As you may recall, Republican Rep. Todd Akin of Missouri has been under fire for claiming that “legitimate rape” rarely results in pregnancy. While we try our best to stay out of politics, we thought it would be interesting to hear about this from the perspective of an ex-Senator – well, not an actual former senator. What we actually mean is The Ex-Senators’ frontman Dmac (formerly of Coven Of Thieves, which also featured deceased Nine Inch Nails/Ministry drummer Jeff Ward). So without further ado, here’s what Dmac had to say about Representative Akin’s controversial comments:
“Makes no difference what you say” (Motörhead’s “Ace of Spades”)
Last Sunday, Missouri U.S. Senate candidate Todd Akin had a chance to keep his cards (and those of his party) close to his chest. But unlike Lemmy’s lyric in “Ace of Spades,” in the world of politics it’s all about what you say and when. Election time is so close you have to play those cards carefully. Well, Representative Akin decided one little comment couldn’t hurt and as it turns out, his comment was a “big tell” in the poker game of politics as he telegraphed the Republic Party and Tea bagger position on Abortion and Women’s rights and brought the whole thing back to the forefront of the national conversation.
With just a week to go before the Republican National convention, Akin said in a television interview on Sunday that women have biological defenses to prevent pregnancy in cases of “legitimate rape,” making legal abortion rights unnecessary. What? Which biological defenses are those?
It turns out that Akin also happens to be co-sponsor on a bill in the house with Mitt Romney’s new running mate for Vice President Paul Ryan. That bill proposes a change in the legal definition of rape to “forcible rape” to narrow access to federal funding for abortions. Critics said the measure could exempt victims of statutory rape. That means they don’t think raping a child (such as a teenage girl) qualifies for federal funding if the girl happens to become pregnant since it wouldn’t be rape anymore but “sex with a minor” or some other bullshit qualification and technicality. But not being a woman, I doubt that Akin has any idea how a 12 year old girl feels about such abuse and really isn’t qualified to redefine the term “rape” on their behalf. And isn’t that the case here in general? A bunch of fat old white guys in suits with lots of money deciding that their holier than thou, wish-making, schadenfreude sense of morality is all that matters and not whether a woman has been raped, impregnated and doesn’t want to carry the pregnancy to term?
Of course now the Republican Party is trying to distance themselves from this guy as fast as possible. Karl Rove has pulled millions of dollars in ad campaign spending from Missouri, but it’s too late. The cards have been played. Akin was close to the Romney campaign until last Sunday. Watch how fast they switch the conversation to anything else. Put the cards away and try to deal a new hand. They’ve already stepped away and Akin is getting more funding from the über Christian far-right, who aren’t far from making themselves a replica of a Taliban and having women start wrapping their faces. What century and what country is this again? Let me remind you that the law on abortion was decided years ago, as was women’s suffrage, and the Christian right wing lunatics just can’t let it go. They never have let it go and continue to base a good portion of their political platform on stirring up the same bullshit over and over again.
Don’t we have more important things to be focused on as a country? Building a renewable energy capability that can reduce our dependence on foreign oil, create jobs and reduce the deficit…..like Germany already has? How about enacting term limits and no never ending pensions for congress so that both sides of the political aisle have to get real jobs after a few terms? Maybe a jobs bill in congress that rebuilds roads across the country instead of bank bailouts? How about picking one of the other major issues in which you might actually have an impact instead of chewing on the same crap over and over causing polarization in the electorate and a never ending cycle of fighting that gets us absolutely nowhere as a country?
As Lemmy would say, “you know I’m born to lose and Gambling’s for fools.”
And so it goes with politics. Time to wake up folks.
