Well, They *Should* Be Defending Akin

I was a little disappointed that in the immediate aftermath of Akin’s “legitimate rape” non-gaffe with the exception of Dana Loesch conservatives were cagey enough to criticize Akin for saying the quiet part loud. (After all, anti-choice cranks might move them…to A BIGGER HOUSE!) So surely Glenn Reynolds would get the memo. After all, he’s just a nonpartisan “quirky liberal” who is oddly considered a conservative Republican just because of his support for ruinous wars against countries that pose no security threat to the United States, massive upper-class tax cuts, dismantling the welfare state, etc. etc. Nominal social liberalism is his cover! Surely this will be the first case in years where he unequivocally criticizes a Republican? Here’s his response, in its entirety:

BY THE TIME I NOTICED THIS STORY, IT WAS OVER, but Todd Akin’s “legitimate rape” remarks pale in comparison with Whoopi Goldberg’s.

UPDATE: Here’s the Whoopi Goldberg “Rape-Rape” Video.

So, to conclude, we shouldn’t care about the 13th century gender politics of a member of Congress who is currently running for Senate, but the (very offensive but no more offensive) comments of a talk show host from 2 years ago remain a major story that preemptively exonerate anything that a Republican might say. Right. Although I must say I was appalled when the Whoopi Goldberg was made the Democratic candidate for governor.

For the less passive-aggressive version, see the sidekick of everyone’s favorite neoconfederate, who defends Akin by going on about how “[t]his is not mature liberty for the mind; this is slavery to the crotch” and “Todd Akin, himself, is treated to a 65-year late abortion by the Left for offering an argument pertaining to 1% of abortions.” He is not a crackpot.

Anyway, the defenses make sense — what Akin was fundamentally doing is making the subtext text. As Garance Franke-Ruta notes, his misogynist lies have an extensive pedigree within the anti-choice movement. The Republican Party has made its bed; Akin is just making the bedroom glass transparent.