FSM, grant me the strength not to strangle this idiot.

After a bizarre, rambling speech of how great America is because we value life (citing the examples of firefighters running into the World Trade Center and Marines protecting Iraqis), Republican Missouri Senate nominee Todd Akin tells local Missouri Fox News host Charles Jaco that "real" rape victims can "shut down" a pregnancy.

No, really:

This morning, Akin told the anchor of the Jaco Report that, from what he "understands from doctors" (which doctors, he does not say), that assuming we are talking about "cases of legitimate rape" the "female body has a way of shutting that down" (i.e. preventing pregnancy). So ladies, according to Mr. Akin, if you are raped, you not only have to prove to Mr. Akin that your rape was "legitimate," you also are at fault for allowing yourself to become pregnant.

WTF???? I really am beginning to feel strongly that men who have not a single clue on the reproductive system of women have absolutely no right to opine on it, much less legislate. However, this is par for course for Akin:

Akin is perhaps the boldest among a crop of conservative 2012 nominees who could hamper GOP efforts to take back the Senate in the fall. Akin has called for an end to the school-lunch program and a total ban on the morning-after pill. [..] Nor is this Akin’s first time suggesting some types of rape are more worthy of protections than others. As a state legislator, Akin voted in 1991 for an anti-marital-rape law, but only after questioning whether it might be misused “in a real messy divorce as a tool and a legal weapon to beat up on the husband,” according to a May 1 article that year in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The PollTracker Average shows Akin leading McCaskill by a margin of 49.7 percent to 41.3 percent.

For the love of everything holy, I have issues with Claire McCaskill, but she is light years more evolved than this troglodyte. We cannot allow Todd Akin a seat in the Senate.

Updated with facts: (h/t Matt Yglesias) Akin wonders dismissively how prevalent rape-related pregnancy occurs. Turns out, pretty often:

Rape-related pregnancy occurs with significant frequency. It is a cause of many unwanted pregnancies and is closely linked with family and domestic violence. As we address the epidemic of unintended pregnancies in the United States, greater attention and effort should be aimed at preventing and identifying unwanted pregnancies that result from sexual victimization.

I'm sure Akin will say those women are just not trying hard enough to shut down the pregnancy.



UPDATED: Ruh-roh. Someone figured out that this might not have been the right thing to say. After fellow Republicans (!!!) called for him to step down from the Senate race, Akin released a statement saying he "misspoke" about the notion of "legitimate" rape. Oddly enough, he hasn't walked back the shutting down pregnancy part. I'd like to see him name the medical "professionals" who gave him that information.