Growing Number Of Conservatives Call On Akin To
Withdraw After ‘Legitimate Rape’ Comments

Rep. Todd Akin, the GOP Senate candidate in Missouri, set off a firestorm today after claiming that women who are victims of “legitimate rape” don’t usually become pregnant because “the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.” Now, several conservative writers have started calling for Akin to withdraw from his Senate race:

One of the first was Reihan Salam, a prominent author at the conservative flagship National Review:

Todd Akin ought to step the heck down.

— Reihan Salam (@reihan) August 19, 2012

John McCormack, a staff writer at Bill Kristol’s The Weekly Standard, also called on Akin to step down:

.@rameshponnuru tried to warn us about Todd Akin nationalreview.com/corner/313005/? #headdesk

— John McCormack (@McCormackJohn) August 19, 2012

GOP political strategist Patrick Ruffini noted that former Sen. Robert Torricelli (D-NJ) withdrew from his reelection campaign after a scandal:

I think we may have a Torricelli situation here.

— Patrick Ruffini (@PatrickRuffini) August 19, 2012

Given his long history of political extremism, Akin’s views have long been out of step with the American political mainstream.

Add to del.icio.us

Digg this

Post to Furl

Add to reddit

Add to myYahoo!