He's not an outlier; he's the mainstream

But for crying out loud, what the hell is happening to our country? We now have a party with elected leaders who think child labor laws are unconstitutional (Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah), who would repeal the Civil Rights Act (Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky), who think climate change is “the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people” (Republican Sen. James Inhofe).

- Sally Kohn, writing in Salon.com today

Some wag once said that a political gaffe is when a politician says what he really thinks. By that definition, Todd Akin's statement about the female reproductive system having some kind of magical barrier that keeps it from getting pregnant when it is "legitimately raped" certainly qualifies as a gaffe, because there is not a single iota of doubt that this is what the man really thinks. Moreover, it is not just Akin that thinks this way. He's right in line with the base of his party, probably the majority of his party. He is not an outlier; he is swimming in the sludgy mainstream of today's radically extremist Republican Tea Party.

As soon as the fateful words were out of Akin's mouth, his party started going bananas. It's all well and good for them to think like this, but they are not supposed to say it out loud. They are not supposed to give away the game or give more ammunition to those who claim the party is waging a war on women. (Where in the world would we get such an idea?)

Soon members of his party started calling for him to get out of the Senate race. Super-PACs and other committees were announcing that they would pull their financing from the campaign in an effort to force him out. His buddy Paul Ryan, with whom he has repeatedly introduced legislation in the House that would deny women access to abortions with no exceptions for rape or incest, called him up and suggested that he might want to get out of the race for the good of the party, i.e., for his and Romney's good. After thinking it over for 24 hours and testing the winds of public opinion, Mitt Romney decided that he was "offended" by Akin's remarks and that a Romney Administration would have provisions to allow for access to abortions for women who are raped!!! (This, of course, is a complete flip-flop from his previous position that a fertilized egg - any fertilized egg - should have the same rights as a human being and that there should be a constitutional amendment to that effect.)

And today, in a dazzling display of poor timing and disingenuousness, if not downright hypocrisy, the Republican platform committee approved a plank for the party's platform on a constitutional amendment outlawing abortion with no exceptions of any kind. As The New York Times reported:

Even as the Republican establishment continued to call for Representative Todd Akin of Missouri to drop out of his Senate race because of his comments on rape and abortion, Republicans approved platform language on Tuesday calling for a constitutional amendment outlawing abortion with no explicit exceptions for cases of rape or incest.

In other words, they are codifying in their platform exactly what Akin said. They are advocating the "personhood" amendment which would give the fertilized egg the same rights as a human being. Actually, the egg would have more rights than a human female in this twisted way of thinking, because the life of the egg would be protected at all costs whereas the life of the woman would not. If there is a choice to be made between the life of the egg and the life of the woman, the egg wins every time and the woman is sacrificed.

This is exactly the Akin/Ryan bill that passed in the Republican-controlled House and that Mitt Romney told Mike Huckabee he would sign if he were president, even though he NOW says he would allow an exception for women who are raped. What will he say tomorrow after the Akin brouhaha blows over, as it certainly will?

This, in fact, is just what the country has to look forward to should Republicans win complete control of the government, as they might. This is a profoundly anti-science, anti-women's rights, anti-minority's rights of any kind, anti-21st century party, and Todd Akin is the face of it. He has actually shown more intellectual honesty than those hypocrites in his party who are running away from him after he accidentally blurted out what he really thinks.

UPDATE: Maureen Dowd pretty well nailed it today.

Poetry Sunday: Don't Hesitate by Mary Oliver

How about we share another Mary Oliver poem? After all, you can never have too many of those. In this one, the poet seems to acknowledge that it is often hard to simply live in and enjoy the moment, perhaps because we are afraid it can't last. She urges us to give in to that moment and fully experience the joy. Although "much can never be redeemed, still, life has some possibility left." Don't Hesitate by Mary Oliver If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy, don’t hesitate. Give in to it. There are plenty of lives and whole towns destroyed or about to be. We are not wise, and not very often kind. And much can never be redeemed. Still, life has some possibility left. Perhaps this is its way of fighting back, that sometimes something happens better than all the riches or power in the world. It could be anything, but very likely you notice it in the instant when love begins. Anyway, that’s often the case. Anyway, whatever it is, don’t be afraid of its plenty. Joy is no...

Poetry Sunday: Blackberry-Picking by Seamus Heaney

My mother was a farm wife and a prodigious canner. She canned fruit and vegetables from the garden, even occasionally meat. But the best thing that she canned, in my opinion, was blackberry jam. Even as I type those words my mouth waters! Of course, before she could make that jam, somebody had to pick the blackberries. And that somebody was quite often named Dorothy. I think Seamus Heaney might have spent some time among the briars plucking those delicious black fruits as well, so he would have known that "Once off the bush the fruit fermented, the sweet flesh would turn sour." They don't keep; you have to get that jam made in a hurry! Blackberry-Picking by Seamus Heaney Late August, given heavy rain and sun For a full week, the blackberries would ripen. At first, just one, a glossy purple clot Among others, red, green, hard as a knot. You ate that first one and its flesh was sweet Like thickened wine: summer's blood was in it Leaving stains upon the tongue and lust ...

Poetry Sunday: Hymn for the Hurting by Amanda Gorman

You probably remember poet Amanda Gorman from her appearance at the inauguration of President Biden. She read her poem "The Hill We Climb" on that occasion. After the senseless slaughter in Uvalde this week, she was inspired to write another poem which was published in The New York Times. It seemed perfect for the occasion and so I stole it in order to feature it here, just in case you didn't get a chance to read it in the Times . Hymn for the Hurting by Amanda Gorman Everything hurts, Our hearts shadowed and strange, Minds made muddied and mute. We carry tragedy, terrifying and true. And yet none of it is new; We knew it as home, As horror, As heritage. Even our children Cannot be children, Cannot be. Everything hurts. It’s a hard time to be alive, And even harder to stay that way. We’re burdened to live out these days, While at the same time, blessed to outlive them. This alarm is how we know We must be altered — That we must differ or die, That we must triumph or try. ...

The Nature of Things

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