Romney Busted – Proud to Have Endorsement of Akin Rape Doctor in 2007

Last updated on August 23rd, 2012 at 08:02 pm

“It seems to me, from what I understand from doctors, that’s really rare. If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.” – Todd Akin

It turns out, and this is no surprise to anyone with an above-room-temperature IQ, that Mitt Romney is insincere in his repudiation of Missouri Republican Todd Akin. Moreover, it turns out that the Republican Party as a whole, which has largely banded together to oust the man who says “legitimate”  rape victims don’t get pregnant, isn’t sincere in its repudiation, either.

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There is the matter of legislation, which as Sarah Jones pointed out here yesterday, tends to argue against their sincerity. Actions, as the saying goes, speak louder than words. But that’s not all. Yesterday developed into a sort of ” perfect storm”  for Republican denials as several factors coalesced to clearly reveal them for the liars and hypocrites they are.

You see, CNN reported yesterday that “Republicans drafting their party’s official policy platform on Tuesday ratified a call for a Constitutional ban on abortion that makes no exceptions for rape or incest.”

And they didn’t even have to think about it: “The party’s official stance on abortion was approved after just a few minutes of discussion. The language in the platform must be voted on before the full Republican Convention next week, though Republicans say it is all but certain to pass.” It is a platform this morning’s New York Times editorial in an understatement calls “extremist”  and “mean-spirited and intolerant” so you can be sure it will pass.

What was that Mitt Romney was saying about Todd Akin’s anti-abortion stance where rape is concerned?

“Governor Romney and Congressman Ryan disagree with Mr. Akin’s statement. A Romney-Ryan administration would not oppose abortion in instances of rape.”

Even if there was a constitutional ban on abortion for any reason whatsoever?

But Romney became even firmer in his rejection of Akin and his doctor. That stance then evolved into a much firmer and unequivocal “Congressman’s Akin comments on rape are insulting, inexcusable, and, frankly, wrong.” As Romney told National Review Online in a phone interview, “Like millions of other Americans, we found them to be offensive.”

“I have an entirely different view,” Romney said. “What he said is entirely without merit and he should correct it.”

Romney’s campaign can claim that “It’s not at all uncommon to have slight differences between the platform and the nominee” but it turns out, reports the LA Times, that the “Doctor behind Todd Akin’s rape theory was a Romney surrogate in 2007,” leading to questions as to just how much Romney does disagree with Akin, if at all.

According to the Times:

[A]rchives from Romney’s previous presidential bid show that the Massachusetts Republican has historically supported the person who is the source of Akin’s theory, Dr. Jack C. Willke, the father of the antiabortion movement.

Wilke himself is a physician and as the Times goes on to say, “former president of the National Right to Life Committee.” He has written a book on the subject and maintains a website, abortionfacts.com, dedicated to propagating his lies.

Romney knew all this when he bragged about Wllke’s endorsement in 2007.

And this isn’t icky lying liberals talking, this is Mitt Romney’s campaign bragging:

“Dr. Willke is a leading voice within the pro-life community and will be an important surrogate for Governor Romney’s pro-life and pro-family agenda,” the Romney campaign said in an October 2007 statement.

“I am proud to have the support of a man who has meant so much to the pro-life movement in our country,” Romney said in the statement. “He knows how important it is to have someone in Washington who will actively promote pro-life policies. Policies that include more than appointing judges who will follow the law but also opposing taxpayer-funded abortion and partial-birth abortion.”

On top of all this, CNN also reported yesterday that “The Republican Party’s platform committee on Tuesday rejected a measure that would have expressed formal support for same-sex civil unions.”

Let’s recap:

So the GOP as a whole feels pretty much the way Akin feels and has for some time, as their legislation proves, but Akin went and opened his mouth at a sensitive time and got busted for it despite Fox News’  best efforts to hush it up, at which point they all piled onto Akin, condemning him for advertising the fact that they are all insensitive louts; Romney, already on shaky ground with voters, is not least among them and even the Akin-loving Ryan joins in. But then the GOP, unable to stop the tidal wave of hatred they set in motion and broiling up now from below, shoots itself in the foot with its platform and Romney gets busted for lying about how he really feels about rape victims.

It’s as if they all collectively shook their Etch A Sketches and hoped for the best (clicking heels together is so New Deal-ish, after all).

But the best isn’t going to happen.

Is it any wonder then that Tropical Storm Isaac is “on track to hit Florida next week, when Republicans gather in Tampa”?

AFP tells us that according to Dennis Feltgen of the US National Weather Service.”It is too early to determine what, if any, impacts might be experienced in the Tampa area next week during the RNC,” and that wunderground.com Meteorologist Jeffrey Masters said via email that “It would take a ‘perfect storm’ sort of conditions to all fall in place to bring (the tropical storm) to the doorstep of Tampa as a hurricane during the convention, but that is one of the possibilities the models have been suggesting could happen.”

But if it did, if a category 1 hurricane put the convention center under 20 feet of water, would the Republican Party then admit to the possibility that God is just an teensy weensy bit pissed at them?

Awe, who are we kidding. Even if they did, they would just interpret it to mean God thought they weren’t being extreme enough. Because as we all know, and let’s recite it together: “There is no crime for those who have Christ.”



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