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The invitation of Ann Coulter to CPAC this year along with the rest of their guest list, continues to prove that they learned absolutely nothing from the last election. After making a weight joke about Gov. Chris Christie, who was shunned from the event, Coultergeist went on to explain that the reason Republicans lost the Senate is that some of their candidates, like Todd Akin, just failed to keep their mouths shut, and Democrats are supposedly the ones waging a war on women.

Ann Coulter CPAC: Pundit Tells Chris Christie Weight Joke, Calls Bill Clinton 'Forcible Rapist' :

Ann Coulter spoke at the 2013 Conservative Political Action Conference on Saturday, firing off an insult about New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's snub from the annual conference.

"Even CPAC had to cut back on its speakers this year about 300 pounds," Coulter said.

Christie wasn't he only target of Coulter's insults. She also criticized President Barack Obama and made eyebrow-raising remarks about Sandra Fluke's haircut while addressing birth control and the war on women.

"That haircut is birth control enough," Coulter said of Fluke.

Perhaps her most extreme criticism was directed at President Bill Clinton.

"The keynote speaker at the Democrat National Convention this year was forcible rapist, Bill Clinton," Coulter said.

Keep keeing it klassy Annie. Here's more of some of her "greatest hits" from her speech this Saturday.

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Republican Joe Walsh's answer on the abortion issue tonight in his debate on WTTW’s Chicago Tonight with Tammy Duckworth caught reporters offguard, so they asked him again what his stance was, figuring they'd misheard him. They hadn't.

via WGN:

The two candidates also clashed on abortion rights.

Walsh said he was against abortion “without exception,” including rape, incest and in cases in which the life or health of the mother was in jeopardy.

Asked by reporters after the debate if he was saying that it’s never medically necessary to conduct an abortion to save the life of a mother, Walsh responded, “Absolutely.”

“With modern technology and science, you can't find one instance,” he said. “... There is no such exception as life of the mother, and as far as health of the mother, same thing.”

So, according to medical expert Joe Walsh, there are never any instances where a woman's life is in such grave danger that she'd need an emergency procedure to end her pregnancy. Tammy Duckworth also called out Walsh for cosponsoring legislation that would have redefined rape as "forcible rape," a bill which would prohibit federal funding of abortions except in instances of "an act of forcible rape or, if a minor, an act of incest."

Here's Tammy Duckworth's ad which came out a few days ago.

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Regardless of the right's continued attacks and insults against activist Sandra Fluke, I for one and happy to see such an articulate and smart young woman speaking out for women and their issues at this year's Democratic National Convention.

As MSNBC's Ed Schultz, who caught up with Fluke on the Monday evening before the convention pointed out, the Republican National Convention wasn't exactly a big hit and didn't move the needle for Republicans with women, or with anyone else for that matter, and he asked Fluke what she thought of their event.

Fluke is exactly right that women don't care about who gets put on the podium at these events. They care about the policies. We didn't hear anything mentioned at the Republican convention about women's health care, equal pay, reproductive rights, or violence against women. We got a vice presidential candidate with an absolutely horrid voting record in that regard and who wants to do things like change the definition of rape. And from the speakers, lots of empty platitudes about how much they love women, but not much else or much evidence to support that assertion when you take a good look at their policies and their platform.

I think we can say that Fluke's presence, among others who will speak as well, proves Bill Kristol's theory wrong that Democrats aren't going to focus on social issues during the rest of this presidential campaign. Schultz gave Fluke a chance to respond to Bill O'Reilly disgusting remarks that the convention was going to drop condoms from the ceiling when Fluke spoke and as usual, she kept it polite and classy with her response. I can't say the same for O'Reilly. He seems to have the maturity of about a 12 year old boy.

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Vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan says that he personally believes that rape is just another "method of conception" and not an excuse to allow abortions.

During an interview with WJHL this week, Ryan was asked his view about Rep. Todd Akin, who recently asserted that women could not get pregnant from "legitimate rape."

"Specifically where you stand when it comes to rape, and when it comes to the issue of should it be legal for a woman to be able to get an abortion if she's raped?" WJHL reporter Josh Smith wondered.

"I'm very proud of my pro-life record, and I've always adopted the idea that, the position that the method of conception doesn't change the definition of life," Ryan explained. "But let's remember, I'm joining the Romney-Ryan ticket. And the president makes policy."

"And the president, in this case the future President Mitt Romney, has exceptions for rape, incest, and life of the mother, which is a vast improvement of where we are right now."

MSNBC's Steve Benen noted that responses like this were probably the reason that Romney is refusing to take any questions about Akin or abortion.

"In this case, when Ryan says 'the method of conception' is irrelevant, he's talking about rape," Benen wrote. "In other words, the Republicans' vice presidential nominee clearly believes the government should force women to take their pregnancy to term if they are impregnated by a rapist."

"Republicans can only distance themselves so much from Todd Akin before we realize they share his views."

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If anyone isn't sure why the Republicans are desperate to push Todd Akin out of the Missouri Senate race, you need look no further than this interview with RNC Chair Reince Priebus on CNN's Erin Burnett Out Front this Monday. Priebus threw Akin under the bus and said he wasn't welcome at their convention and he desperately tried to put distance between vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan's views on abortion and Akin's.

Regardless of Priebus' protests to Burnett, he knows full well that there's not a dime's worth of difference between their views and after cosponsoring numerous extremist right-wing anti-abortion bills together, the more attention Akin receives, the more it's going to directly harm the presidential ticket.

I guess we'll find out soon enough if Akin gets out of the race or not, but so far he's sticking to his guns and saying he's going to stay in despite pressure like this from Priebus and the Republican leadership.

Transcript of Priebus' exchange with Burnett below the fold.

