{"id":8672,"date":"2012-08-24T10:14:40","date_gmt":"2012-08-24T17:14:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=8672"},"modified":"2012-08-24T10:14:40","modified_gmt":"2012-08-24T17:14:40","slug":"akin-is-not-alone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2012\/08\/24\/akin-is-not-alone\/","title":{"rendered":"Akin Is Not Alone"},"content":{"rendered":"

Republican politicians and pundits are goose-stepping in lock step to condemn Todd Akin.  But Akin is not alone.  What frightens Republicans is that America will come to realize that Akin is the face of the new Republican Party.  Sarah Seltzer and Lauren Kelly put together eight examples.<\/font><\/p>\n

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\"AbortionGOP\"<\/font><\/p>\n

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Within hours of Akin\u2019s remark, journalists were producing detailed accounts of similarly absurd comments on abortion, rape and birth control from GOP officials and pundits, all of which showed a complete callousness toward science and women\u2019s autonomy. To put Akin-gate in context, here are eight of the worst that we at AlterNet could find, past and present, but the full gamut of this sort of talk goes far, far beyond the following short list.<\/font><\/p>\n

1. Other absurd Republican contributions to the \u201crape doesn\u2019t lead to babies\u201d myth. <\/font><\/strong><\/span>As Anna North reported earlier this year<\/a><\/font>, other Republicans paved the way for Akin\u2019s recent statements. In 1995, Republican Henry Aldridge stated that when a woman is raped, \u201cthe juices don\u2019t flow,\u201d and in 1988 another Republican congressman stated that women emit \u201ca certain secretion\u201d that stops pregnancy when they are raped. (Which has led many of us to wonder, which is<\/em><\/span> it, guys? Do these mythical juices flow, or do they stop<\/em><\/span> flowing, when a woman is raped?)<\/font><\/p>\n

2. The daddy of all these rape theories. <\/font><\/strong><\/span>The National Right to Life Committee\u2019s John C. Willke\u2019s claims in an article that the \u201ctrauma\u201d of rape prevents pregnancy \u2014 i.e., he \u201cbasically just makes shit up,\u201d writes <\/font>Katie J. M. Baker at Jezebel.<\/a><\/font><\/p>\n

3. GOP donor asks, \u201cWant contraception? Put an aspirin between your knees.\u201d <\/font><\/strong><\/span>This line, now a total cultural punch line, came from Foster Friess, who was a big donor to Rick Santorum before moving on to support Romney. The video<\/a><\/font> clip featuring Friess\u2019 comments and Andrea Mitchell\u2019s flummoxed response went viral this spring… [emphasis original<\/em>]<\/font><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Inserted from <Salon.com<\/a>><\/p>\n

I shared three of the eight.  I urge you to click through to the other five.<\/font><\/p>\n

Romney is desperately etching his sketch and now claims that he supports exceptions for rape, incest and to save the life of the mother.  Should you believe him?<\/font><\/p>\n