After the October 25 deadline for Akin to get out of the Missouri Senate race came and went, some GOPers seemed to suggest that they might give Akin a "second look."
Such a strategy, of course, carries with it significant risks, even if Akin had been a model candidate since then. Unfortunately this has been anything but the case. Indeed, Akin's whole argument in staying in was that it's wrong to judge someone wholly on just one sentence or even phrase.
That might sound in theory not so unreasonable, if the phrase in question were not "legitimate rape."
It really depends whether or not just a couple words can disqualify someone. Like if I tell you that "experts don't agree on just how many Jews were killed in the Holocaust or indeed whether it really happened. It may have at least been exaggerated."
Let's face it, if you say this you've disqualified yourself from public life. Akin's comments probably do the same. That this is not unfair is now substantiated by the fact that that in the few days since the deadline has passed, he has made many more verbal "gaffes."
This is why Jim Cornyn says that he has "no plans" to support Akin:
"We have no plans to do so,” Cornyn told The Courier-Journal in an interview just a short time ago.
“I just think that this is not a winnable race,” he said. “We have to make tough calculations based on limited resources and where to allocate it, where it will have the best likelihood of electing a Republican senator.”
http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/nrsc-chairman-cornyn-no-plans-to-back-akin
Let's think of what he's said lately. First he castigated Claire McCaskill for being "unldadylike" in their debate, that she was a "caged wildcat."
Then he suggests it's ok to pay women less than men. Then one of his supporters said he has the resolve of David Koresh. So Akin considers a comparison to David Koresh a compliment?!
http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/consultant-compares-akins-fortitude-to-that-of-david
Vote for Todd Akin-he's another David Koresh?
Then there are his words on equal pay for women:
AUDIENCE MEMBER: You voted against the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. Why do you think it is okay for a woman to be paid less for doing the same work as a man?
AKIN: Well, first of all, the premise of your question is that I'm making that particular distinction. I believe in free enterprise. I don't think the government should be telling people what you pay and what you don't pay. I think it's about freedom. If someone what’s to hire somebody and they agree on a salary, that's fine, however it wants to work. So, the government sticking its nose into all kinds of things has gotten us into huge trouble.
http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/todd-akin-suggests-employers-should-be-able-to
Interestingly, I was watching the Reagan-Carter debate in 1980 and when asked about African-Americans and civil rights, Reagan said that employers should be allowed to pay blacks less-he actually suggested a lower minimum wage for them-on the argument that this would raise their employment.
In any case, there are some GOPers who are coming back to the Akin fold:
"Republicans want to win control of the Senate, and they say it’s hard to see a path to that goal without Missouri. So, held noses or not, they’re signaling a readiness to give Akin a boost. On Friday, Akin got two more pieces of national good news. Former Missouri Sens. Kit Bond and Jim Talent reversed course and endorsed him, and RNC chair Reince Priebus signaled his group might do the same."
http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/09/todd-akin-rick-tyler-its-working.php?ref=fpb
He sure isn't making it easy for them yet. The week since his staying in the race has become official couldn't have gone better for McCaskill and the Democrats.
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