Scandal, Money and Slander

Image from indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com

If there’s one way a white male can raise questions with anyone the slightest bit left of Rick Santorum, it’s making an uninformed remark about a woman’s body. It’s no surprise that Todd Akin was under the attack of liberal media after his comment about “legitimate rape”. (Oh, it may come as no surprise that he has the support of aforementioned Santorum1) He claims women can block an unwanted pregnancy. Therefore, abortions should not be permitted, even if the pregnancy results from rape. The term “legitimate rape” is his category for cases of rape that he believes women fabricate or exaggerate. He supported his claims saying that pregnancy from rape is “extremely rare” according to the doctors he has spoken to2.

What doctors has been speaking to? I hope I am not the only person who thinks this contradicts everything I have learned about sex and contraceptives. To be fair, I tried searching “pregnancy from rape” and “block* pregnancy” in my university’s online library catalogues and found no medical journals supporting claims that women can ward off an unwanted pregnancy.

Democrats and women rights activists were outraged by his comments, rightfully so. But I cannot help but think that his opponent, Senator Claire McCaskill, was celebrating a private and anticipatory victory. It will take a lot of damage control for people to forget a comment like this. The hope is that she can appropriately use his blunder to win her support from the voters on wavering between party lines. Another thing she needs to do is get her name out there in a positive way. Name recognition is importing to winning a campaign, and most people in Missouri have heard Akins name at this point. Her main battle is spreading her name to anyone who heard about his blunder. Thankfully, most voters should know the name of their current Senator. Even Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan, both of whom are anti-choice, are trying to separate themselves from his comments1. His own party has urged him to step down3. Akin is still seen as a threat for the Republicans even though he has since retracted his claims and apologized.

Initially, McCaskill made limited comments about the “legitimate rape” remark. However, after Akin passed up the deadline to withdraw from the race, McCaskill released a campaign commercial attacking Akin. McCaskill has always used a candidate-oriented strategy, boasting her own family values, environment, mandate and willingness to put her principles before her party loyalties4. Therefore, the line, “what will he say next?” stresses to the voters the volatility of electing Akin as Senator.

Video courtesy of Claire McCaskills channel on youtube.com

Is this an advertisement for a politician or a warning for the end of Western civilization?

            What is a campaign without some critical slander and a hostile political advertisement? Naturally, Akin struck back with his own advertisement attacking McCaskill. He accuses her of “getting rich off of us” by signing the multibillion-dollar stimulus bill that did not produce jobs. You have got to give him some credit, he sure knows how to appeal to Missouri’s Republicans. For the voters that believe Washington needs to cut spending and focus on job creation Akin is the preferred candidate5. The advertisement is effective in that it adds to the existing doubts they have in a Democratic senator. Click here to view it5.

            Personally, I find it difficult to take any party funded attack advertisement seriously. It gives uninformed voters partial and biased information that draws attention away from either party’s actual mandate. The claims more often than not are exaggerated or false; regardless, there are Americans out there who let party funded advertisements influence their decision. That’s the problem with media. It is a strong authority over our beliefs. The cost of airing a 30 second clip on television costs a lot of money. That’s one of the reasons why we see a correlation between money and success in politics. The truth of our reality is, most people only involve themselves if where there’s money, and where there’s money there is usually a scandal! 

1. Bash, D & Barret, T. (2012). Santorum, DeMint endorse Akin. Political Ticker. Retrieved from http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/09/26/santorum-demint-endorse-akin
2. Eligon, J. (2012). Senate Candidate Provokes Ire With ‘Legitimate Rape’ Comment. New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/20/us/politics/todd-akin-provokes-ire-with-legitimate-rape-comment.html
3. Yaccino, S. (2012). McCaskill Hits Akin for ‘Legitimate Rape’ Comments in New Ad. New York Times Blogs. Retrieved from http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/26/mccaskill-hits-akin-for-legitimate-rape-comments-in-new-ad/
4. McCaskill, C. (2012). Claire McCaskill for U.S. Senate. Last modified September 25, 2012. Retrieved from http://clairemccaskill.com/about
5. Rosche, J. (2012) New Akin ad hits McCaskill on ethics, stimulus plan. Politico Blogs. Retrieved from http://www.politico.com/blogs/burns-haberman/2012/09/new-akin-ad-hits-mccaskill-on-ethics-stimulus-136979.html
6. Meier, S. (2012). McCaskill vs Akin Polls: Why McCaskill Will Have to Appeal to Obama to Defeat Akin. Policy Mic. Retrieved from http://www.policymic.com/articles/15439/mccaskill-vs-akin-polls-why-claire-mccaskill-will-have-to-appeal-to-obama-to-defeat-akin
7. Indian Country Today Media Network. (2012) Todd Akin Meme [Photograph]. Retrieved from http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2012/08/22/todd-akin-the-rape-excuser-legitimate-rape-people-not-politics-and-virtuous-porn-stars-130531

Works Cited

           Bash, D & Barret, T. (2012). Santorum, DeMint endorse Akin. Political Ticker. Retrieved from http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/09/26/santorum-demint-endorse-akin

           Eligon, J. (2012). Senate Candidate Provokes Ire With ‘Legitimate Rape’ Comment. New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/20/us/politics/todd-akin-provokes-ire-with-legitimate-rape-comment.html

           Indian Country Today Media Network. (2012) Todd Akin Meme [Photograph]. Retrieved from http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2012/08/22/todd-akin-the-rape-excuser-legitimate-rape-people-not-politics-and-virtuous-porn-stars-130531

           Meier, S. (2012). McCaskill vs Akin Polls: Why McCaskill Will Have to Appeal to Obama to Defeat Akin. Policy Mic. Retrieved from http://www.policymic.com/articles/15439/mccaskill-vs-akin-polls-why-claire-mccaskill-will-have-to-appeal-to-obama-to-defeat-akin
McCaskill, C. (2012). Claire McCaskill for U.S. Senate. Last modified September 25, 2012. Retrieved from http://clairemccaskill.com/about

           Rosche, J. (2012) New Akin ad hits McCaskill on ethics, stimulus plan. Politico Blogs. Retrieved from http://www.politico.com/blogs/burns-haberman/2012/09/new-akin-ad-hits-mccaskill-on-ethics-stimulus-136979.html

           Yaccino, S. (2012). McCaskill Hits Akin for ‘Legitimate Rape’ Comments in New Ad. New York Times Blogs. Retrieved from http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/26/mccaskill-hits-akin-for-legitimate-rape-comments-in-new-ad/