more)

News to Him: Count Rep. Steve King among those who agree with Todd Akin’s claim that women rarely get pregnant from rape. Although many Republicans have condemned Akin’s statements, King is doing just the opposite—doubling down on Akin’s controversial remarks. The Iowa GOP congressman said that, in his own personal experience, he’s never heard of anyone who has become pregnant as a result of being raped. King obviously also missed the study that showed roughly 32,000 women a year get pregnant due to being raped. (Read more)

GOP’s Anti-Abortion Platform: Republicans are set to unveil a staunch anti-choice, anti-abortion position at their convention next week. Included in the GOP’s official platform is a “human life amendment” that would ban all abortion and make no exception in the instances of rape or incest. Because obviously male Republicans know what’s right for women when it comes to their health issues. See: Todd Akin and Steve King. (Read more)

Media Frenzy: Mitt Romney totally would have revealed his energy plan to donors at an event Tuesday if only those pesky reporters hadn’t been in the room. “I know that we have members of the media here right now, so I’m not going to go through that in great detail,” Romney said. It’s expected he’ll unveil a comprehensive energy plan next week. No word on whether Romney will go into any sort of detail about the plan if reporters are in the room, however. (Read more)

Video of the Day: Todd Akin was supposed to be interviewed Monday night by CNN’s Piers Morgan, but apparently bailed at the last minute. Instead, the host went off on Akin—and, well, the empty chair where Akin was supposed to sit during the interview—telling the GOP congressman “if you don’t keep your promise to be on the show, then you are what we would call in Britain a gutless little twerp.” Ouch!

—Posted by Tracy Bloom.

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