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[palsch]

In other why-did-you-say-that-out-loud news;

    Why do Ohio Republicans suddenly feel so strongly about limiting early voting hours in Democratic counties? Franklin County (Columbus) GOP Chair Doug Preisse gave a surprisingly blunt answer to the Columbus Dispatch on Sunday: “I guess I really actually feel we shouldn’t contort the voting process to accommodate the urban—read African-American—voter-turnout machine.” Preisse is not some rogue operative but the chairman of the Republican Party in Ohio’s second-largest county and a close adviser to Ohio Governor John Kasich.

The original article with the quote.

As to Akin's abortion bullshit, sadly this is a reasonably common meme that has been promoted by a range of anti-abortion groups for years now. Planned Parenthood have had to address it in a Q&A while fucking doctors have been spreading it.

On the other hand it does look like making abortion an even more serious issue in this election, especially given that Paul Ryan can be tagged with similar views.

Mr. Ryan, a seven-term congressman from Wisconsin, has opposed abortion in the case of rape. During his first run for the seat in 1998, The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported that he opposed abortions in all cases except to save the life of the mother.

More recently, Mr. Ryan was a co-sponsor of a House bill last year defining human life as beginning with fertilization and granting “personhood’’ rights to embryos, a movement that supporters say will outlaw abortions in all cases, and may also restrict some forms of birth control.

Making noise about this could split anti-abortion types. While Romney's position (exceptions for rape or incest) tends to be popular, the absolutist Ryan/Akin view tends to be held by lots of people who make abortion their sole reason for voting. Romney is already weak with that crowd and having to get some clear distance from Ryan's position could reduce the VP pick's effectiveness at shoring up base support.

[nenjin]

At least not this week.

At least when someone in the public asks him about it directly.

[Lord Shonus]

I really doubt most absolutists would fall into line with that sort of comment. It's one thing to be against abortion, but something else entirely to blame a victim.

[mainiac]

Ain't the first time a Republican has made comments to the effect of "if she got pregnant, she must have wanted it at some level"

Kinda scary that this isn't a new sentiment.  I guess it's like climate change or evolution.  If those pesky facts make you feel bad you go invent new ones.

[darkrider2]

Ain't the first time a Republican has made comments to the effect of "if she got pregnant, she must have wanted it at some level"

Kinda scary that this isn't a new sentiment.  I guess it's like climate change or evolution.  If those pesky facts make you feel bad you go invent new ones.

Facts are unreliable!

[RedKing]

I really doubt most absolutists would fall into line with that sort of comment. It's one thing to be against abortion, but something else entirely to blame a victim.

Blaming victims is something that goes on all the damn time.
"Fucking lazy welfare bums"
"Fucking fatass disability leeches"
"Fucking ghetto crack-whore babymommas"

It's all about finding a convenient fiction to remedy the cognitive dissonance that comes of having your worldview run into those irksome gray areas where what you hold to be a universal truth might wind up making you out to be an asshole. It's the same reason that soldiers in ANY conflict will dehumanize the enemy.

So yeah...I don't have trouble seeing anti-abortion absolutists telling themselves that if that girl got pregnant from being raped, she must be at least partially at fault, cause then they're not monstrous assholes for insisting she carry the baby to term.

[nenjin]

I really doubt most absolutists would fall into line with that sort of comment. It's one thing to be against abortion, but something else entirely to blame a victim.

Like it or not, this has been a credo of Conservative Republicans for the last 25 years. The specific rendering of the belief may change politician to politician, but the sentiment remains.

[darkrider2]

I really doubt most absolutists would fall into line with that sort of comment. It's one thing to be against abortion, but something else entirely to blame a victim.

Like it or not, this has been a credo of Conservative Republicans for the last 25 years.

Yeah I agree with RedKing. Its almost like they don't know any other way of doing it...

[Lord Shonus]

I really doubt most absolutists would fall into line with that sort of comment. It's one thing to be against abortion, but something else entirely to blame a victim.

Blaming victims is something that goes on all the damn time.
"Fucking lazy welfare bums"
"Fucking fatass disability leeches"
"Fucking ghetto crack-whore babymommas"

It's all about finding a convenient fiction to remedy the cognitive dissonance that comes of having your worldview run into those irksome gray areas where what you hold to be a universal truth might wind up making you out to be an asshole. It's the same reason that soldiers in ANY conflict will dehumanize the enemy.

So yeah...I don't have trouble seeing anti-abortion absolutists telling themselves that if that girl got pregnant from being raped, she must be at least partially at fault, cause then they're not monstrous assholes for insisting she carry the baby to term.

Might be a regional thing. Most Democrats I know are very nearly absolutist anti-abortion (and if you must have one, it's the deep secret everybody pretends not to notice), but there's zero tolerance for rapists around here. The relative handful of Republicans in this corner of the state can't afford to be too extreme, either.

[nenjin]

I think it's most entangled in other Republican beliefs about sex, contraception ect..... I'm sure many Republicans would like to come out in favor of rape victims having some sort of exceptions, but the platform won't tolerate anything that smacks of compromise on abortion, family values, yadda yadda. So even well-meaning Republicans end up taking the stance that "gettin' raped is yer fault. Better marry the guy."

[darkrider2]

I think it's most entangled in other Republican beliefs about sex, contraception ect..... I'm sure many Republicans would like to come out in favor of rape victims having some sort of exceptions, but the platform won't tolerate anything that smacks of compromise on abortion, family values, yadda yadda. So even well-meaning Republicans end up taking the stance that "gettin' raped is yer fault. Better marry the guy."

It also disturbs me greatly that so little variation on issues is permitted in their party.

[Lord Shonus]

Don't kid yourself. At a national level. democrats are almost as lockstepped into abortion-on-a-whim, even those who would prefer restricting abortion to situations where "no" wasn't an answer.

[nenjin]

Don't kid yourself. At a national level. democrats are almost as lockstepped into abortion-on-a-whim, even those who would prefer restricting abortion to situations where "no" wasn't an answer.

It's true. Neither party is free of ideological purity. That said, I think it's possible for a democrat to support limited abortion (as opposed to unrestricted abortion) without getting tarred and feathered by the heaviest hitters in the party. I don't think the same is true for Republicans. Republicans have always been more unified than Dems when it comes to party ideology.

[Nadaka]

Most democrats prefer the idea  of "legal abortion on a whim" to "illegal crack house abortions on a whim". It is not only a women's rights concern but a very real public health concern. And most democrats also oppose late term abortions, so "on a whim" is putting it a bit too broadly.

[nenjin]

"With few qualifications" might be more appropriate. Dems generally don't believe in the state's right to force women to qualify their desire for an abortion. Whereas Republicans, if they're willing to even tolerate them, want mandatory waiting periods (the irony of that in comparison to gun laws....heh), informational brochures shaming mothers into not having abortions, doctors counseling them not to do it, parental/guardian approval.....before they'll deign to let a woman decide for herself.