I wonder if the recent shocking statements by Rep. Todd Akin, the Republican nominee for Senate in Missouri and locally Doug Preisse, chairman of the Republican Party in Franklin County, where I live might mean that Republicans have a problem with alcohol. People who have a drinking problem tend to have no inhibition and will say what is really on their mind even if a sober person would check up because they know it would sound crazy to say that stuff out loud. It makes me wonder.
Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO)
Rep. Todd Akin, the Republican nominee for Senate in Missouri who is running against Sen. Claire McCaskill, justified his opposition to abortion rights even in case of rape with a claim that victims of “legitimate rape” have unnamed biological defenses that prevent pregnancy.
“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.
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His claim about “legitimate” types of rape is not completely foreign to the current Republican Congress, however. In 2011, the House GOP was forced to drop language from a bill that would have limited federal help to pay for an abortion to only victims of “forcible rape.” Akin was a co-sponsor on the bill.
Republican Senate Nominee: Victims Of ‘Legitimate Rape’ Don’t Get Pregnant
Doug Preisse, chairman of the Franklin County Ohio Republican Party
Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted’s recent decision to prohibit early voting on nights and weekends in all districts has many concerned about the effect on voter turnout in the state, particularly among low-income and minority communities. But one Republican Party chairman is content to suppress votes among this vulnerable demographic. Doug Preisse, chairman of the Republican Party in Franklin County, which contains the city of Columbus, admitted in an email to the Columbus Dispatch that black voters would now have a more difficult time voting:
“I guess I really actually feel we shouldn’t contort the voting process to accommodate the urban — read African-American — voter-turnout machine. Let’s be fair and reasonable.”
Preisse was one of the board of elections members who blocked Democratic efforts in Franklin County to expand voting hours to evenings and weekends. According to the Dispatch, he called claims of unfairness “bullshit. Quote me!”
Ohio GOP Election Board Member: Our Voting Process Shouldn’t Accommodate Black Voters
I know people will try and tell me, “But Doug didn’t you hear the gaffe from [fill in name of Democratic politician]…”
False equivalency is a lazy argument and doesn’t admit that what their guy did was wrong – it is an excuse and I reject that argument.
The other reason I reject it is the Akin and Preisse statements aren’t gaffes. Saying what you think to be true is intentional and for it to be a gaffe it has to be unintentional. These guys are not newbie politicians.
A woman I know, who usually doesn’t get angry about politics, was very angry about Rep. Akin remarks. She sounded as angry as I’ve heard in some time. She wanted a law passed to keep stupid people from running for office.
Akin isn’t alone in his views on rape. Eleven Members of Ohio’s GOP congressional delegation agreed with Akin and Paul Ryan on redefining rape.
I can imagine how angry African-Americans, who heard Preisse’s comments, would be. What he said use to be the unsaid real reason the GOP tries to make it harder to vote. Democrats and others who support less restrictive rules on registering to vote and making it easier to vote through early voting, have claimed for a few years that the GOP was trying to keep minorities from voting. Doug Preisse gave them more proof their claim was correct.
Progressives in Ohio did try to take election oversight away from the Secretary of State back in 2005. The latest dust-up with early voting reminds us of the need to have an independent non-partisan oversight of elections.
The big picture to see with the latest stupidness from the GOP is that they don’t deserve to lead. Sure there will be a lot screeching about this from the left side of the aisle but it is really just another reason be against the Republicans.
They need to lose their offices and the party needs to go into the dustbin of history. The GOP is the biggest danger to our country at this time.
If you support truth, civil rights, liberty, and freedom then one would be extremely stupid to vote GOP in 2012 or ever.