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Todd Akin’s campaign is under heavy attack from a series of ads from Claire McCaskill featuring women. Specifically, women who have been raped. Diana is probably the hardest hitting, when she says “”I’ve never voted for Claire McCaskill, but because of Todd Akin, I will now.”
That’s Akin’s nightmare: conservative women who are disgusted with his views on women.
But this is only the start of Akin’s problems.
Out in Sikeston, a reliably conservative town in the southeast corner of the state, a longtime local conservative columnist in the Sikeston Standard-Democrat named Michael Jensen shared his thoughts on Akin in yesterday’s paper:
I have tried to warm up to Todd Akin in his bid to unseat incumbent Democrat Claire McCaskill.
I have said repeatedly that though I am fond of McCaskill on a personal level, her support for many of the Obama programs rubs me the wrong way.
And given an appropriate opponent, I would bid a fond farewell to Sen. McCaskill.
But Akin is not that candidate.
As a personal protest – with little significance – I have considered not voting for either Akin or McCaskill. I also considered voting for Akin by holding my nose.
But what would that prove?
I think the best option is to accept another term for McCaskill and continue to stress the values of our region that we hold dear.
That’s Akin’s second nightmare: conservative men who are disgusted with his reactionary views.
One of Akin’s strategists came up with a great idea to push back against all this: a four city tour called “Missouri Women Stand With Todd Akin.” They’re in Rolla today, then on to Springfield and Joplin tomorrow, and will wind up on Wednesday in eastern metro Kansas City — not the urban part of the city, mind you, but where the city and the more conservative ‘burbs meet near Arrowhead stadium. They’re hitting three strongly conservative areas, trying to shore up the wavering part of their base, plus hitting a battleground spot in McCaskill’s backyard.
Headlining these “Missouri Women Stand With Todd Akin” rallies will be the former first lady of Arkansas Janet Huckabee, the distinguished Arkansas uber-mom, Michelle “19 Kids and Counting” Duggar, and DC’s own Penny Nance, head of Concerned Women for America.
Wait a minute . . .
*pulls out Missouri State Highway map*
*re-reads press release*
Um, Congressman . . .
I know Missouri Women. Missouri Women are friends of mine. Unless Penny Nance has some Missouri roots that Teh Google isn’t showing anyone, these aren’t Missouri Women.
Now Arkansas is close to Missouri, but the voters of Joplin, Rolla, Springfield, and Kansas City never made Janet Huckabee the first lady, and Michelle Duggar isn’t doing anything to help Missouri get back the congressional district it lost after the 2010 census. If you’re going to announce a series of “Missouri Women Stand With Todd Akin” rallies, you probably ought to mention some, you know, Missouri Women in your press release.
This pushback tour won’t put an end to Akin campaign’s nightmares. As Ebeneezer Scrooge discovered, nightmares come in threes. If conservative women making ads declaring that they are voting for McCaskill is nightmare #1, and conservative men writing newspaper columns saying the same thing is nightmare #2, what could possibly be nightmare #3?
Let’s see . . . maybe another commercial.
Of course, it’s got to have a woman in it.
No, let’s make it 28 women. A campaign commercial with 28 women.
And they should be not angry or upset, but . . . exasperated. 28 exasperated women.
Is Akin sweating? In the immortal words of Ron Popeil, don’t answer yet . . .
And in this nightmare of a commercial that will haunt Todd Akin, these 28 exasperated women should be naked.
28 exasperated naked women.
And they should not be hidden away in a studio or a home, but they should be outside, in public, in a park somewhere, with all kinds of people strolling around and riding their bikes in the background. Put these 28 exasperated naked women out in full view of anyone who wanders by.
And they should be regular-looking women, not ready-for-supermodeldom-looking women. Tall women. Short women. Women with straight hair and women with kinky hair. Women with light skin and women with dark skin. Women with freckles and women with wrinkles. Women with slim bodies and women with rounded bodies.
28 regular-looking exasperated naked women, out in public.
Is Akin nervous? Don’t answer yet . . .
And they should speak. High voices. Low voices. Young voices. Old voices. Quiet voices. Loud voices.
And every single exasperated voice coming from every single one of those 28 naked womanly bodies is strong and powerful.
They are persistent voices, and these 28 ordinary-looking exasperated naked women standing out in public have one question — just one question — to ask Todd Akin and any other politicians who share his 18th century views.
And they ask it over and over and over again . . .
If you don’t trust me with my body, why should I trust you with my country?
If you don’t trust me with my body, why should I trust you with my country?
If you don’t trust me with my body, why should I trust you with my country?
If you don’t trust me with my body, why should I trust you with my country?
If you don’t trust me with my body, why should I trust you with my country?
If you don’t trust me with my body, why should I trust you with my country? . . .
As the makers of the video point out at their website, “In every presidential election since 1964, the number of female voters has exceeded the number of male voters.”
Sleep well, Congressman. If you can . . .
____
image h/t to DonkeyHotey
35 Comments
He can sleep well, no doubt. But I think the women of Missouri will pull this one out for Blue Dog McCaskill. Better a blue dog than a misogynist nutcase.
I sure hope so, and you’re spot on with your conclusion.
And given your experience with Half-Governor Palin, you speak with a certain amount of first-hand knowledge when it comes this branch of the GOP.
Better a blue dog than a misogynist nutcase.
Absolutely, aint it the truthiness, Phil.
There’s a time to make a choice, a “best case” decision, and it’s almost here. So, I hope everyone at some point “gets it” in the coming weeks.
(There’s no crying in politics. Just Real Choices.
Thanks, for this piece, Peterr, but, I thought we were going to see tits.
(Oh, that demi. She’s such a card. Tit-covering card.)
