The Romney-Ryan team was gaining some traction.
The choice of Paul Ryan elevated at least some of the debate to real issues, like federal spending and the future of Medicare. In fact, A Rasmussen Poll found that 47 percent of Americans feared the Affordable Health Care Act more than Ryan’s proposed restructuring of Medicare.
The team was preparing to head to the Republican National Convention in Tampa, where they were sure to get a bump in the polls from the week-long pep rally.
But then Todd Akin emerged from somewhere back in the 18th century.
The Missouri Congressman and Republican U.S. Senate candidate, when questioned about abortion, opined about “legitimate rape” and suggested that “the female body has ways to try to shut the whole thing down.”
Unfortunately for Akin, he had not just returned from the Mayo Clinic with new research on reproduction.
Naturally, Akin went into damage control with an explanation (“I used the wrong words in the wrong way”) and an apology (“I have a compassionate heart for the victims of sexual assault.”)
The fallout has been rapid and severe. Every Republican leader who can find a microphone or a camera is denouncing Akin, as they should.
Sure, people occasionally say the wrong thing, especially those who are constantly in the public eye, but as Washington Post conservative columnist Kathleen Parker pointed out, “Of course words were never the problem. The ‘thinking’ was the problem.”
Abortion is one of the great emotional conundrums in our country. The polar opposite views are well established; no abortions under any circumstances vs. abortion on demand for any reason. But struggling mightily in the middle are Americans who are troubled by abortion, but don’t necessarily want the government to limit or block a woman’s right to choose.
The country is trending more pro-life. A Gallup Poll last May found a record low 41 percent of Americans identify themselves as pro-choice, down from 47 percent the year before. Fifty percent say they are pro-life, one point below a record high from 2009.
That should help the Republicans this election year, but Romney and Ryan are having trouble with female voters. A new NBC/WSJ Poll finds that President Obama leads Romney by ten points among female voters.
“On the question of candidate is better with issues of concern to women, only 24 percent of voters surveyed chose Romney, compared to 52 percent who chose Obama,” NBC reported.
Unfortunately for the GOP, Akin’s comments have given Democrats an opportunity to claim that it’s that kind of Neanderthal logic that is really behind the Republican view of abortion.
Take, for example, comments by California Senator Barbara Boxer at a Planned Parenthood luncheon.
Where’s the outrage by Mitt Romney?” Boxer asked. “There is a sickness out there in the Republican Party, and I’m not kidding. Maybe they don’t like their moms or their first wives; I don’t know what it is.”
Boxer’s comments are inane, but Akin’s irrational views have created a wide target for all comers.
Voters who have an uneasy truce with abortion may be willing to accept (or at least tolerate) opposing views on abortion, but they certainly don’t want to be told the biologically-challenged fantasy that a woman who has been brutalized can will herself to block a pregnancy.