Rep. Phil Gingrey: Todd Akin Was 'Partly Right' About 'Legitimate Rape'

[Amigone201]

Originally Posted by Lainie

Or, at the very least, shut up about rape.

Yeah, why do they feel the need to keep bringing it up?

[JoeBentley]

Yeah usually GOP rape comments tend to tie in (badly and pointlessly usually but still) into their pro-life stance.

These just... random.

[ganzfeld]

It's not random. The implication is that women who get pregnant from rape weren't really raped. So there's no reason to allow abortions in those cases.

[diddy]

It's a clumsy attempt to exclude rape from the abortion debate to make it seem as if all abortions are simply the result of female promiscuity and nothing else. That's why Aiken used "legitimate rape" He honestly believes that some rapes that people claim are outright lies and are actually the result of women trying to get out of having a child (something they believe should be the natural result of sex and not be interrupted) and claiming rape to avoid responsibility.


As Ganz points out, it's not random and the implications that are made are downright insulting to real rape victims.

[Chloe]

And it shines light on what would happen to rape victims if the Republican dream of abortion becoming illegal except for rape should ever occur.

[JoeBentley]

Yeah I get that is traditionally the not at all subtle hidden agenda behind Republican rape apologetic is abortion, which is why I find it odd they keep bringing it up completely at random when abortion isn't even being discussed. It seems rather politically stupid to make one of your most unpopular comments outside the context you usually mask it in.

[MapleLeaf]

I'm with Joe. It seems like the last election campaign consisted of people talking about how to fix the economy and what to do overseas, militarily-speaking. And then all of a sudden, a GOP-er would randomly get up and say, "You know, some rape is 'rape' and not rape."

[crocoduck_hunter]

When you put it that way, it almost sounds like a fetish that they keep accidentally bringing into the conversation.

[ganzfeld]

As stupid as it may sound, it's a lot safer for them to insinuate that women who get pregnant can't have been raped than to outright say that women who have been raped can't have abortions. I have no doubt that it's on purpose, not just a careless gaffe. Same strategy used elsewhere: sow the seeds of doubt about the facts, not emotional issues that they're bound to lose on.

[Brad from Georgia]

Sadly, for an enormous contingent of politicians, reality is "whatever I can get people to believe." And repetition is the key to accomplishing that.

[Mateus]

So we started with "Moron Congressman"
then we went up to "Moron Doctor Congressman"
now we've gone up to "Moron Pregnancy-related Doctor Congressman"
and it makes me wonder, what's the next level on the hierarchy of stupidity?

[crocoduck_hunter]

Upper Class Twit of the Year.

[DawnStorm]

Originally Posted by JoeBentley

Yeah I get that is traditionally the not at all subtle hidden agenda behind Republican rape apologetic is abortion, which is why I find it odd they keep bringing it up completely at random when abortion isn't even being discussed. It seems rather politically stupid to make one of your most unpopular comments outside the context you usually mask it in.

Slightly off topic, but the talk show host I listen to was talking about the number of murders in major US cities each year, and he got a caller who said that those numbers paled in comparison to the number of abortions performed each year. Give it a freaking rest already!

[smittykins]

Originally Posted by DawnStorm

Slightly off topic, but the talk show host I listen to was talking about the number of murders in major US cities each year, and he got a caller who said that those numbers paled in comparison to the number of abortions performed each year. Give it a freaking rest already!

I heard that in regards to the Sandy Hook massacre too.

[Ramblin' Dave]

I heard it a lot after 9/11 ("horrible as it was, it really happens every day and we call that 'choice'!")

[Chloe]

If they really thought that way, they would be unable to function in society.

[Auntie Witch]

Originally Posted by smittykins

I heard that in regards to the Sandy Hook massacre too.

MIL posted a thing on FB to that effect. To say I found it offensive is a huge understatement.

[Esprise Me]

I'm starting to think the extreme anti-abortion crowd doesn't love fetuses so much as it hates people.

[lyriccoloratura]

Back to the original idiocy, wouldn't a woman who isn't stressed out be ovulating normally up until when the rape begins, thus not interfering with conception? Or does stress actually interfere with implantation? In that case, stress would be an abortifacient, which would make stressing out a potentially pregnant woman (anyone between 13 and 55, maybe?) the equivalent of murder. Hmmm... there could be an up-side to this....

Lyric-quaaludes for everyone!-coloratura

[fitz1980]

Originally Posted by MapleLeaf

I'm with Joe. It seems like the last election campaign consisted of people talking about how to fix the economy and what to do overseas, militarily-speaking. And then all of a sudden, a GOP-er would randomly get up and say, "You know, some rape is 'rape' and not rape."

Because they are trying to talk to their base. It wasn't too long ago that Ronald Reagen won and they don't realize that we're 30 years later.