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Akin, of "legitimate rape" fame, is now complaining that his Democratic opponent, Claire McCaskill, had the nerve to actually campaign against him. McCaskill's decision to run a standard political campaign was apparently not properly "ladylike", and Akin is offended at her aggressiveness. No, really; here's the quote:

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"I think we have a very clear path to victory, and apparently Claire McCaskill thinks we do, too, because she was very aggressive at the debate, which was quite different than it was when she ran against Jim Talent. She had a confidence and was much more ladylike [in 2006], but in the debate on Friday she came out swinging, and I think that's because she feels threatened."

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Personally, I think it's a good thing for women to come out swinging, whether they're facing down a "legitimate rapist" who thinks he has the right to violate women's bodies, or a misogynist political opponent who thinks he has the right to control women's bodies. And it's some pretty sweet irony to hear the man who says women can't become pregnant from "legitimate rape" also suggesting that women shouldn't fight back when they feel threatened because aggressive self-defense is unladylike.

Ladies, apparently, should lie back and take it.

He co-sponsored the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act, which changed the definition of rape by specifying that government-sponsored healthcare dollars would only pay for abortion if a pregnancy was caused by "forcible" rape, instead of just regular old rape.

Akin repeatedly uses terms like "legitimate rape" as synonyms for "forcible rape". That means, simply, that Akin will accept that you were "legitimately" raped if a stranger jumps out of the bushes and assaults you. If you're assaulted by your partner, or an acquaintance, or a sports coach, or a guy at a frat party? Not "legitimate".

It's easy to write all of this off as a problem with Akin himself. The man clearly does have some misogyny issues. But Akin's antiquated views on rape, abortion and women's rights aren't his alone; they're standard GOP fare.

All of this – the belief that some rape victims are more legitimate than others, the hostility toward women who are "aggressive" and "unladylike", the refusal to protect women from violence if those women are immigrants or lesbians – reflects the GOP's fundamental view that women are not equal citizens. The entire Republican social platform is structured around the idea of the "traditional family", where men are in the public sphere as breadwinners and heads of households, and women stay in private, taking care of children and serving as helpmeets to their husbands. The conservative worldview sees men as naturally in charge, and women as naturally nurturing and supportive of male authority.

Akin's problems aren't limited to his own backwards views on women, or even the repeated slip-ups that reveal the depth of those views. A look at his past comments and at his voting record shows that Akin fundamentally doesn't trust women, and he definitely doesn't trust rape victims. Akin doesn't just have a far-right anti-abortion voting record; he praises rightwing militias with ties to radical anti-abortion action. He opposed the creation of a sex offender registry. (Tracking rapists is too aggressive and unladylike, perhaps?)

These aren't a few wayward comments from an unhinged candidate who doesn't know when to shut up. This is the Republican party platform.

And despite being initially criticized by his party for voicing a position on abortion and rape that gels almost perfectly with the party's official stance, Akin appears to be back in the GOP's good graces. He's officially on the ballot as the Republican candidate, and enjoys the practical and financial support of the national Republican senatorial committee. He's been endorsed by Rick Santorum, Rick Perry and Jim DeMint. Former House speaker Newt Gingrich is campaigning with him. The Missouri Republican party issued a statement saying it "stands behind" Akin. http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/sep/28/todd-akin-ladylike
-comment-gop]
The references to that militia group? This:

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Missouri Senate candidate Todd Akin drew fire from fellow Republicans in the '90s for praising a private militia group associated with extreme anti-abortion actions, according to a 2000 St. Louis Post-Dispatch article.

According to the article, Akin wrote a letter of praise to the 1st Missouri Volunteers in 1995, which was read aloud at one of their rallies. The Volunteers were connected to the militant anti-abortion movement through Tim Dreste, who was for a time their captain according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, and who was connected to invasions of abortion clinics in New York and Atlanta with the American Coalition of Life Activists.

In the letter, Akin reportedly wrote "The local militia can bring a positive influence to our community. Your patriotism and concern for our state and nation is to be commended." http://www.buzzfeed.com/rosiegray/missouri-senate-candidate-praised-ri
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There's also:

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The sexism is outrageous, but it’s the stupidity that really burns. It takes a lot of work for a member of the House science committee to cultivate an ignorance of science as profound as Todd Akin’s. It’s not accidental and it’s not incidental to his worldview—his belief system requires a rejection of science.

If you believe that the Bible is the “inerrant word of God,” as Akin apparently does, given his Master of Divinity from the Covenant Theological Seminary, then you can believe all kinds of things. That the world is 6,000 years old, for instance, and that evolution is a conspiracy organized by pretty much every biologist, geologist, paleontologist, ecologist, biochemist and geneticist working in the past century and a half, plus Satan. If God can produce Jesus through a virgin birth, he can certainly prevent a worthy-enough victim of “legitimate rape” from carrying her rapist’s child.

Akin and other Missouri conservatives are now trying to perpetuate this massive misinformation campaign on school children. Missouri’s “Right to Pray” amendment, which passed this month, allows kids to opt out of any educational assignments that conflict with their beliefs. As the National Center for Science Education has pointed out, that means children have a legal right to refuse to participate in biology class. Or, presumably, sex ed, where they would have to learn about basic reproductive biology, a class Todd Akin apparently skipped. http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2012/08/20/todd_akin_s_legitimate
_rape_comment_not_a_misstatement_but_a_worldview_.html

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Truly. Nineteenth century...can we ship him back there?

And people WANT this man in our government.... !