Todd Akin

[aspen]

"I like being able to fire people who provide services to me." –Mitt Romney

"[My wife] drives a couple of Cadillacs." –Mitt Romney, campaigning for president in Michigan (February 2012)

"I'll tell you what, ten-thousand bucks? $10,000 bet?" –Mitt Romney, attempting to make a wager with Rick Perry during a Republican presidential debate to settle a disagreement about health care (December 2011)

"If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm the dictator." -- President George W Bush

"There's an old saying in Tennessee -- I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee -- that says, fool me once, shame on --shame on you. Fool me -- you can't get fooled again." -- President George W Bush

"I'm the decider, and I decide what is best. And what's best is for Don Rumsfeld to remain as the Secretary of Defense." -- President George W Bush

"Too many good docs are getting out of the business. Too many OB-GYNs aren't able to practice their love with women all across this country." -- President George W Bush

"Hmmm, uhh, hah -- ummm -- I, the answer is -- I haven't really thought of it that way, heh, heh. Heh. Here's how I think of it. Ummm -- heh heh. First I've heard of that, by the way, I, ah -- uhh -- the, uhh -- I, I guess I'm more of a practical fella. Uhh. I vowed after September the 11th that I would do everything I could to protect the American people. And, uhh -- my attitude, of course, was affected by the attacks.ha ha ...ummm Let me see... I knew we were at a war. I knew that the enemy, obviously, had to be sophisticated, and lethal, to fly hijacked airplanes, uhh, into -- facilities that would, we would, killing thousands of people, innocent people, doin' nothing, just sittin' there goin' to work."--President George W Bush, after being asked if the war in Iraq and the rise of terrorism are signs of the apocalypse

"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." --President George W Bush

"I feel the best way to ensure Americans' freedom is to tighten restrictions on that freedom in any way possible. Only through wiretaps, illegal searches and seizures, unfettered government intrusion, a controlled media and a complete crackdown on free speech can we ensure the liberties of all people." -- Attorney General John Ashcroft


"If Lincoln were alive today, he'd be turning over in his grave.—Gerald Ford (on Nixon and Watergate)

"I think gay marriage is something that should be between a man and a woman" -- Arnold Schwarzenegger

"It may come as a shock to you who live out in the real world, but occasionally we do something up here. Not often, I admit, but sometimes. For example, I think the House has passed National Peach Month so far this year and we expect to act on it soon." --Senate Majority Leader (and Presidential candidate) Robert Dole of Kansas in 1982

"It’s like the neighborhood I would have grown up in, I think, if I had have grown up here." --Alan Keyes, on the Chicago neighborhood he chose to rent in after moving to the state to run for the U.S. Senate

"If you think the United States has stood still, who would have built the largest shopping center in the world?"-- Richard M. Nixon

"What a terrible thing to have lost one's mind. Or not to have a mind at all. How true that is."- Vice President Dan Quayle

It is just too easy!

 

[biggandyy]

Uh, none of those display the lack of intelligence of the speaker in the manner Brother James and I have illustrated for you. You are merely posting quotes you disagree with.

 

[aspen]

Uh, none of those display the lack of intelligence of the speaker in the manner Brother James and I have illustrated for you. You are merely posting quotes you disagree with.

Oh sorry, I didn't realize you and BJ set the standard for stupid on this thread.

 

[Brother James]

Is that the best you can do, call people stupid when they have bested you? Just a word to the wise, that kind of thing doesn't make me and BA look bad. I'll leave it to you to privately reflect on who it makes look bad.

In the mean time, how about a substantive comment on your Stephen Colbert quote: "If this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn't help the poor, either we have to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we've got to acknowledge that He commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition and then admit that we just don't want to do it"

It always amazes me how generous liberals are with other people's money. They are stingy when it comes to contributing themselves to help those less fortunate. Look at the pathetic level of charitable giving by our VP, for example. Giving of themselves is not in the liberal playbook, but grabbing what someone else has and deciding they don't deserve it to give it to someone else just to enhance their own power, that's precisely what the liberal playbook is all about. Selfish? Mitt Romney spent two and a half years of his life as a young man doing missionary work for his church that not only was unpaid, but for which he had to pay his own way. Now, I don't subscribe to his church's theology, but I respect the fact that he's someone who actually has given of himself. He served as an unpaid "bishop" in his church, which is the equivilent to being a paster of a church of 400. He did that for five years. And he gives hugely to church and charity for relief of the poor. And then there's Joe Biden. And most other liberals. Quick to spend other people's money and then call them names when they complain. How conveeeeenient.

 

[aspen]

Is that the best you can do, call people stupid when they have bested you? Just a word to the wise, that kind of thing doesn't make me and BA look bad. I'll leave it to you to privately reflect on who it makes look bad.

