Rachel Maddow (and her research staff) did yeoman service in exposing vastly more of the hidden GOP extremism vis-a-vis women's bodies and issues in her show last night. For that she merits major kudos. Meanwhile, 'Morning' Joe Scarborough merits brickbats and rotten tomatoes for his ignorant rationalizations and excuse making in his appearance this morning, trying to take the heat off Todd Akin by re-directing it to others. First, we have much to thank Rachel Maddow for, in exposing the vast underbelly of the reactionary GOP's war on women in her show last night, presenting a 15 min. history on the "legitimate -forcible rape" meme. Maddow took us through a retrospective of all the odious knuckle-draggers who've invoked the term, as well as one Arkansas bumpkin, James Leon Holmes, who wrote a letter to a newspaper asserting: "Concern for rape victims is a red herring since pregnancy in rape victims occurs with as much frequency as snowfall in Miami".
Then there was TX Rep. Clayton Williams who actually said "rape is like the weather, women to ought to sit back and enjoy it".
The point is that Toad Akins' comment (on "legitimate rape") in the context is not unusual or out of the ordinary. As Rachel pointed out, these extreme views have been part of the Repukes' shtick for over 3 decades. Indeed, the acceptance of the term "forcible rape" has been part of the GOP campaign platform for the last ten years, and remains part of that platform - which will be approved at the upcoming convention in Tampa. (Unless the stars fall from the sky, and 'Willard' Mitt sics his rats on the pro-life extremists and demands they remove that plank. But don't hold your breath! )
Rachel also noted that much of the GOP outrage at Akin was not driven by concern for women impregnated by rape, forcible or otherwise, since most of these hucksters would still demand the poor woman carry it to term, telling her to "make lemonade out of lemons". (See update at bottom of blog) Rather it was driven by Akin exposing the hidden GOP Agenda against women at the most inopportune time. So much so that most sensible Americans with more than air between the ears were recoiling from it, so the Goopsters had to do likewise. Even ol' Willard Mitt. (Ignoring for the moment that his sidekick, Paul Ryan, in the House bill H.R. 3 - signed with Akin, allowed for the definition of "forcible rape" and that no abortions were to be allowed either for ordinary rapes, or incest.)
But as Maddow pointed out, this was hyper-inconvenient to the Grand Old Party's rollout of its two reprobates.
Now fast forward to this morning, and Joe Scarborough, who has now convinced me he's a certifiable, congenital idiot. As the discussion on 'Morning Joe' turned to more about Akin and the problems he's caused to the GOP, and thus the demands for him to recuse himself as a Reep candidate in the Missouri Senate election, Joe began blabbering about the unfairness of it all. He pointed to how Romney as well as Obama also castigated the outrageous speech of Akin, but asked: "When did we ever see Barack Obama express outrage over Bill Maher's reference to certain female conservatives using the c-word."
Hello, you fuckwit! Because the two examples are not the same! Maher is a satirist and comedian, who actually used to be the star of an old (90s) ABC show called 'Politically Incorrect' (Get it?) but which has now been reincarnated on HBO as 'REAL TIME'. He expresses candid and sometimes outrageous opinions and snide putdowns but lacks any power to pass legislation as Todd Akin would have in a GOP dominated Senate! Can you grasp it? Hence, it's comparing chalk and cheese.
We are rightly obliged to express outrage at anyone who aspires to high federal office, who will then have the power to craft legislation that can alter our destinies. But this is not the same as a comedian who occasionally used the "c-word' to describe certain female conservos, but for which anyone taking offense can simply change the clicker...or turn OFF the set. Once Akin gets in and if the GOP wins the Senate, however, there will be NO changing the clicker to go back in time! And no matter how many times you turn the set off, the laws Akin passes will be there to haunt you, and if a woman....land you in prison if you have an abortion!
Not satisfied with this display, Scarborough then expressed dismay at how Paul Ryan was being linked to Akin, despite the fact the pair co-authored H.R. 3 and later pushed for both H.R. 212 and H.R. 3805. He started to whine:
"Can anyone show ME, show me at all one single clip of Paul Ryan on the TV saying that there are forcible rapes, or legitimate rapes?"
Totally forgetting, or dismissing the fact that one need not have actual TV clips of Ryan mouthing the words. No, once he co-signed for the language in H.R. 3 with Akin, he was hoist on the same petard. Don't go looking for actual TV clips or interviews, fool!
Trying the patience of his panel even more, after being reminded of this fact (by Mika Brzezinski no less, usually dismissed by her critics as "stunningly superficial") Scarborough then demanded of Mika to know the exact date said bill was signed. At this point, Ms. Brzezinski glared at him, saying "You do not want to go there".
Indeed. But Morning Moron kept on hemming and hawing, while whining that this was no big deal... and what if he just asked for the date of a specific Yankees' game, was that not the same?
Never mind, Joe, it's beyond you. Best thing for you to do is stop trying to play your false equivalency games and other ruses while admitting your party is fucked....at least with sensible women!
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Update: As of 3:10 p.m. E.D.T. it has been announced that the draft of the 2012 GOP Platform has been accepted, which disallows abortion for ALL rapes ("forcible" and "non-forcible"), as well as incest, outlawing abortion and making it a felony. The draft is expected to be approved at a full vote later today.
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