The Akin-Ryan-Romney-Willke Nexus

      The nexus is actually a quartet-a Right wing woman hating barber shop-it turns out. While Romney has been trying to make it appear that there's meaningful daylight between him and Akin-and even more implausibly that there is daylight between Akin and Paul Ryan-it turns out that there's another big link in the chain.

      Add the quack antiabortion doctor, John "Jack" Willke to the Trinity. Willke is the ultimate source of Akin's "misspeaking" on Sunday in talking of "legitimate rape" and the claim that in cases of legitimate rape the female body has ways of "shutting it down."

      While his ridiculous theories have been discredited again and again by real scientists-he's also wrong in thinking that pregnancies as a result of rape are less common than other kinds of intercourse; in fact they are more common and there are 24,000 such pregnancies per year-it turns out that Willke is also bosom buddies with Mitt Romney personally.

      Note as well that Willke has now come out and "clarified" Akin's comments for him-the upshot seems to be that Akin wasn't calling rape legitimate but arguing between "real rape" and cases where women lie-which is rather common in his "experience."

       "Although Mitt Romney has denounced Rep. Todd Akin’s remarks about “legitimate rape” victims rarely getting pregnant, the controversial doctor behind Akin’s debunked claim was an “important surrogate” for the GOP hopeful during his last presidential bid."

       "As several outlets reported Tuesday, Romney in 2007 touted the endorsement from Dr. John “Jack” Willke, a prominent and controversial anti-abortion physician often referred to as “the father of the antiabortion movement.”

       "Today, Dr. John Willke, a founder of the Pro Life Movement, endorsed Governor Mitt Romney and his campaign for our nation’s highest office,” reads a Romney campaign press release from October 2007. “Dr. Willke is a leading voice within the pro-life community and will be an important surrogate for Governor Romney’s pro-life and pro-family agenda.”

       "In that release, Romney is quoted as saying, “I am proud to have the support of a man who has meant so much to the pro-life movement in our country. He knows how important it is to have someone in Washington who will actively promote pro-life policies.”

       "Facing widespread calls from GOP heavyweights for him to drop out of the congressional race, Akin on Tuesday released a letter he received from Willke stating “the pro-life movement and I unequivocally stand with Rep. Akin.”

     Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0812/79986.html#ixzz24IID0zdm