In the mean time, how about a substantive comment on your Stephen Colbert quote: "If this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn't help the poor, either we have to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we've got to acknowledge that He commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition and then admit that we just don't want to do it"

It always amazes me how generous liberals are with other people's money. They are stingy when it comes to contributing themselves to help those less fortunate. Look at the pathetic level of charitable giving by our VP, for example. Giving of themselves is not in the liberal playbook, but grabbing what someone else has and deciding they don't deserve it to give it to someone else just to enhance their own power, that's precisely what the liberal playbook is all about. Selfish? Mitt Romney spent two and a half years of his life as a young man doing missionary work for his church that not only was unpaid, but for which he had to pay his own way. Now, I don't subscribe to his church's theology, but I respect the fact that he's someone who actually has given of himself. He served as an unpaid "bishop" in his church, which is the equivilent to being a paster of a church of 400. He did that for five years. And he gives hugely to church and charity for relief of the poor. And then there's Joe Biden. And most other liberals. Quick to spend other people's money and then call them names when they complain. How conveeeeenient.

I didn't call YOU stupid - I said I didn't know you and BA set the standard for what is stupid in a quote on this thread. BA seems to think that my quotes are somehow inferior examples of stupid. I think they are just as stupid.

I am politically liberal - are you lumping me into your charge against all liberals for not being generous with their own money?

 

[biggandyy]

That line of yours was too good to pass up (check my sig)!

 

[Eltanin]

I live in Missouri, and so I probably get a bit more saturation of the Akin FAIL more than most on here... Now he is running an apology ad that doesn't seem any better than his original mess up...

Here, it isn't really about the fact that he is pro-life... It is that he is a very insensitive person. It wasn't that he was misunderstood, it is the fact that he went so far as to make a false claim with no grounds in any thing anywhere to try and prove his stance is correct... He hurt allot of families with his atrocious words, and he stood by what he said until his party made it clear his comments were unacceptable, then he back-peddaled.

I will say now that I am not Republican, Democrat, Conservative, or Liberal... I go to the polls every election, and I vote. I take that responsibility very personal. Anymore, when I vote, I feel like I am voting for the least evil... I can't say there is one very good candidate anywhere right now...

I do know there is allot of misinformation saturating both sides of the political pool, and it is hard to know what is true and what isn't when everything that is put out is only half true...

... But I do know that from what I see in Akin, his ads, his words, and his campaign... He just doesn't come across as sincere about anything but his desire to climb the ladder of politics...

 

[aspen]

That line of yours was too good to pass up (check my sig)!

Nicely moderated, BA

 

[Foreigner]

It always amazes me how generous liberals are with other people's money.

-- Exactly.

The top 1% of Americans earn 16.9% of all income yet pay 36.7% of all taxes (taxfoundation.org)
Yet the Liberals still feel they aren't paying their "fair share."

Mr. Obama misused Luke to pedal "To whom much is given, much is expected" to justify increasing taxes on the rich.

 

[Brother James]

I am politically liberal - are you lumping me into your charge against all liberals for not being generous with their own money?

Oh no, I don't even know you. But there are lots of statistics on this general dynamic. Blue state vs. red state charitable giving, etc. Lots of data. Doesn't mean every conservative is generous or that every liberal is a stingy tightwad. Just most of them.

 

[aspen]

Oh no, I don't even know you. But there are lots of statistics on this general dynamic. Blue state vs. red state charitable giving, etc. Lots of data. Doesn't mean every conservative is generous or that every liberal is a stingy tightwad. Just most of them.

Yes this is an interesting phenomena. Liberal areas like SF and Portland have a lot of government programs, but not very much donations from the private sector. Conservative areas tend to give more money (30%) more than liberal areas of the country. However, most of the poor areas of the country have switched from liberal to conservative (Texas, Kansas, Ohio, etc) during the 80s.

One stereotype of a liberal is educated, upper class, single, and humanist. If this is the type of liberal that is personally stingy - I totally agree - I can just picture the type of person living in Portland and shopping for themselves at REI. Now, if the liberal is poor, working class, church going, and family oriented - I totally disagree.

I think faith and wealth are bigger predictors of how generous a person is, rather than political orientation.

 

[veteran]

I wonder what other folks think about the way the Republican party has reacted to Todd Akin's unfortunate mistake when he was defending unborn children. The Republican establishment and all the talk show people put enormous pressure on him to quit, and he said no. He did not commit any moral failing, no crime, no ethical lapse. He spoke clumisily, and a little stupidly, about defending unborn babies. He apologized sincerely. The party power brokers, irrationally it seems, left him behind on the political battlefield, wounded and bleeding, a casualty of his self-inflicted, but not intentional wound. Isn't the Republican party supposed to be the party of life?

