Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Taking an about face on Todd Akin without changing direction - Fight!

1st - the GOP has been despicable on the matter of Todd Akin.
2nd -  Todd Akin has blown it, and I don't mean his Jaco comment.

The GOP, the current and former senators, and all others who've called for Akin to withdraw, saying that because of his 'misstatements' he is unacceptable, are themselves unacceptable.  I won't bother going more into what I went over yesterday. Their pandering to politically correct airs, is nauseating.

Akin won an election. He was right about staying in, he won an election - you don't just allow that to be overturned over for campaign turmoils. But that nomination comes with a responsibility, an awesome responsibility, that when you attacked - when those who entrusted their vote to you are attacked through you - then you fight back and fight back loud and clear leaving no confusion over who is taking their responsibility seriously, you stand up strong, face the fire and provide the active leadership needed to prevail.

That has not been the case, and yesterday was the day to prove it. Yesterday is gone.

Akin's response has been so lax, so passive, and what he has done is so inept, that my confidence in him has dissipated - not because of his words, but because of his actions.

First, what he should not have done. He should not have issued an apology that was little better than genuflecting to political correctness, the very same tones of political correctness that were used to transform a minor verbal blunder into a national firestorm (in the eyes of the media and establishment).

And then he did nothing else. Except, that he then issued the apology that he should have given in the first place.

And then he did nothing else. Except for saying in interview with Dana Loesch "Ah shucks, this new fangled new media stuff really caught us by surprise" (except for 'fangled' and 'shucks' I think that's a quote).

What should he have done?

He should have clarified what did, and did not happen. He should have and the sense and initiative to say something like:
"My message is that rapists should be punished and life should be defended. Period. This so-called incident deserves no more of this campaigns attention. I've issued my apology, if you'd like to hear it again, go to my campaign site... and please leave a donation while your at it - we'd be thankful for contributions from people with spines.

We're facing a formidable democrat senator in Claire McCaskill, who has used Missouri's Senate seat to undermine the health and safety of all Missourians, men and women alike, who voted to take away their right to make their own choices in regards to their health care. Who used her vote to help in closing down a major portion of our states economy and energy concerns with Coal and coal fired energy plants.

Claire McCaskill is busy using every trick in the book to keep her power and leave my fellow Missourians powerless, and I'm devoting my energy and my campaign towards ending that in 72 days. Join me!"
I'm a simple programmer, a student of life, a blogger. If I can see that, if I can come up with that, why the hell can't the man we elected to represent us in the Senate campaign, do better?! AND WITHOUT HESITATION!!!!

There is a passage from Julius Caesar that has been plaguing me:
"The enemy increaseth every day.
We, at the height, are ready to decline.
There is a tide in the affairs of men,
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries.
On such a full sea are we now afloat,
And we must take the current when it serves
Or lose our ventures."
, and it has been plaguing me all the more because it comes from the mouth of Brutus, but it is true all the same, and Todd Akin's inaction has become a far greater danger in this election than his misstatements. If he won't fight now, if he didn't see the importance of doing that yesterday... why should we have any confidence that he is going to pick up the fight and fight effectively tomorrow?

Todd Akin said several times yesterday that he was running to the sound of the gunfire. Well Mr. Akin, when running to the sound of the guns, it would be wise to bring your own gun, loaded and cocked and eagerly seeking out enemy targets (not your own POTUS ticket) to fire upon.

Yesterday was Todd Akin's chance to do that, and he needed to come out shooting, he needed to come out and assert his position and lead the charge. But what he brought was only more olive branches and a folksy "Wow, hasn't this been sumthin'?". I'm seething.

He had his chance to do that yesterday. He didn't run to the sound of the gunfire, he did a drive by of the mess hall & PX and kept driving on without ever coming in sight of the front lines.

And now the lines are collapsing all around us.

Mr. Akin, we would support you if you would just fight, but you will not. And we elected you to do just that. And you do not.

That's a dilemma that must be resolved. Now.

I supported Todd Akin to be our senator, and to do that he's got to defeat Claire McCaskill, but he has failed to act. It seems that I will have to take an about face on my support for Todd Akin, but who will take over the fight? Because THAT is the direction we must charge, not a backwards pandering to the sensibilities of political correctness, as the GOP establishment is seeking to cringe in, but forward into the fight.

Someone. Please. FIGHT!

6 comments:

Joan of Argghh! said...

I have several feints of feeling about this:

1. Old white dudes in GOP have been killing the GOP for about 4 decades. We're better off w/o them.
2. I have heard the exact same mythical statement come from zealous pro-lifers in Protestant churches over the last 30 years. That should be amended by the pro-lifers in haste. A letter to every well-meaning but uneducated mouthpiece in Christian circles. Now.
3. If the man proves his moxie and mettle and wins in spite of it all, he'll be feted and celebrated by the Right and become the poster boy for a renewed sense that the Right should not keep shooting their wounded.

Van Harvey said...

Hi Joan. What a mess, eh?

I hear ya on #1 & #2, but Akin was the best of the available bunch & regardless, he won the election.

#3 - I thought he could have dealt with this & advanced beyond it, almost with ease, if he attacked the actual target, but he didn't. He played the part the media had prepared for him, and the part the GOP establishment believes is more important than the principles it supposedly upholds.

So what now? I don't know. It's in his court, and so far he's only dribbling in pace, no shooting to running not even passing.

Argghh!

Van Harvey said...

(double argghh) "no shooting NO running"

Anonymous said...

My problem with Aikin all along (and why I did not vote for him in the primary) is his passiveness. He's a hangback, not a fighter. He votes right because he is in a safe seat, but he has never had to take the fight to the enemy. He's in the pro-life, conservative echo chamber and can't understand why his idiotic statements are not understood. A damn shame.

freespeak said...

Amid growing pressure from the Missouri GOP for Todd Akin to drop out of the U.S. Senate race, conservatives have found themselves increasingly in favor of a candidate swap but haven’t quite reached a consensus as to who Akin’s replacement should be. That may be about to change. There’s a groundswell underway to draft former U.S. ambassador Ann Wagner for a senate run. Wagner is currently running for Akin’s congressional seat, and conservatives are thinking that if Akin bows out and switches places with Wagner, he can go back to representing his congressional district relatively easily.

Amid growing pressure from the Missouri GOP for Todd Akin to drop out of the U.S. Senate race, conservatives have found themselves increasingly in favor of a candidate swap but haven’t quite reached a consensus as to who Akin’s replacement should be. That may be about to change. There’s a groundswell underway to draft former U.S. ambassador Ann Wagner for a senate run. Wagner is currently running for Akin’s congressional seat, and conservatives are thinking that if Akin bows out and switches places with Wagner, he can go back to representing his congressional district relatively easily.

Breitbart.com’s Ben Shapiro notes that the switch is definitely doable:

benshapiro

There is a legit legal loophole in MO that would allow Todd Akin to switch ballot slots with his district Congress candidate, Ann Wagner.

http://twitchy.com/2012/08/22/missouri-national-conservatives-rally...

Jim Durbin said...

Your words on the flood are apt. We need to stop looking at this in terms of winning the Senate with one seat. We need to look at this as getting as many as 55 or 57 seats this election,a another 5-10 next election (take a look at how favorable it is for Republicans).

2010-2014 should have been a sustained campaign to take the White House and 60 or more Republican Senate seats. Our current leadership can't see it, and fears it. With 60, they would be tasked with rolling back Leviathan before the crest.

But saving the Republic takes a flood, leading on to fortune. Omitted, all the voyage of their life Is bound in shallows and in miseries. On such a full sea are we now afloat, And we must take the current when it serves, or lose our ventures.