I really want all these shits in Washington to get their asses kicked from there back to where they came from.
Listen to this:
“Our country might have been better off if it was still just men voting. There is nothing worse than a bunch of mean, hateful women. They are diabolical in how than can skewer a person. I do not see that in men. The whole time I worked, I’d much rather have a male boss than a female boss. Double-minded, you never can trust them. Because women have the right to vote, I am active, because I want to make sure there is some sanity for women in the political world. It is up to the Christian rednecks and patriots to stand up for our country. God bless America.”
~ Janis Lane, president of the Mississippi Tea Party.
Women voting for the Republicans is like black people voting to return to golden yesteryear of slavery.
But there’s a kernel of self hate in all oppressed minorities, it seems.
I can’t figure out if women just don’t KNOW about the right’s misogyny or think it’s fine according to their bibles
The Democrats apparently wanted Akin for an opponent, rather than his less far-right opponent, so spent $1.5 million in ads attacking him during the Republican primary in a way that “appears to be designed to endear him to conservative voters”.
Yes, it’s nice to see the Dems oppose this bigotry and misogyny, but they sure like having it work for them.
Any word on SD?
Darn, I am sure missing the diner.
It does make it easier to campaign when your opponent is so cooperative.
McCaskill had three possible opponents, as I wrote back in August:
And McCaskill knows that the more conservative that she can paint her opponent, the better a chance she has in the general election. In Akin, she doesn’t have to work hard at doing that.
When I watched the embedded video clip, I thought, “Ladies, you should put your bodies in my hands.”
She’s behind you know to the nut job misogynist.
So if she loses the election, we get someone arguably worse than his other opponents. And in the meantime, give this guy a platform to spout his hatefulness. In my opinion, this is emblematic of what’s wrong with the Dems, they leave a void of ideas and policies which gets filled by this kind of junk. Maybe that’s the only way to win an election, if you’re a Blue Dog with nothing to offer, but it’s sad to see so much “look at the crazy Republicans” and remember that the D’s want it that way.
Funny, I feel about the same as those 28 women: these clowns want to cut Medicare and Social Security, which will have an enormous effect on my body, Old Male variety, fully covered, people will be glad to know, and not in PJs and cheeto dust.
It’s serious JC, so sad to say. I recommend commenting in that post to be sure he sees it. He’s going to need a lot of support as he goes through treatment but we know he’s a tough old bird.
The Dems didn’t create Akin; the Missouri GOP primary voters did. You wouldn’t believe the ads they were running against each other.
As I watched the primary, Steelman would have been just as bad, but she’d cloak herself better than Akin does. Brunner would never have been acceptable to the TheoCons that run the MO GOP.
Check Margaret’s Pull Up Your Cat from the diaries on Sunday.
((JC))
I predict she will win.
Thanks, Elliot. N.G.U. (sniff)
I she doesn’t put Missouri on the map of idiots destroying our country.
For the life of me, for whatever it’s worth, I’m having a hard time wrapping my brain around people who would vote for his Filthy Heart.
I was going to saying filthy mouth, then filthy brain, but decided to cut to the chase.
Hi Marym.
All the menfolk in Missouri probably think like Akin.
And a lot of the womenfolk too.
I don’t give McCaskill much of a chance.
The crazy right hates Obamacare.
Funny thing though, they are going to hate Romneycare even more.
I think you are painting with a mighty wide brush there.
Settle down. Be real.
It’s difficult to imagine where so much hate is coming from, or why people are in fact voting for it. Maybe people who think like that are a hopeless cause as far as reaching them politically. But, for the rest of the population, as I said, there’s no counter-narrative in the mainstream dialogue. The Dems don’t run on a strong uncompromising platform of reproductive choice, religious freedom, diversity, tolerance, etc., that would bring out the best in us, rather than the worst. Not that we shouldn’t, as this post does, criticize the hate as much as we can, but that shouldn’t be the only political strategy.
Oh, wait, wait, maybe you were being folksy cute.
Sorry.
Carry on.
Yes! Gosh, you said it.
I will share my thoughts of diversity, acceptance, tolerance, compassion to as many as I can. Through this turmoil and beyond.
It’s all I can do.
Gosh, if only I had a 1/100 percent answers to the many questions I have.
What can I say. You got me.
I don’t get the South.
Every year it’s people seem more and more like another species to me.
Chiming in late here but I have to say that i would take McCaskill over Akin in a nanosecond even though she is a bluedog.
I am truly hoping that there will be very few of them left after this election.
Hmmm… maybe you should run for Senator!
Whatever the biggest flavor is in a certain area, there’s always people who think, feel and do differently than the majority.
That’s just been my experience.
I don’t think Akin can win this race, but that ad with 28 naked women is pretty weak, and I doubt it’ll have much of an impact on that race.
Eeps!!!
Time for American women to go “Lysistrata” on their misogynist, republican asses.
They would just rape them and call it a non rape.
Maybe it’s time to kick their asses out of the house.
I can’t figure out why the wingers didn’t pay attention when Mississippi voted against person-hood for fetuses. Women will take only so much bullshit from the white dudes trying to tell them what they can do.
Out here, somewhere east of Jeff City and west of Wardsville, there’s a country road. I drive this road, six trips a day. Akin signs are posted everywhere you look. These are my neighbors with the signs littering their spacious yards, not friends. They firmly believe Akin has been screwed over by outside interests and those assholes in Washington.
McCaskill may be a blue dog, but here in the wilds where guns outnumber people, she’s a damn socialist who votes what that (insert a common word for blah person)in the WH wants to do. And this year they are energized. The only way Claire will take Missouri is for the city folk to come out in numbers. Please, city folk in Missouri, come out in droves!