Or am I wrong, and should he be hounded from the field?

First the Democratic Party was infiltrated with Satan's servants. Now the Republican Party is also. Where have ya been?

There's a reason why the powers that be have made it practically impossible for someone of any other party to get elected besides the Democratic or Republican two-party system. It easier to get control of just 2 parties instead of many.

It's per the Hegelian dialectic. Regardless of who runs for office for either party, it's still going to be someone working for the powers that be. They've had complete control over the U.S. political system for sometime now, including the financial and educational arenas also. The LAST arena left they are conquering now, i.e., religion.

 

[Strat]

I live in Missouri, and so I probably get a bit more saturation of the Akin FAIL more than most on here... Now he is running an apology ad that doesn't seem any better than his original mess up...

Here, it isn't really about the fact that he is pro-life... It is that he is a very insensitive person. It wasn't that he was misunderstood, it is the fact that he went so far as to make a false claim with no grounds in any thing anywhere to try and prove his stance is correct... He hurt allot of families with his atrocious words, and he stood by what he said until his party made it clear his comments were unacceptable, then he back-peddaled.

I will say now that I am not Republican, Democrat, Conservative, or Liberal... I go to the polls every election, and I vote. I take that responsibility very personal. Anymore, when I vote, I feel like I am voting for the least evil... I can't say there is one very good candidate anywhere right now...

I do know there is allot of misinformation saturating both sides of the political pool, and it is hard to know what is true and what isn't when everything that is put out is only half true...

... But I do know that from what I see in Akin, his ads, his words, and his campaign... He just doesn't come across as sincere about anything but his desire to climb the ladder of politics.

The ladder of politics is built with rungs of lies,to say that this or that candidate does not "come across" as being this or that is to submit to some standard or degree of dishonesty,usually based on emotion....they all lie.emotionalism is the new religion and philosophy of modern American politics,this man said things that made some people feel bad so he is the devil and must be eliminated as a possibility,while another man says things that make people feel good and he accomplishes nothing and makes some things worse....and America continues to spiral downward.

 

[brightmorningstar]

Brother James makes the key point. ... and it is spiritual. It is the differece between those who can see and those who cannot.
If those who support pro-choice abortion did see it as killing the unborn they would probably see it as even worse than rape. However, notice how keen they are to attack anyone who does see pro-choice abortion as killing the unborn person.

In short, this pales into insignificant compared to democrat support of abortion.

 

[Foreigner]

Brother James makes the key point. ... and it is spiritual. It is the differece between those who can see and those who cannot.
If those who support pro-choice abortion did see it as killing the unborn they would probably see it as even worse than rape. However, notice how keen they are to attack anyone who does see pro-choice abortion as killing the unborn person.

In short, this pales into insignificant compared to democrat support of abortion.

-- "Keen to attack anyne who does not see pro-choice abortion as killing the unborn person?"
So what is the standard used to classify it as "attack?"
According to the left, anyone who does not disagree with them is "attacking" them.

Perhaps you've noticed the current election season?
Please observe if you will the Liberal rhetoric used to define the "war on women" attacks on anyone who does not support abortion up through and including partial-birth abortion.

The Republican Convention is on right now. They have stated that they are pro-life, but there was not one single speech about how terrible the people who are pro-choice are. No criticism about the type of woman who would want to get an abortion.

They have, however, criticized Barack Obama because he declined - four seperate times - to vote for a bill that would have required a doctor to provide medical care for a baby that survived an abortion procedure.

But I do wonder....
Who is more justified in speaking out about the supportability of their position?
Those that are pro-life or those that feel the death of a child is a minor inconvenience in order for them to avoid a greater one?

The ones who oppose the murder of children or those who feel a baby's life takes a back seat to their "personal choice?"

 

[Brother James]

The "war on women" rhetoric was planned by the Democrats before it ever became public. Remember when George Stephanopoulis was moderating a Republican primary debate and he asked Mitt Romney if a state had the right to ban contraception? Romney looked quite puzzeled and paused quite a while before he answered. "George, nobody is even proposing such a thing, where does such a question even come from?" I'm paraphrasing from memory, but that was the gist of his response. It was the first hint that the left was going to manufacture a fake issue to paint the Republicans as waging a "war on women". Of course the whole thing is transparent, but the Democrats seem to think that doesn't matter. Their calculation seems to be that there are enough stupid women out there who won't see through their rhetoric and appreciate what they are really doing, and they will get votes as a result. They seem to think they can herd women into a corral and tell them all how to vote as a single block as they have done with other groups.

Thankfully, there are many women who do not believe in killing their unborn babies. There are many women who want to be successful as entrepreneurs. There are many women who still value being mothers. And there are still intelligent women who cannot be led around by their noses by Democrat party bosses who cynically plot how easily manipulated they will be.

