Obama: Todd Akin 'somehow missed science class'
Source: Politico
Obama: Todd Akin 'somehow missed science class'
By REID J. EPSTEIN | 8/22/12 8:18 PM EDT
NEW YORK President Obama mocked Missouri Rep. Todd Akin here, telling a fundraising crowd packed with pro basketball stars that the embattled Senate candidate somehow missed science class.
Recently some of you have been paying attention to the commentary about the senator from Missouri, Mr. Akin, Obama said. The interesting thing here is that this, this is an individual who sits on the House Committee on Science and Technology but somehow missed science class. And its representative of the desire to go backwards instead of forwards and fight fights that we thought were settled 20 or 30 years ago.
The Akin remark represents the second time in three days Obama has addressed the Missouri Senate race, which pits Akin against incumbent Democrat Claire McCaskill, a top 2008 Obama surrogate. On Monday Obama made a surprise appearance at the daily White House press briefing to declare that rape is rape.
Akin has defied efforts from Missouri and national Republicans to drop out of his race after his infamous comments about legitimate rape on a St. Louis television show Sunday morning.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/politico44/2012/08/obama-todd-akin-somehow-missed-science-class-132876.html
Live and Learn
(12,769 posts)And they want all kids growing up believing tripe like this which is why they are against sex ed in school.
efhmc
(14,732 posts)most.
Bernardo de La Paz
(49,036 posts)Grassy Knoll
(10,118 posts)That he said it out loud, others love the warm blanket this asshat spewed.
either way everybody knows how they feel.
Freddie
(9,273 posts)They all think like Akin, he just spoke with his filter off.
xtraxritical
(3,576 posts)to distract from Romneys tax/finance issues. IT'S A BIG GOP DISTRACTION TACTIC.
47of74
(18,470 posts)Bernardo de La Paz
(49,036 posts)Akin attitude is absolutely typical of the willful ignorance and anti-science attitudes of mainly Republican elected officials and the more conservative of their followers.
There is a very thoughtful group among conservatives (ex. William F. Buckley) but Akin is the exact opposite of thoughtful.
Keep Akin in. He's the poster boy of Republican mainstream which is the extreme part of American life.
DallasNE
(7,403 posts)Is that people like Akin use their fundamentalist version of the Bible for guidance in crafting law. The Constitution is not part of the consideration. It can't be because they are dead set against the Establishment Clause that is part of the 1st Amendment. They don't believe America is a secular nation envisioned in the Constitution and the reason is simple; the Bible didn't establish it as a secular nation. They are not about the rule of law, they set their own rules based on what some preacher tells them the Bible says. Think not; Akin was quoting a Bible spouting doctor from la-la land and got burned.
Bernardo de La Paz
(49,036 posts)Qutzupalotl
(14,327 posts)unless your constituents are monks and nuns.
yardwork
(61,703 posts)Monk06
(7,675 posts)want to talk about. No abortions, no exceptions for rape and incest. That's they're plank. Make Romney try to deny it and watch him and Ryan wiggle and squirm.
blur256
(979 posts)My girlfriend had it on while I got ready for work. This was my Facebook post in reply:
Thank YOU Rep. Todd Akin for making the voters of Missouri sound like redneck hillbillies with sub par educations to the viewers of the Today Show. Maybe you are misinformed about the facts regarding the female reproductive system, but I consider myself well educated as well as most other voters in your state.
He basically said that voters would still support him for his belief versus the facts. I shake my head, because that is sadly true. They had women on the local news with reporters asking them why they said they still supported him. One said, "Well he is a man after all." Like men are incapable of navigating the woman reproductive system. I have a master's degree, but I'm pretty sure I learned this business in junior high. Or prior. I was in the gifted program in elementary, and I missed the "puberty video" because of going to gifted class that day, but I still figured it out.
DeSwiss
(27,137 posts)- K&R
Beartracks
(12,821 posts)... but that he THINKS it at all.
However, it seems most of the Republicans urging Akin to quit don't seem to mind what he thinks; rather, they worry that he said it out loud.
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yurbud
(39,405 posts)Beartracks
(12,821 posts)Those are 3 of my designs in my Zazzle store. The image links to the politics section of the shop.
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yurbud
(39,405 posts)This idiot is on the science committee. Requirement to be on GOP committee definitly doesn't invovle knowledge of anything.
Iliyah
(25,111 posts)......
avebury
(10,952 posts)lunatica
(53,410 posts)our future science and technology is fucked. People like Akin are put there deliberately to stop progress dead in its tracks. Hello Dark Ages.
Beartracks
(12,821 posts)Uncle Joe
(58,417 posts)Thanks for the thread, kpete.
yellowcanine
(35,701 posts)When brains were being handed out he got what was in the remainder bin.
dynasaw
(998 posts)part of his anatomy.
hedgehog
(36,286 posts)"Missouri
Schools are not required by law to provide sex education, but if a school district chooses to offer such courses, the classes must include information about abstinence until marriage and prevention of HIV/AIDS and other STDs. "
http://www.teen-aid.org/State_Resourses/State_Sex_Education_Laws.htm
More details here:
http://www.siecus.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=Page.ViewPage&PageID=1308
Kingofalldems
(38,475 posts)fifthoffive
(382 posts)I suspect some GOPers still believe the sperm contains a tiny homunculus that the man "plants" in the woman.
yurbud
(39,405 posts)heterounculus.
Though any child fathered by an uncle...
yurbud
(39,405 posts)pnwmom
(108,994 posts)Lovely.
LisaL
(44,974 posts)Ain't it great?
wordpix
(18,652 posts)My friend and I hypothesized about what Akin could have meant by "legitimate," which was no accident in wording. We surmise the following:
If it's a "legitimate" rape, the woman is uptight, tense, dry and her body will "shut that whole thing down." (Idiotic and untrue). Ergo, no abortion is needed b/c she can't get pregnant according to Akin's doctor friend-guru.
If it's an "illegitimate" rape, she's enjoying it. Ergo, no abortion is needed b/c it's not a "legitimate" rape ----she liked it.
It's a win-win for the Republics
trailmonkee
(2,681 posts)Igel
(35,356 posts)Is there a test question on the exit-level science test in your state that asks about whether or not humans are one of the species in which the females can pick and choose which male's sperm to allow to fertilize the eggs?
You're right. It's not on the older tests in Texas. Perhaps the Biology STAAR test (new last year) has more rape-related questions.
Because if it's not on the test, it's not going to form part of the evaluations that the current Dept. of Education wants, and that means a lot of teachers don't have a lot of time to teach it.
Then again I did watch a 17-year-old girl during a review for her exit level test a year and a half ago react in shock when she was told that women produce eggs and guys produce sperm. She managed to be sexually active for several years (somehow avoiding pregnancy) and was of the belief that she produced sperm.
True, she did transfer in from Cicago just a few years before that.
trailmonkee
(2,681 posts)Strat0
(34 posts)small correction. He's not a Senator yet, just a member of the House of Represensatives. But well, hopefully he won't be around there in the future.
Third Doctor
(1,574 posts)I don't need no damned book learnin! The devil's in it!
Act_of_Reparation
(9,116 posts)Akin no doubt understands how babies are made.
The problem is Akin believes in an omnibenevolent deity who intercedes in the affairs of man. An all-good God capable of affecting the course of history wouldn't allow a legitimate victim of rape to bear a child as a result.
Once again, magical thinking fails the reality test.