Akin To Be: What To Do With the Republican Nominee in the Missouri Senate Race

I'm late to the Todd Akin "legitimate rape" story, and at this point, everyone of consequence has asked that he step aside for the good of the party, but I think it's important that the whole of the Vast Right-wing Conspiracy make their feelings clear. Akin needs to leave the race for numerous reasons:

1. the idea that a woman being raped can somehow avoid pregnancy by "shutting that whole thing down" (WTF???????) is beyond stupid. It's deeply offensive and no better than the old "advice" about lying back and enjoying it. We are in real James Watt territory here.  

2. To quote Charles Krauthammer, we already have enough idiots in the Senate (and everywhere else).

3. Newsflash to aspiring GOP pols: the media is going to ask you about abortion, so you might want to practice your lines ahead of time. If you haven't, you have demonstrated that you are not, and never will be, ready for national prominence.

4. Any answer to a media question about abortion must begin from the premise that abortion involves the taking of a human life. You can argue whether the "rape" exception is, or is not, a necessary evil, but no one's going to accuse you of being a member of the lunatic fringe if you adhere to it. On the other hand, yapping about "legitimate rape" is real "Gardasil causes mental retardation" stuff.

5. For some mysterious reason, Democrats poured a million + dollars into the Republican primary with the intent of electing Akin as the nominee. No doubt they saw something that the rest of the GOP establishment missed, namely that he is an idiot.

Most important, I am tired of seeing Republican electoral prospects hobbled, even temporarily, by fumble tongued conservatives who can't manage to discuss abortion, or list the three cabinet departments they would close, or what have you, without turning into a gaffe machine. Maybe Akin is great behind the scenes. If that's the case, he should stay there.