 

[Eltanin]

The ladder of politics is built with rungs of lies,to say that this or that candidate does not "come across" as being this or that is to submit to some standard or degree of dishonesty,usually based on emotion....they all lie.emotionalism is the new religion and philosophy of modern American politics,this man said things that made some people feel bad so he is the devil and must be eliminated as a possibility,while another man says things that make people feel good and he accomplishes nothing and makes some things worse....and America continues to spiral downward.

I do agree, that all of politics is just who is better at blowing the wind in the most favorable direction... None of our candidates today are completely honest. I wouldn't go so far as calling any of them the devil, and I wouldn't really say any of them are completely sincere in wanting to make the USA a better place for everyone.... I think all of them have become such great liars that they have themselves convinced that they mean well.... But the best liars are those who can convince themselves their own lies are truth.

As it stands, Akin isn't a very good liar. So maybe he isn't as bad as some of those out there, but he did do damage to his party here in Missouri for sure, and he did cause very personal hurt to millions of families across the USA...

I honestly think the only reason he is still in the race is because, he is still drawing campaign funds from a few places that will still back him... You know what happens to that money? He gets to put it in his personal bank account when the campaign is over. He will make more money during the campaign than he will when he serves a term in office. So of course he isn't going to back out and let someone better for our state take spotlight. He will keep his scandal in the spotlight and make a weak spot for his party in our state, because as long as his name is top in the media, he will be receiving funds from those who think a party nomination is more important than an honorable person in the seat.

 

[Brother James]

I believe you are mistaken, unused campaign money cannot be converted to personal use under campaign finance laws. Where did you hear/read that he can keep unused campaign funds? Or did you just think that out of nowhere?

How did Akin's single misstatement hurt millions? And in what way is he a liar? Can you cite some specific lies he has told, or do you just not like him? I understand not liking a politician, but that doesn't give us license to say just anything about them whether it is true or not.

 

[biggandyy]

I understand not liking a politician, but that doesn't give us license to say just anything about them whether it is true or not.

Unless you are a democrat

 

[Eltanin]

I believe you are mistaken, unused campaign money cannot be converted to personal use under campaign finance laws. Where did you hear/read that he can keep unused campaign funds? Or did you just think that out of nowhere?

How did Akin's single misstatement hurt millions? And in what way is he a liar? Can you cite some specific lies he has told, or do you just not like him? I understand not liking a politician, but that doesn't give us license to say just anything about them whether it is true or not.

It is a specific lie that a woman cannot get pregnant by rape... I know a woman who was raped, she was a virgin when she was raped, and she got pregnant by that rape... She was very shook up by the comment, and so has been several women who have suffered from such a traumatic experience.... Because one of the first fears of many rape victims once the initial shock has sunk in is the scary possibility of whether they could be pregnant or not...

To listen to these women opens your eyes about just how hurtful the topic can be. The words he spoke sent a message to these women that if they had, or have, gotten pregnant by rape, then somehow, they must have wanted the rape on some level... That may not be what he meant, but the fact that he refuses to acknowledge the level on which he hurt these women, goes to show to many people that he is not sincere in his apology.

Such statement dredge up hard memories for victims, and their families, by putting them on a defensive about an attack that was not their fault...

As for campaign funds... I am sorry, you are right.

When I was growing up, my parents were involved in campaigning for state candidates that they supported... The rules were different back then, and I remember that there weren't really any rules about leftovers... this was 80's of course. My parents were very proactive about government back then with me and my brothers.

I do remember asking more about it in my teens, and was told by one lady who was part of the treasury for one campaign fund, that at the end of the campaign, for win or for lose, some funds would be kept for a possible next campaign, some funds would be sent to the national and state party committees, but most funds would be divided out to the non-profits who supported the candidate. Those non-profits would give some money back to the candidate as a gift. The money issue was part of the reason my parents quit campaigning for anyone... The other part was that every person they ever campaigned for (on either side of the D/R C/L line) ended up not even putting a real attempt to live up to the promises that they made. This has probably changed now as well... At least I hope so.

As it stands... I cannot put enough support behind anyone to actively campaign for them... My parents haven't done any campaign volunteering since I was in my mid-teens, so I probably have allot of catch up to do as to how it is now.

edit... I am not saying Akin is a horrible person... I am saying I do not like him as a politician... This is not the first time he has been insensitive to a group of people.... and I think he is perfectly entitled to his belief, if he so chooses to believe what he said... I cannot shake the impression that his apology is not a sincere apology to the families who have to cope with the consequences of his insensitive comments... It seems that he is apologizing more to the Republicans, and those who have backed out of his campaign.