So much for fading into the sunset. To the dismay of the entire Romney campaign, Rep. Todd Akin is keeping the "legitimate rape" story alive by staying in the Senate race and continuing to do interviews.
In a chat with NBC’s Matt Lauer this morning, the congressman said Republican vice presidential candidate personally "advised" him to step down. Ignoring those pleas, Akin said running for office isn't about him, "it's about trying to do the right thing and standing on principle."
Why yes, principles! Akin and Paul Ryan share a lot of them, it turns out. Most notably, Ryan cosponsored a bill to redefine rape — using the nonsensical term "forcible rape" — alongside the embattled Missouri lawmaker in order to limit the number of abortions covered by federal funding. This chain of events further exposes Ryan's extremely conservative views on social issues at time when Republicans are desperately working (and failing) to win over women voters.
Try as he might to distance himself from Akin’s redonkulous comments, Ryan got peppered with questions over his own pro-life stances on abortion, which do not include exceptions for rape and incest.
"I'm proud of my record. Mitt Romney is going to be president and the president sets policy. His policy is exceptions for rape, incest and life of the mother," Ryan told reporters on Wednesday during a brief news conference on his plane. "I'm comfortable with it because it's a good step in the right direction." (P.S. The GOP platform committee did not get that memo).
On Tuesday, Ryan called Akin's statements "outrageous" and "over the pale." He continued, "rape is rape period, end of story."
Team Obama isn't ready to let this drop yet. "[Ryan] may hope that American women never learn about this record, but they deserve an answer to why he wanted to redefine rape and remove protections for rape victims," said an Obama campaign spokeswoman according to TPM.
Akin earned The Last Word's infamous #batcrapcrazy hashtag by suggesting women who are victims of "legitimate rape" can shut down their bodies in order to stop from getting knocked up. A reminder folks, this is a sitting member of Congress.
