GOP Self Immolates With Abortion Debate

For years now the Republican Party has shamelessly pandered to the foulest elements of the Christianist elements in the country.  The result has been that slowly but surely, the extremism of the Christianist element in the GOP has caused moderates - indeed, I would argue, rational members of the Party to flee - leading to an ever downward spiral of the Party as a whole.  The end result is the dysfunctional insanity that now passes for intellect and logic in the party as a whole as best embodied by Todd Akin of Missouri, although Akin's thinking is pretty much no different than that of Paul Ryan, Bob "Taliban Bob" McDonnell, and similar fruitcakes who now are deemed leaders of the GOP.  Thankfully, Akin announced in a press conference yesterday that he plans on remaining in the Missouri Senate race all the way - thus guaranteeing the the GOP's extremism on abortion and contraception stays in the media headlines.  In my view, the GOP is reaping what it has sown and I don't have a single tear drop for the Party.  First, these highlights from the Washington Post on Akin's press conference:

In his first press conference since last Sunday’s disastrous interview, Rep. Todd Akin (R) told the Missouri Eagle Forum that he’s still in the race against Sen. Claire McCaskill (D) and plans to stay in until November.

“Apparently there are some people who are having trouble understanding our message. I’m going to be clear on that today,” he said. “We’re going to be here through the November election and I’m going to be here to win. There may be some negotiations, but they don’t include me.”

Making things even more fun is the fact that the ever sleazy and untethered Mike Huckabee is working with the leading Christofascist groups to rally Kook-Aid support Akin  in defiance of the so-called GOP establishment crowd who first allowed the Christianist loons to start running the asylum known as today's Republican Party.

Politico has an article that looks at the way in which the abortion issue is drowning out GOP efforts to change the subject out of the knowledge that the party's extreme positions on abortion and contraception are radioactive with women voters.  Here are some excerpts:

Todd Akin’s “legitimate rape” remark forced fellow Republicans to publicly explore the details of how they think about abortion — details that don’t serve their broader argument and that give Democrats a chance to reframe the debate, conservatives say. That’s not going away any time soon: Akin reaffirmed in a Friday press conference that he won’t be dropping out of the Missouri Senate race.

He has proved that it only takes a moment — a word — for a single player to hijack the cause. Republican officials say there’s a lesson to be learned: The message and the messenger matter.

“When we get into the details, I don’t think it’s ever more inclusive of people,” Jackie Curtiss, a 22-year-old Republican National Committee member from Alabama told POLITICO in a telephone interview from Tampa. “I’m a Republican. I’m pro-life. … [but] if I was raped or my best friend was raped, I would hope we would have a chance to make the decision of whether to keep the child. That would be our decision, not the government’s, not the party’s.”

[T]his isn’t the first time this year that an effort to limit abortion — or contraception — has become a liability for the GOP.   In May, Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell retreated from a state plan to require women seeking abortions to first have invasive ultrasounds. And earlier this year, House Republican leaders fumbled away a winning religious-liberty argument on the president’s contraception rules when House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) blocked the testimony of Georgetown University law student Sandra Fluke at a hearing on the matter.

I love the fact that the GOP as a whole is increasingly recognized to be just as insane as the most whacked out members of the extreme Christian Right.  A reality that even the soon to be released party platform confirms.