Rape is a very serious issue. It is not one to take lightly, nor one to discuss in any public or private setting without fully comprehending basic facts about it. It is a word that, just said alone, evokes painful and horrible imagery- for good reason.

But Rep. Todd Akin, the Republican nominee for Senate in Missouri, doesn’t understand that. He doesn’t even pretend to understand that. Instead, that idiot opened his mouth, and just vomited a series of words that make sense in absolutely no context. Now let me be clear– Akin will unquestionably attempt to walk back these remarks, likely after he speaks with any human being that possesses the ability of cognitive thought. But there’s really no walking this one back.

Just so there is no ambiguity, Todd Akin has a history of this sort of behavior. Sadly, to me, this sort of pattern not only demonstrates that Akin meant what he said today, but furthermore that he has some serious impairment to understand basic facts about rape and other sexual activity. It’s degrading, it’s disgusting, and this man isn’t qualified to be a United States Senator, much less a dog catcher. Hell, to me, this isn’t even about his political affiliation, it’s about his utter stupidity. This is beyond ignorance, dammit.

We have all had rape touch our lives. In college, I spent a Sunday morning in the ER with a friend of mine who was raped. This isn’t some sort of joke to me, just as it is not to the vast majority of the human population. But to Todd Akin, it’s either a joke, or just something that he doesn’t want to understand, but is perfectly content legislating.

Sad.

==Update==

As I predicted, Akin’s campaign quickly attempted to backtrack. In the spirit of good faith, I will reprint the statement below with only minimal editorial comment, so that together, we can see the amount of bullshit that can be spewn in three short paragraphs.