Continue reading »

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Christian conservative actor and activist Kirk Cameron on Tuesday offered praise for a Republican Senate candidate who recently said that women were less likely to get pregnant through "legitimate" rape.

During an interview on CNN, host Soledad O'Brien asked Cameron if Rep. Todd Akin should give up his bid for the Senate after telling KTVI that “the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down,” referring to pregnancy as a result of so-called "legitimate rape."

"You know, I would encourage people to sit down and watch the video," Cameron advised "You know, he clearly is a pro-life advocate, and for that, I respect him."

"He said that he misspoke and that he mis-phrased something, and he apologized," the actor-turn-evangelist added. "I'm the kind of person that believes that I would like to be evaluated by my entire career and my entire life, not two words that I would misspeak and then later apologize for. So, he's in a tough spot."

Amid calls from Republicans for him to quit the race, Akin admitted on Tuesday that he had "made a couple of serious mistakes," but insisted that he was "not a quitter."

The congressman has until 5 p.m. on Tuesday to step aside. After that, a court order would be required to remove his name from the ballot.

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The Republican Senate candidate from Missouri on Monday said he had made "serious mistakes" by claiming that women could not get pregnant from "legitimate rape."

In his first interview since telling KTVI-TV that "the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down," Todd Akin expressed his regret to conservative radio host Mike Huckabee.

"I've really made a couple of serious mistakes here that were just wrong and I need to apologize for those," the GOP candidate explained. "I made that statement in error. Let me be clear, a rape is never legitimate. It's an evil act, and it's committed by violent predators. I used the wrong words in the wrong way. What I said was ill-conceived and it was wrong, and for that, I apologize."

"I also know that people do become pregnant from rape," he continued. "I didn't mean to imply that that wasn't the case. It does happen, and it's also terrible, particularly the most terrible of all."

Huckabee pressed Akin on what he meant by the term "legitimate rape."

"I was talking about forcible rape," Akin said. "It was absolutely the wrong word. ... I've known people who have been raped. I don't know any who have been raped and it turned out to end in pregnancy, but I know that happens too."

"It's a shame, but this has caused such a distraction to your campaign," Huckabee said. "Is it fatal? I mean there are people today, congressman, saying you need to drop out of the race."

"I don't know that I'm the only person in public office that's suffered from foot-in-mouth disease," Akin argued. "I feel just as strongly as ever that my background and ability will be a big asset in replacing Claire McCaskill and putting some sanity back in what's going on in our government."

"The good people of Missouri nominated me and I'm not a quitter," he added. "My belief is that we are going to take this thing forward and by the grace of God, we're going to win this race."

Akin pointed out that no one from presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney's campaign or any other Republican official had personally called and asked him to quit the race.

"Nobody wants to own your mistake ... and that why I'm apologizing," he said. "On the other hand, there are certain basic principles that we believe in and that I'm just completely committed to. And that is the fact that people and that life are tremendously valuable. That's what has made America such a unique country, it's because we believe that life is something that comes from our creator, we're made in His image, and all across America you see Americans that have a respect for life."

"I remember in Sept. 11th, there were rescue workers running into the buildings that were about to collapse. They grabbed somebody in a wheelchair, pick them up, they don't check their ID to see whether they're important or not. They just take them to safety and run back for more," Akin pointed out.

"That's the very special thing about our country. And that's what we have at risk right now, and we have to defend that."

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Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) on Monday said that it was "jaw dropping and stunning" for her Republican opponent for Senate to claim that women who are victims of "legitimate" would not get pregnant.

"This statement is kind of window into Todd Akin's mind," McCaskill explained to MSNBC's Joe Scarborough. "If you really look at his record, you realize that while this is jaw dropping and stunning -- you know, I spent 10 years as a prosecutor and did hundreds and hundreds rape cases, held their hands, cried with them. That's why, for me, this is incredibly painful because it shows how many people are out there -- sometimes in very important positions -- that just don't understand the trauma and don't understand what it means."

During an interview with a local TV station over the weekend, Akin had been asked if his extreme anti-abortion views applied to cases where the woman had been raped.

"It seems to me, first of all, what I understand from doctors is that’s really where—if it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down," Akin said.

In a statement on Sunday, Akin claimed that he "misspoke," but added that he still believes "deeply in the protection of all life and I do not believe that harming another innocent victim is the right course of action."

McCaskill insisted on Monday that the "legitimate" rape remark was part of a pattern of fringe views held by Akin.

"He wants to abolish the minimum wage," the Missouri senator noted. "Back when he was in the Missouri Legislature, he had a hard time getting comfortable with the notion that we would make martial rape illegal. He indicated at the time that he thought that could make for messy divorces. ... You know, this is a very, very, very, very, very, very conservative person.

"He may be acting like he was backtracking but he didn't say he was wrong," McCaskill continued. "He is now acknowledging that someone can become pregnant when they have been raped. But what he said in his statement was that it was rare, there was something in the women's body that could, you know, shut down a pregnancy because if it was a 'legitimate' rape. He hasn't said that's a wrong statement, he hasn't apologized for that statement."

"And he doubled down on the notion that not only should rape victims not be entitled to terminate a pregnancy, the morning after he was nominated, he was given an opportunity to talk about the morning after pill and he said that the did not think that a rape victim should be allowed to take the morning after pill, which science tells you that is not terminating a pregnancy. That's just a mega-dose of birth control that prevents a pregnancy from occurring."

Akin has also co-sponsored a bill with Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) and many other House Republicans that would have redefined rape, saying that only victims of "forcible rape" would qualify for federally funded abortions.

"It’s basically putting more restrictions on what was defined historically as rape," NARAL Pro-Choice America President Nancy Keenan told The Daily Beast in 2011.