From TPM Reader RP …
What Akin said was tremendously stupid and disqualifying, but ultimately based on a misunderstanding of the mechanics of conception from rape. Tom Smith’s statement is pure condescension to rape victims. If faced with a woman impregnated by a rapist, who doesn’t want to carry the rapist’s child, Tom Smith says, “I empathize, my family’s been in a similar situation. My daughter’s boyfriend got her pregnant.”
The difference here is that Tom Smith’s candidacy was quixotic in the first place. No one really expected him to be the next Senator from Pennsylvania. So will there be the same calls from his own party for him to step down? Or does it only matter that a politician insults rape victims when control of the Senate is potentially in balance?
